The Intersection of Faith and Culture
The previous versions of Jesus Christ Superstar either played it far too safely and stereotypically or got it right on the money with a deeply sobering ending and even a wink at a potential resurrection. The 2013 version pulled out all the stops to make a mockery of the whole thing.
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Its self-awareness is an asset. At one point it makes direct homage to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off; Donald Glover is given a medium sized cameo role in response to a massive internet campaign to make him the new Spiderman; and Michael Keaton, with previous superhero affiliations to both Batman and Birdman, makes an excellent and nuanced supervillain. But self-awareness is also its downfall. In the laborious attempt to introduce Spiderman into the MCU, Spiderman’s richer themes and potential get lost amidst its frequent reference to self.
With his latest Netflix special “The Great Beyond” coming to Netflix on November 17, Jim Carrey attributes the experience reprising the character of Andy Kaufman as a transcendent experience that helped his realize that “Jim Carrey” doesn’t exist. According to him, “Jim Carrey” is a character he’s been playing for many years, “But,” he explains on Jimmy Kimmel “I don’t think of that as me anymore.”
The best musical in NYC didn’t cost hundreds of dollars and didn’t take place a few blocks off Broadway on a Thursday night. No, the best musical experience of my NYC trip happened at St. Nicholas Carpatho Orthodox Church on Sunday Morning on the Lower East side of Manhattan.
I discovered that in Jesus I don’t have to please everyone, navigating my relationships with perfectionism in order to belong. I discovered in Jesus that I don’t have to layer on pretentious identities in order to have an identity.