Playing with Paradigms
The Christ-figure Genre in Contemporary Film
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jasr.v21i3.298Keywords:
Christ-Figure films, Bible and FilmAbstract
Numerous mainstream films feature a plot line loosely based on the Gospel narrative and a protagonist who has some Christ-like features. This paper will argue that the Christ-figure motif is not a minor element in contemporary cinema; rather, Christ-figure films constitute a genre in their own right. After providing a brief overview of the Christ-figure film, as illustrated by The Shawshank Redemption (1994), this paper will engage in an analysis of two movies—the Quebecois film C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005) and the American film Stranger than Fiction (2006)—that explicitly and humorously demonstrate the interplay of convention and innovation, familiarity and novelty that is the salient characteristic of the genre film.
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Filmography
Being There (1979, dir. Hal Ashby)
Ben-Hur (a.k.a. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ) (1959, dir. William Wyler)
Cinderella Man (2005, dir. Ron Howard)
The Constant Gardener (2005, dir. Fernando Meirelles)
Cool Hand Luke (1967, dir. Stuart Rosenberg)
C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005, dir. Jean-Marc Vallée)
The Gospel of John (a.k.a. The Visual Bible: The Gospel of John) (2003, dir. Philip Saville)
The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965, dir. George Stevens)
The Green Mile (1999, dir. Frank Darabont)
The Guardian (2006, dir. Andrew Davis)
Intolerance (1916, dir. D.W. Griffith)
King of Kings (1961, dir. Nicholas Ray)
Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979, dir. Terry Jones)
Pale Rider (1985, dir. Clint Eastwood)
The Passion of the Christ (2004, dir. Mel Gibson)
The Passion Play at Oberammergau (1898, dir. Henry C. Vincent)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994, dir. Frank Darabont)
Sling Blade (1996, dir. Billy Bob Thornton)
Stranger than Fiction (2006, dir. Marc Forster)
The Truman Show (1998, dir. Peter Weir)
Walk on Water (2004, dir. Eytan Fox)
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