Hey, it's Easter tomorrow.
Apr. 11th, 2020 09:08 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickAs a Godless Heathen (TM) this isn't a deal for me except that chocolates will be on sale next week as long as I'm OK with them being in pastel color wrappers. However, since we're all Sheltering In Place or whatever for Covid19, I took it upon myself to watch Jesus Christ Superstar (free on youtube) this morning. Hadn't seen it before, so this was new for me.
This was a lovely production and I really liked the "Occupy" themes they had. (Jesus and the disciples were like street people occupying with tents and stuff, Pilate and whatever were in business suits, very nice and thematically useful elements of class war there.) But... it's still not a story I like.
(a) Jesus had a shittastic destiny. It's no fun for anyone to be a martyr. I still think this. I will think this until I die and burn in hell or whatever. NOT GONNA CHANGE MY MIND AND SAY THIS WAS A GOOD DEAL FOR JESUS. Being offered as a sacrificial lamb for the entirety of humanity by one's all-powerful and omniscient parent is kind of a shitty life. It's a shitty life if he knew ahead of time what was gonna happen and it's a shitty life if he didn't know ahead of time what was gonna happen. There is no way to make this not-shitty. And interestingly, there is not a ton of consensus on whether or not Jesus knew ahead of time the entirety of the plan. I think that's kind of an important point and I am not sure why there is a lack of clarity on this, but hey, it's not my religion.
(b) God has been an ass over and over. He was an ass about the whole Job thing. He was an ass about Abraham and Isaac. (Seriously, there was probably ptsd about that shit.) He was an ass about Elisha and the bears. He was an ass about the flood thing. He was an ass about the design of humans and the fruit of the tree of knowledge. (If you want humans to not eat the tree and you know everything and are all powerful and also DESIGNED humans, then why did you make them curious and foolish and NOT OBEDIENT? Who does that? And then gets pissy when they don't listen. Look, if you want dogs, design dogs, not cats. Do not design cats and then complain that they don't act like dogs. That's a dick move. What are you, an angry toddler?) There is quite a lot of power-mad "Because I Said So" shit going on with God. Not a fan.
(c) I still agree with Judas. Gone too far. Didn't have to be this way. This whole thing was entirely unnecessary.
(d) At the end, the ONLY person who thought that they knew not what they did was Jesus. Everybody else knew full well what they did and was totally down with it. Because, yes, humans are assholes a lot of the time. And while this is an important thing for the martyr bits, it does make Jesus seem kind of a naif if he still believes this.
(e) -- and this is musical specific -- Judas got better songs. In the musical. He's got a better part, honestly.
(f) Judas seemed very familiar to me. Turns out he's the Cardinal Pell Song guy. Thanks, google!
This was a lovely production and I really liked the "Occupy" themes they had. (Jesus and the disciples were like street people occupying with tents and stuff, Pilate and whatever were in business suits, very nice and thematically useful elements of class war there.) But... it's still not a story I like.
(a) Jesus had a shittastic destiny. It's no fun for anyone to be a martyr. I still think this. I will think this until I die and burn in hell or whatever. NOT GONNA CHANGE MY MIND AND SAY THIS WAS A GOOD DEAL FOR JESUS. Being offered as a sacrificial lamb for the entirety of humanity by one's all-powerful and omniscient parent is kind of a shitty life. It's a shitty life if he knew ahead of time what was gonna happen and it's a shitty life if he didn't know ahead of time what was gonna happen. There is no way to make this not-shitty. And interestingly, there is not a ton of consensus on whether or not Jesus knew ahead of time the entirety of the plan. I think that's kind of an important point and I am not sure why there is a lack of clarity on this, but hey, it's not my religion.
(b) God has been an ass over and over. He was an ass about the whole Job thing. He was an ass about Abraham and Isaac. (Seriously, there was probably ptsd about that shit.) He was an ass about Elisha and the bears. He was an ass about the flood thing. He was an ass about the design of humans and the fruit of the tree of knowledge. (If you want humans to not eat the tree and you know everything and are all powerful and also DESIGNED humans, then why did you make them curious and foolish and NOT OBEDIENT? Who does that? And then gets pissy when they don't listen. Look, if you want dogs, design dogs, not cats. Do not design cats and then complain that they don't act like dogs. That's a dick move. What are you, an angry toddler?) There is quite a lot of power-mad "Because I Said So" shit going on with God. Not a fan.
(c) I still agree with Judas. Gone too far. Didn't have to be this way. This whole thing was entirely unnecessary.
(d) At the end, the ONLY person who thought that they knew not what they did was Jesus. Everybody else knew full well what they did and was totally down with it. Because, yes, humans are assholes a lot of the time. And while this is an important thing for the martyr bits, it does make Jesus seem kind of a naif if he still believes this.
(e) -- and this is musical specific -- Judas got better songs. In the musical. He's got a better part, honestly.
(f) Judas seemed very familiar to me. Turns out he's the Cardinal Pell Song guy. Thanks, google!
