Jesus Was Way Cool: Difference between revisions

* ''[[Hair]]'' - The title song references wanting "hair like Jesus wore it." Jesus was so cool, he had hippie hair 1,935 years before hippies even existed.

* ''[[Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter]]'' has the titular character [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|hunting vampires]], [[Kung Fu Jesus|doing Kung Fu]], dancing, singing, and preaching tolerance for sexual minorities.

* Tommy [[Gnosticism|Gnosis]] from ''[[Hedwig and The Angry Inch]]''

** Of course, it's hard not to think [[Oedipus Rex|his own issues]] may have played a part...

* [[The View Askewniverse]] (the films of [[Kevin Smith]]) gives us The Buddy Christ, pictured above. This version of Jesus was part of the "Catholicism WOW!" campaign in ''[[Dogma]]'' as part of a move to boost Church attendance. Oddly, despite the cynicism of the move, Cardinal Glick's stated reasoning was sound: the symbol of Christianity being the cross was, to him, "wholly depressing". "Christ didn't come here to give us the willies! He came to help us out!" He has since cameoed in more than one [[Kevin Smith]] film since then (Smith's comic shop even had a life-size version in the store).

*** Actually, for many centuries after Jesus' crucifixion, official Church art didn't heavily use the cross but instead tended to depict Him in the styles of artwork that used to be used for pagan Gods; they were going with what they knew. It was particularly common for Jesus to be depicted in the same way that Apollo used to be in Roman art: a triumphant, conquering king. Around the time of the High Middle Ages, Western Europe began emerging from the height of the Dark Ages and rediscovering lost knowledge, with the first cathedral schools and universities starting up. Theological discourse developed, and "Christianity" started getting established as an ordered belief system more. This led the establishment of the idea that Jesus really wasn't very similar to the old Roman gods, and the whole reason He came to Earth was as an act of humility, mercy, etc. The result was a *major* change in artistic depictions of Jesus around the 12th century, a "humanistic turn" that emphasized Christ's suffering *as a man*: the whole point was that unlike Apollo or something, he *became a flesh and blood man* and suffered and died as one. Its from this point onward that the image of Jesus horribly crucified became such a primary symbol of Christianity.

** Jesus was also mentioned several times by Rufus over the course of the movie. While other parts of the movie parody different parts of religion, specific references to Jesus himself pretty much match what's written in the Bible. From the descriptions, Jesus seems to have been fairly laid back (he apparently owes Rufus twelve dollars) and enjoyed listening to people talk more than anything else.

** The irony in the Buddy-Christ portrayal comes from [http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2010:34&version=KJV Matthew 10:34], which is a [[Flame War|very contested passage]] but, amongst other things, can be interpreted to mean that yes, Jesus ''did'' come to give us the willies--that was ''how'' he meant to help us out. He wanted to shake up the extant order of things. He wanted us to question ourselves and our beliefs. He wanted us to be nice to people for a change. (''We'' think [[Seinfeld Is Unfunny|that's a pretty normal viewpoint now]], but at the time...)

*** The other interpretation is that Jesus obviously knew that not everyone would accept Him or His teachings. Those that rejected them would often react violently to them, even if the one espousing them was their own flesh and blood. Salvation is [[Serious Business]], and Jesus was warning the Disciples that they had to be prepared for the fact that following Him may mean having to abandon unbelieving family or be persecuted by them.

**** John the Apostle may be entirely different from the author of Revelations, it is a [[Flame War|highly contested issue among some.]]

* While most of ''[[The Last Temptation of Christ]]'' focuses on his internal strife over living as a man or dying painfully to fulfill God's will, the Wedding at Cana scene gives Jesus a sense of fun and humor. (Even better, the whole exchange is [[Canon]]);

Jesus: (smiling) Told you. }}

 

* French comic actors "Les Inconnus" once did a parody of Hollywood action flicks starring Jesus (or more accurately Stallone playing Jesus). The sketch, called 'Jesus 2 : Le Retour' (The Return) had Jesus introduce himself as "Christ, Jesus Christ", beat people up (a pun on "distribuer des pains" which can mean either 'give out loaves of bread' or 'beat people up'), turn the other cheek... only to knee his opponent in the crotch, stitch up his own wounds after being resurrected. "50 percent man, 50 percent God, 100 percent Saviour." (The sketch is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJDpbtYM3Y0 on Youtube], but non-Francophones will miss most of the jokes.)

* An episode in the second season of ''[[True Blood]]'' has this as well, with Godric interrupting a execution scene by the corrupt church, explaining that even some vampires think Jesus was a nice Guy.

* Subverted in ''[[Yes Minister]]''. Hacker and Humphrey both agree that if Jesus had been around in their time, they would have had to suppress him because of "all those things about the meek inheriting the earth".

* NBC's ''[[Community]]'', season 2 episode 5, starts off with Abed not really religious or in favor of Christianity. Shirley manages to convince him to actually sit down and read the New Testament start-to-finish. While Abed doesn't convert or anything and still doesn't particularly favor "Christianity" the organization, actually reading the source material makes Abed change his mind and think that Jesus himself was pretty cool as He was depicted in the narrative of the New Testament (regardless of how "real" any of it was historically), or as Abed describes it "He was like E.T., Edward Scissorhands, and Marty McFly combined."

* Look up virtually any [[Black Metal]] band if you want to see this trope averted.

* ''[[Jesus Christ Superstar]]''

** This is averted in some later versions, which change the line to "Infantile sermons, the multitude drools."

* As you might guess from the examples above, this trope is often (though far from always) an exemption from [[Religion Rant Song]] targeting.

* Woody Guthrie's song "Jesus Christ" depicts Christ as a socialist rebel killed for speaking truth to power (and notably makes no reference to his resurrection).

* [[Lady Gaga]]'s "Black Jesus + Amen Fashion":

* [[Tim Minchin]]'s song [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SFdUJLebzU WoodyAllenJesus] (yes, he spells it as a [[Wiki Word]]) lists some of Jesus's powers and attributes, and consequently [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|accumulates words to put in front of "Jesus"]]. "Dragon" is one of those words, but "[[Crystal Dragon Jesus|crystal]]" isn't.

 

 

== Theatre ==

* In the ''[[Reefer Madness]]'' musical, Jesus is just about the ''only'' cool person present. Almost all the other characters are pathetic, deranged, and/or sociopathic drug addicts, or they're incredibly square and easily manipulated rubes. Jesus, on the other hand, speaks out against marijuana as the lead singer in a heavenly night club, accompanied by a troupe of sexy, scantily clad angels. Even in a musical that satirizes anti-marijuana [[Aesop|Aesops]], this can't help but come off as awesome.

'''Audience Member:''' You rock, Jesus! }}

 

* Subverted in ''[http://ny.channel101.com/show.php?show=12 Jesus Christ Supercop]'', which portrays Jesus as a stereotypical [[Cowboy Cop]]. Possibly not a benign version of Christ, and certainly not a nice Jewish boy... but you [[Rule of Cool|cannot deny that this Jesus is Cool]].

* In [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDxgNjMTPIs this] ''[[I'm a Marvel And I'm a DC|I'm a Marvel And Im ADC]]'' video, [[Iron Man]] is daydreaming about the opening day of ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' and how it's stealing the hype for his movie. Everybody is rejecting his movie (released a few months before) as being yesterday's news, but the culmination is the arrival of Jesus.

* [[Richard Dawkins]]: [http://www.richarddawkins.net/article,20,Atheists-for-Jesus,Richard-Dawkins Atheists for Jesus.]

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSLVgP79iaA Santa Christ].

 

* Jesus is a semi-recurring character in ''[[Penny Arcade]]'', where he hangs out with Gabe and Tycho, playing video games and being a cool guy in general. Though he is apparently a bit of [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/08/04/ a poor winner] at ''[[Street Fighter]]''.

* Quoted nearly word-for-word in [http://jjrowland.com/wigu/20020124.html this strip] of ''Wigu''.

* ''[[Sinfest]]'' -- in which Jesus Christ is the most awesome superhero since [[Barack Obama]].

* Sandra from ''[[Sandra and Woo]]'' thinks that Jesus was a swell guy, but she can't stand his fanboys. ([http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2009/11/30/0116-jesus-of-nazareth/ see the strip])

* In ''[[Evil Diva (webcomic)|Evil Diva]]'', Jesus runs a cafe where he gives out advice. And coffee, of course.

'''Jesus:''' I get that a lot. }}

* Heavily averted in ''[[The Brick Testament]]''.

** One cutaway portrayed Jesus as [[Soul Brotha|black]].

** He also entertains his friends by turning water [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3c-kz8-bIY into funk].

** Another episode portrayed him as ''Chinese''

** At one point, Jesus shows up to convince the temporarily anti-Semitic Peter that Judaism and Christianity are two sides of the same coin. He then says that all religions are complete crap, earning a thank you from the atheist Brian.

* In the New Zealand animated comedy series, Bro'town, Jesus stars in every episode as every episode starts in heaven with god telling a story using the main characters. Jesus is depicted as a hip but naive teenager who learns from gods stories.

** That's the Robot Jesus, who may or may not be related to Zombie Jesus or the Jesus involved in the Second Coming of 2443.

* ''[[Clone High]]'' had Jesús, a Latino clone of the Nazarene, who would attempt to give sage advice to other characters but often ended up accidentally injuring himself.

'''Caesar:''' Careful with that nailgun, Jesús! }}

* ''[[The Simpsons]]'' has referenced this trope a few times:

** They showed Jesus in another episode where Homer and Bart were being drawn to Catholicism. Marge had a nightmare where she went to the WASPy Protestant Heaven while Homer and Bart went to the loud, boisterous, Catholic Heaven. Jesus ended up in the Catholic Heaven, "going native".

** Subverted in an episode about religion where Homer begins reminding the family of [[And You Know Who That Was|a certain cool guy with long hair and big ideas]]... but he's talking about a guy "who used to drive that blue car", whose name escapes him.

* As shown in ''Religulous'', [[Bill Maher]] was severely outnumbered in a trucker chapel, and thanked his interviewees for their kind hospitality and their not-kicking-his-ass by saying, "Thanks for being Christ-like and not just Christians."

* John Lennon's infamous [[Bigger Than Jesus]] quote (which was [[Beam Me Up, Scotty|misquoted]]; see below) came from an interview in which he spoke about, amongst other things, the good Christ/bad Christian dichotomy that other famous dead people have commented on.

* Comedian [[George Carlin]], a well known atheist, in his stand-up routine included Jesus in his list of good people who were killed who wanted peace on Earth. His portrayal of Jesus in one of his audio books was very positive as well. In this portrayal he indicated that Jesus would probably be very disappointed in modern Christianity.

* Although he dismissed Christianity in general as conducive to "slave morality", [[Friedrich Nietzsche]] viewed Jesus as his [[Worthy Opponent]] and as an [[Ubermensch]] who radically changed the views of society. He says (in a book entitled ''The Anti-Christ'') that "the last Christian died on the Cross."

* A Christian comedian, Mark Lowry, once discussed Jesus turning water into wine in his act. He said something like, "What I like about Jesus is that his first miracle wasn't healing the blind or raising the dead... his first miracle was to just ''keep the party going''."

* [[Eddie Izzard]] frequently comments on religion in his stand-up routines, and thus mentions Jesus on occasion. In "Dressed to Kill", he stated that he believed that Jesus existed and had "interesting ideas in the Gandhi-type area, in the Nelson Mandela-type area, you know, relaxed and groovy." Just don't take his name in vain. Or call him "Jeezy Creezy".

* Prominent anarchist speaker and writer Emma Goldman had nothing good to say about religion, but stated in at least one essay ("Minorities Versus Majorities") that she respected Jesus for going against the dominant powers of his day and didn't entirely disagree with his teachings -- just with the people who blindly follow them and use their religion as an excuse to persecute others.

* Averted by [[G. K. Chesterton]], of all people. As he says in [http://www.gkc.org.uk/gkc/books/everlasting_man.html#chap-II-ii The Everlasting Man,] "The truth is that it is the image of Christ in the churches that is almost entirely mild and merciful. It is the image of Christ in the Gospels that is a good many other things as well...The Church can reasonably be justified therefore if she turns the most merciful face or aspect towards men; but it is certainly the most merciful aspect that she does turn....A man simply taking the words of the story as they stand would form quite another impression; an impression full of mystery and possibly of inconsistency; but certainly not merely an impression of mildness."

*** Well, the entire planet is "around" him, isn't it? From the perspective of someone on Mars, the entire human population might as well be standing three inches from his face.

* Porphyry, a Neoplatonist philosopher of the third century and the author of the mostly lost, fifteen books long treatise ''Adversus Christianos'' (Against The Christians), famously stated that

 

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