Christ Figures in Films

On of the recurring images in film is that of the Christ Figure, a character who in some ways resembles Jesus Christ as he is depicted in the Bible.  This is often an entirely conscious technique used to create a "heroic" character or to create a character who seems "familiar."  The creators of the characters are quite often not Christians, but they use Christian symbolism.  Many are atheists or agnostics.  They use the religious symbolism for the emotional effect it will produce in their viewers.

The Christ Figure usually exhibits several of the characteristics associated with Jesus, though he is not always a hero.  Sometimes he is an antihero, even a villain.  Sometimes he is a woman.  Sometimes he is an animal.  Sometimes he is a machine.

The characteristics of the Christ Figure may include: mysterious or obscure beginnings, followers surround him,  he teaches, he redeems situations and people, he rights some sort of wrong, attempts are made on his life while he is a child, he is perceived as "normal" until his mission begins, he performs miracles, he confronts authority figures, he is seen as alien or as divine, blood is in some way involved, he questions his mission, he searches for his true identity, he is killed or punished by the authorities, he returns from death (or from banishment, a long absence, etc), he heals, he forgives, he is guided by his father or a father figure, and he (or his ideals) are triumphant in the end.  Not all filmic Christ Figures exhibit all of the these attributes and some film characters can be classified as Christ Figures only by a very elastic use of the term.  None of these characters are the real Christ; instead they are side flashes, faint after-images, flittering glitter, echoes, imitations, and sometimes, exact opposites, like photographic negatives.

Just a few of the universally recognized film Christ Figures:
Uncle Tom, in Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927)
Freder Frederson, in Metropolis (1927)
Jean d'Arc, in The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
Sydney Carton, in A Tale of Two Cities (1935)
Jim Casy, in The Grapes of Wrath (1940)
Bambi, in Bambi (1942)
Klaatu, in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Luke Jackson, in Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Ben, in Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Ben Richards, in The Immortal (1969)
Alex DeLarge, in A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Randle Patrick McMurphy, in One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (1975)
Claude, in Hair (1979)
E.T., in E.T. the Extraterrestrial (1982)
Kevin Flynn, in Tron (1982)
Mr. Spock, in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)
Glenn, in The Next One (1984)
John Connor, in Terminator (1984)
Paul Muad 'Dib Atreides, in Dune (1984)
Alex Murphy/Robocop, in Robocop (1987)
Preston Tucker, in Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988)
Virgil :Bud" Brigman, in The Abyss (1989)
Ellen Ripley, in Aliens 3 (1992)
Kenshiro, in Fist of the North Star (1995)
William Wallace, in Braveheart (1995)
Babe the Pig, in Babe (1995)
Thomas A. Anderson (Neo), in The Matrix (1999)
Frodo Baggins, in The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001, 2002, 2003)
Nameless, in Hero (2002)
Joshua, in Joshua (2002)
T-800, in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines ( 2003)
Peter Parker, in Spiderman 2 (2004)
Optimus Prime, in Transformers (2007)
Aslan the Lion, in The Chronicles of Narnia Series (2005,2008,2010)
Sam Flynn, in Tron: Legacy (2010)

A case can be made that Dexter Morgan, the serial killer of the 2006-2011 cable television series, Dexter, is an extremely (very, very extremely) twisted and dark form of the filmic tradition of the Christ Figure.  You do not need to have seen this series to know that there is nothing of the true Christ in Dexter Morgan.  He is better described as an Anti-Christ Figure.

The most overt instance of the Christ Figure in literature and film is Superman.  The character was created in 1932 by two Jewish men, Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and sold to Detective Comics Incorporated in 1938.  Superman (born as the Kryptonian Kal-el) is of extraterrestrial origin and was sent to Earth by his father, Jor-el.   "El" just happens to be the Hebrew word for "God."  At the end of a word, it means "of God."  Kal-el means something like "voice of God."

The 2006 film, Superman Returns, is overt in its religious symbolism.  The film, Superman: The Movie , is even more explicit.  Superman's Kryptonian scientist father, Joe-el, declares, "Even though you've been raised as a human being you are not one of them ... They can be a great people, Kal-el; they wish to be.  They only lack the light to show them the way.  For this reason above all, their capacity for good, I have sent them you, my only son."