Reflections of christ in sci-fi movies
...hn Conner (Edward Furlong), initials JC, has been told by his mother that he will be the future leader of the humans. In order to fulfill his destiny, John spends his childhood training until his mother is taken away by the authorities and put in a mental institution. John is then put with foster parents and begins to think his mother (Linda Hamilton) is crazy. When the Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), also known as the T-101, arrives, John realizes that his mother was telling the truth all along and goes through the “Doubting Thomas” phase that Neo encountered in The Matrix. John does go through a virgin-like birth, but it happens in the previous Terminator movie. John’s mother Sara Conner has sex with a future friend of Johns that gets sent back in time to protect her. He tells Sara about the future and the machines eventual takeover. John’s father, along with the Oracle, represents the angel that told Mary the news of her being chosen and her son being the one of the highest. Later in the movie, John will flee to the desert with his mother and the T-101 to regain strength and stock up on weapons. Remember how Jesus fled to the desert with three wise men to avoid capture? This scene is a brilliant representation of Jesus’ exodus to Egypt. Not long after the T-101 is introduced, the T-1000 (Robert Patrick) arrives from the future to try and kill John and stop him from becoming the leader he is destined to be. When the T-1000 arrives, he kills a policeman and steals his clothes and vehicle. When I first saw this scene I asked, why the T-1000 has police clothes on and not the outlaw clothing the T-101 wears? Should it not be the other way around? “The T-1000 becomes a representative of the law, a defender of the established order, a soldier of Herod who must kill the future king” (Gustaf 2). In The Matrix, the police are also working with agents as the defenders of the machine world and want to stop Neo. Furthermore, in relation to The Matrix, the T-1000 has the ability to take form of other people as seen with Agent Smith. Although the plot in E.T. skips the representation of the foretold arrival and birth, the threat to his existence is evident in the first scene of the movie when the scientists hunt him down. While Jesus was being hunted to be executed by King Herod’s men, the three wise men took Jesus to hide in Egypt (Matthew2: 1-18). “It is not three wise men, but three children who assist in hiding E.T. from the scientists” (Christian Spotlight, 1). As Jesus grows up, he becomes wise and preaches the new word of God. Many people witness Jesus performing miracles such as healing and creating food. I will demonstrate how the characters exhibit these characteristics of Christ. When Neo first develops his supernatural powers, he puts them to good use by fighting off the agents. Neo’s transition of character from the student to teacher will be evident as he starts to make choices for himself, for example his choice to save Morpheus. Jesus also went through this same transition as he preached the word of God. The members in Neo’s ship, the Nebuchadnezzar, act as his disciples because they all believe in him, and aid him when he is in need of assistance. Pay attention to the name of the ship, it is a symbol of protection. Nebu means protect the crown and Neo is the king. John Conner may not have the supernatural powers of Neo, but in one scene he shows his skills by operating a device that allows him to take money out of an ATM machine. Although this is an act of theft, it is pure computer genius and can be considered a miracle. When John gets to know the T-101, he tells him that killing is bad. The T-101 listens to his word and does not kill people. John will also go through a transition of character when his mother takes the CPU out of the terminator and decides she wants to break it. John steps in and tells his mother that the Terminator is good and not to break it. John’s mother realizes that she is no longer just the mother, but a student to John. E.T. sits in front of the television all day watching Sesame Street and learns his first words, “Be good”. This almost sums up the whole sermon of the Ten Commandments. Also notice E.T.’s power to heal as it touches Elliott’s (Henry Thomas) cut finger and heals it in an instant. “When E.T. and Elliott’s fingers touched, it showed resemblance to the fingers of God and Adam in Michelangelo’s Creation of Man” (Christian Spotlight, 2). As Jesus comes to his final days of life, the Roman Empire tortures him and ultimately nails his body to a cross. Jesus dies for his people and their sins and is later laid to rest in a tomb where he is resurrected. He then has his final supper and ascends to heaven to sit on the right hand of the thrown next to God. Towards the end of The Matrix, Neo decides to risk his life to save Morpheus and prevent the Agents from getting information to the city of Zion. The oracle even told Neo that he may die, but he does not care for anyone but Morpheus and the city of Zion, which exemplifies true signs of a leader. Neo is successful with his rescue, but he faces the challenge of Agent Smith. Neo dukes it out with the agents, but his moves are not enough as he gets shot and falls to the ground. As Neo lies dead, Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) kisses the life back in him, and Neo destroys Agent Smith. Trinity represents the Holy Spirit as she revives Neo similar to Jesus being resurrected from the cave. As Neo is brought back to life, notice the white light surrounding him. At this point he is shown as a heavenly being and even develops new powers as he stops the bullets and destroys Agent Smith. A very important, but overlooked character in Terminator 2 is Miles Dyson (Joe Morton). Miles is the brain behind the future takeover of the machines. Dyson plays the role of Judas. Judas was the name of a betrayer in Jesus’ lifetime and while Dyson never betrays humanity, he is killed by those he instead betrays- his employer and the prevailing social order, represented by the police (Gustaf 6). John Conner does not experience a death or resurrection, but towards the end of the film, the T-101 suffers a minor defeat and appears to be destroyed by the T-1000. As the T-1000 appears to have the edge on the fight, The T-101 turns back on and destroys the T-1000. This scene represents the death and resurrection of Jesus. After the T-101 finishes his job, he decides to terminate because he does not belong on this planet. “The good angel cannot remain in this world, the world of humans, without changing it and indirectly destroying it (Gustaf, 6)....