Kitty Hollingshead Mancil
Humanities 341, Assignment 1-3
Dorothy Keil
November 22, 2007
Spider-Man: Biblical Scholar?
The article, “The Gospel According to Spider-Man,” written by Niall Richardson, is an article that is directed at those who are looking to get deeper meaning from a contemporary source. It is an examination of how the Spider-Man movie, released in 2001, has strong elements of Christianity in it. The article can be used for a very wide audience because the language is straight forward and any time
Spider-Man is a movie about a nerdy young man, Peter Parker, who gets bitten by a genetically altered spider and gains superhuman powers, all of which revolve around abilities that spiders have. For instance, he is able to “shoot” webs out of his wrists, stick to walls, and he has incredible strength. Early in the movie, Parker uses his powers for his own personal gain, but after he fails to stop a burglar that later kills his uncle, he begins to use his powers to help others. His friend’s father, Norman Osborne, takes a serum that drives him mad and he becomes the villain of the movie, the Green Goblin. After many plot twists, Spider-Man eventually stops the Goblin.
In his article,
Again the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them: And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Another example is when the Goblin is holding Mary Jane in one hand and a bus of school children in the other, telling Spider-Man he must choose who to save.
In addition to the specific scenes of the movie is the larger concept of shame, guilt, and atonement to the Christian faith. Shame is defined as a state of being, while guilt is an action. Atonement is the method by which Christians are able to, at least temporarily, relieve themselves of these feelings.
The arrangement of this article makes sense. It is arranged in such a fashion that it flows from one topic to the next well. The progression begins with the basic structure of superhero films, a category that includes such films as Superman and American westerns. Spider-Man is somewhat different than these films, with Spider-Man being more “human,” flawed even. The next part of the paper discusses some of his flaws, going such as the “stalking” of Mary Jane and the self-obsession that leads to his uncle’s death. This brings the paper to its main focus: how Christianity allows one to substitute guilt for shame in order that atonement is possible. It then talks about the challenges that come from being imperfect and having to choose between our spirituality and our flawed desires. The conclusion does a good job of pulling all of this formation together.
This article makes you take another look at Spider-Man, both in movie and comic form. I have always thought that the comics in the Spider-Man series where he is married to Mary Jane has a little bit less luster than the ones where he is lusting for her, and I think, to an extent, that has been true with the movie series as well. I think it takes away from difference between Spider-Man and the typical superhero movie, where the hero gets the girl. According to this article, that could be because when Parker finally possesses Mary Jane, he loses the shame that he associates with her, and only the guilt of his uncle’s death is left to atone for.
In conclusion, I feel that Niall Richardson’s article, “The Gospel According to Spider-Man” was well written and supported. It certainly has made me rethink some of the concepts of the story line, and at the same time, let me take another look at Christianity as well.
Works Cited
Richardson, Niall. (2004). The gospel according to Spider-Man. The Journal of Popular Culture, 37. Retrieved November 11, 2007
from EBSCOhost database.
6 comments:
The title of the article is clever. I have seen the Spider-Man movie, but not the comics. I never put saw the Christianity aspects of the movie. I will have to look for them next time I watch it. I think the article was interesting and easy to understand.
Spiderman was bitten by an irradiated spider not a poisonous spider. After this mistake it was hard for me to read the article. I was constantly questioning the author's integrity.
I never made the connection between Spiderman and Christianity. He had some interesting points. He could probably make more connections in Spiderman 3. When Peter has to decide between his new powers and doing the right thing.
I have never seen the movie Spider-Man or paid any attention to the comic strips. However, this was an interesting article because I never would have thought that this movie had some Christian aspects. Now after reading the article I may consider watching the movie and see if I can see the things that the author of this article was talking about.
This article intrigued me as I always like to read about things that have to do with religion as I just find it interesting. I have personally never really got into the whole comic book genre; however, I have watched some of the movies and enjoyed them. I believe that the bible is such a big and old book that probably just about anything that you see in movie or on television can be in some way or another related to a biblical tale or verse. Overall, I enjoyed this article and your analysis.
After reading the article, one finds it interesting to see how the author similarly depicts Spiderman with Christians. Spiderman’s inner conflict is one that Christians are confronted with often. The other interesting subject presented was Shame versus Guilt and how Christians atone themselves for shameful feelings. The article breathes a whole new visualization into the character of Spiderman.
I never thought of thinking about it that in depth. I had only watched the first movie and used to watch the cartoons on Saturday morning. This author does have some valid points but it also opens himself up for controversy since religion seems to be surrounded by it.
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