What Postmodern Ninja-Messiah Figures Fight For

Last updated on: January 3, 2013 at 3:00 pm by Joe Carter

What Postmodern Ninja-Messiah Figures Fight For 2012-12-31T05:28:33+00:00 Joe Carter

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The Catholic literary journal Dappled Things has an interesting interview with the critically-acclaimed science fiction writer (and Catholic convert from atheism) John C. Wright:

Where films depart from the rules of objective moral order, they become merely silly. For example, there is a simply absurd scene in the thirdMatrix movie (I forget the name—Matrix Revisited? Matrix Rehashed? Matrix Regurgitated? Something like that) where Agent Smith, the Evil Secret Policeman of Evil, mocks and challenges hepcat ninja-Messiah Neo, asking him why he fights? Neo, being a hepcat postmodern ninja-Messiah figure, cannot say he fights for truth, justice and the American Way, as the superheroes of an earlier and healthier period could say (despite that Neo is quite obviously fighting for these things); he cannot say he is fighting for the woman he loves (despite that he obviously is, both during her life and in her memory); he cannot say, like an earlier Messiah, but one who did not use so much slick wirework Kung Fu, that he is fighting to bring the bread of heaven to men, to free the captive, to heal the sick and restore the dead to life (even though Neo has been freeing, healing and resurrecting like gangbusters during all three movies). No, his only answer, his sad and pathetic only answer, is to announce (amid a flourish of trumpets meant to sound inspiring) “BECAUSE I CHOOSE TO!” It is enough to make you spit your popcorn onto the floor in a flood of salty, butter-substitute dripping laughter. Well, if that is your reason, why not just choose not? It is, however, the modern subjectivist moral-relativist answer, and, unfortunately, even if moral-relativism were a true doctrine and not a heresy, it is an un-dramatic doctrine. It does not make for good theater.

Movies

Pop Culture

Previous Post

January 3, 2013

The Moral Character of Music

Next Post

January 4, 2013 The Buried Church

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Anecdotes Art Biblical Studies Bioethics Books Christianity Conservatism Economics Education Evangelicalism Family History Language Arts Military Misc. Moral Philosophy Movies Music Oddities Philosophy Poetry Politics Pop Culture Quotes Science Self-Improvement Shameless Self-Promotion Signs of the Times Technology Television Theology Thirty Three Things Videos Virtues Worldviews

Select a Month December 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What animal is mentioned in Proverbs as having little strength but great wisdom?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Lion Ant Bear Ox