On Superheroes & Salvation

I was watching this interview with a movie critic. He was talking about summer blockbuster movies and how there is an over saturation of the film marketplace which has the potential to turn very bad for the industry. There is a lot of truth in what he said, though I think we simply need to remember that not all blockbusters are created equal. 

But that is not my concern right now. He said something in the interview that I thought had great theological significance. He asked rhetorically, "how often can you see a conflicted but ultimately good hero overcome incredible odds to save the universe? It gets boring after a while." My first thought was, " Doctor Who does that every other week and his stories remain fresh and interesting. He has a huge fan base and has been on the air for fifth years." 

Then almost immediately something bigger hit me. The church has been telling that story for 2000 years repeatedly and it has an even bigger audience. Week after week, the church basically retells the same story. Communion is a replaying out of God's saving act for Creation. But it continues to captivate us, just as comic books revisit the same story in a multitude of ways but continue to draw readers in. 

The reason is that these stories speak to our sense that creation is ultimately good, and that in the overall, in the big picture, "all will be well". Salvation is an experience we all want or have, and re-experiencing it is always new and always vital. The truth is that the summer blockbuster superhero experience is simply that of people reaching out to touch the face of God, whether they know it or not. In the end human brokenness, and our inability to save ourselves is as present to us as any thing in sensory experience. Our need for salvation is real. It must be satisfied on some level, in some ways. And since our need never ends, our satisfaction in the experience also never ends.

For those of us who know the truth of our salvation, the basic satisfaction is already there, but a cycle of remembering and reaffirming is still necessary. The current path people are taking, movies, may cease it's central role in that process. But the need will remain. Only Christ can truly meet it.