Thou Shalt Not

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On top of his other allegiances, The Day The Earth Stood Still director Scott Derrickson is an avowed Christian. Which has clouded his vision. Everyone agrees that Michael Rennie's Klaatu in the original 1951 film is a Christ-like figure (his adopted earth name is John Carpenter -- i.e., J.C.) but how Derrickson sees Keanu Reeves' Klaatu in the same light is beyond me. For most of the film Reeves seems barely cognizant of moral or emotional distinctions in people, and he's decided from the get-go to murder the human race in order to save the planet earth -- an understandable thought from an earth-firster but hardly a Christ-like determination.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on December 18, 2008 at 7:48 AM

comment #1

SDG says ...

I don't understand the point you're trying to make. You seem to be saying that Derrickson is an avowed Christian, which clouds his vision, because Keanu-Klaatu is strikingly un-Christlike, but Derrickson fails to see this, because Derrickson must regard Keanu-Klaatu as Christlike, because Derrickson is an avowed Christian. How does that follow?

Maybe Derrickson clearly sees that his film is about a less Christlike Klaatu than the original, precisely because he is an avowed Christian. Maybe the fact that Derrickson is an avowed Christian doesn't mean he specifically wanted and tried to make Klaatu as Christlike as possible -- maybe he wanted a more ambiguous figure. (Note the intentional ambiguity in Derrickson's last film as to whether certain phenomena were supernatural or psychological, and whether the priest was guilty or not guilty of negligent homicide.)

Maybe the portrayal of Klaatu reflects a collaborative vision of the screenwriter and the star as well as the director. Maybe it's your vision that's clouded (by religious antipathy?) in assuming that un-Christlikeness on Keanu-Klaatu's part must be due to Derrickson's "clouded" vision, which in turn must be due to his avowed faith.

Now, if Keanu-Klaatu were overtly and excessively Christ-like -- and if this constituted a dramatic problem in the film -- then you might have a case. Then you could argue that Derrickson's Evangelical fervor had hampered his art.

As it is, I can't see that you even have a cogent point, let alone a case. It looks to me like you're going after Derrickson's faith because you're going after Derrickson's faith -- not because Derrickson's faith is a creative problem in the film.

P.S. Don't forget that the original Klaatu, Christological parallels notwithstanding, was also strikingly un-Christlike in ways. We are talking about a being whose solution to evil is irrevocably handing over temporal authority to an absolute police office.

Posted by SDG at December 18, 2008 2:56 PM

comment #2

allstar397 says ...

Obama likes Jesus too, wonder if you'll start slamming him for it if things dont go as planned early on.

Posted by allstar397 at December 18, 2008 4:34 PM

comment #3

paige says ...

Derrickson's and Keanu's Klaatu is ever so much more Christ-like than he was in the original film. Christians who have seen both films should be able to distinguish this. As the God of the Old Testament was a wrathful God, and that God was The Word - Christ - before he was born of man, the world was condemned. We were under the law, the law of sin whose punishment is death. Keanu's Klaatu represents a before and after Jesus. He was empathetic to the human condition *after* he was born as a human being and dwelt among us. Klaatu took the infliction of the bugs into his own body in order to heal Helen and Jacob, and then he died - his body died - he returned to his previous form. Light. Energy. It is movie hyperbole of course but this time around it is so much deeper. I am surprised there has not been whole articles written about this fascinating portrayal.

Posted by paige at December 20, 2008 6:06 PM

comment #4