Jesus Christ: Vampire HunterIn order to energize Mirror of Madness this week, I took the opportunity to view the movie, Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter.The movie begins in Ottawa, Canada, a city beset by a vampiric blight, in particular, lesbian vampires. Of important note at this point, one must realize that not every vampire in the movie is, in fact, a lesbian. In truth, many of them are male, although the assumption becomes that female vampires are defacto: lesbian. This may or may not conflict with other literary sources dealing with the topic of vampires. The plot motivation behind the abundance of homosexual vampires is that because homosexuals lead "deviant" lifestyles, they are less likely to be missed. Metaphorically, this sets the stage for a moral and political debate as regards the participation of those with varied sexual preferences, in modern culture. This is the symbolic inference intended by the second dance routine, that would be the one including Jesus Christ riding a skateboard down the sidewalk. Church stance on individuals' sexual practice is really just the spear tip for a larger message Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter attempts to engender. In the grand scale, this movie is a statement as regards the plight of Religion in modern society and it's conflict with popular culture, perceived as temptations. This conflict is distilled in the form of poorly choreographed martial arts combat. The struggle to find accord between Church dogma and modern Society is personified, in this movie, in the body of Jesus Christ. In specific, as the movie develops, Jesus experiences the need to change his hair style as well as his clothing to be able to fit in, and be accepted by the common man. At the conclusion of a particularly heated fight between Jesus Christ and the chief antagonist vampire, Jesus finds himself grievously wounded, and left in the street, to crawl away. As he drags his body, he sees a number of pedestrians, including a policeman and a member of the clergy. They pass him by. This is clearly a retelling of the parable of The Good Samaritan. In this particular recounting, the good Samaritan is manifest as a transvestite. Again, this brings into light the conflict between traditional moral value, and that of chosen alternative lifestyle. As Jesus finds himself at a loss of direction, and dejected, he sits down in a café. Upon seating himself, the waitress delivers a bowl of vanilla ice cream and cherries to his table. This initially causes some confusion, as Jesus has not ordered anything yet, and points this out to the waitress. The waitress assures him the dish has been ordered and paid for, and then departs. As it turns out, the bowl of cherries is in fact Jesus' father, God. A reassuring discussion ensues, in which God encourages Jesus to continue his fight, and also advises him to enlist the aid of a fellow holy warrior. A phone call is made, and Jesus enlists the aid of Santos, a Mexican professional wrestler. God has convinced Santos to come out of retirement, and aid Jesus in his righteous cause. Of nore here, Santos wears a white luchadore mask, which is clearly meant to be a sign of his righteousness. A series of conflicts continue through the remainder of the movie, including, what I suspect was meant to be, vaguely erotic cat fights between women in tight fitting clothing. Also, the presence of a dirt bike taking jumps off old cars, as a literary device. And one, particularly bulbous, hind quarter, which everyone, even Jesus, feels the need to grab. This is clearly portrayal of the slogan, "carpe diem." (literal translation: seize the day.) Meaning that life is abound with pleasures which will pass you by if you do not take the opportunity to reach out and grab them. Ultimately, the message of the movie is summed in a single line, near the end of the film, "Don't worry, it's okay, she's bi." |
Created by Gideon (Jacob Valeri) at 05-28-07 01:02 AM
Last Modified by Gideon (Jacob Valeri) at 05-30-07 08:21 PM