Thor! Mighty Thor!

Just saw the new Thor movie with my grandson. Fun movie, and worth seeing. I am not a big movie going or comic reader, and know that religious themes are often used in superhero stories and movies, but it was interesting to see it played out in this one, One of the central themes is a man angry at the gods for the loss of a loved one, and can almost be expressed as the old question of theodicy, “If the gods are great they must not be good, or if good, they must not be great.” Will not give any more spoilers, but interesting to see those questions played out in popular culture.

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Speaking of theodicy, I tripped over this earlier in another thread: Skeptical theism. It seems apropos.

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kermodes review was less “great” about the film. The best part from his comment where

"he the god butcher he’s got to get to
the gates of all eternity where he can
make one wish that will be the wishiest
wish that every anyone ever wished
incidentally he you just wish i wish i
was omnipotent and had endless wishes
anyway so thor then
announces that he says
he said i’m gonna get together as a top
top top top notch team top top he says
it like that in a way that sounds
exactly like boris johnson

we’re recording this on a wednesday i
have no idea how that joke lands but he
that’s what he sounds like that’s true
there is that general feeling that
he’s there at the moment but by the time
you get this he might not maybe not be
um

anyway they head off into a
into space in a fairground ride boat
which is pulled by screaming goats
comedy screaming goats because hey kids
internet memes about screaming goats are
cool even i thought hang on a minute that’s past its tell by date

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I’m also not a big superhero person. I’ve seen like 1/3rd of the moves released in the universe franchisees latterly. But in most films there something super powerful plays a role and it requires a group of friends and people bonded by love and hope to overcome the evil there will be a lot of religious connections. The trailer for the film looks good. I’m looking forward to aqua man 2 since it’s being directed by James Wan who is a decently established horror film director. He said that this new film is heavily influenced by “ Planet of the Vampires “ from 1960s which is the same film that inspired and influenced “ Aliens “ and that he’s also influenced by Cthulhu and deep ones mythos.

At first I thought: “Thorl”? Who’s “Thorl”? Then I looked closer and decided it’s time to make an appointment with my ophthalmologist. My cataracts are getting worse.

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Very enlightening review. Now that you mention it, I’ve never seen Boris Johnson and Thor in the same room together…

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You have to accept that these movies are basically comic books in video format. I enjoy all the puns and tongue in cheek humor buried in the story.

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Spoiler warning*
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Did you notice the reference to ‘the carpenter god’?

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Muting this thread so I don’t get tempted to peak at the spoilers :joy:

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That’s way ahead of me, not having seen any superhero movies. Not that I’ve seen lots of movies overall (~50). Far more shorter things and old TV shows.

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Well, if you get a couple of free hours, at least watch Guardians of the Galaxy. For the music, if nothing else.

I did! Sort of wondered where that would go, but sort of left it there.

I feel like it would be bold for Disney to go with a Jesus as just one of the gods. Not that I would mind. I know it’s just art. But I feel like it would definitely cause a scene. Maybe.

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Funny that you mention that, cause I think an X-Men villain in a recent installment considered Christ to be a mutant; can’t recall what the response was to that.

Meanwhile, Jesus shows up in Jojo part 7

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I’ve always liked X-men and have watched most of them. Jesus has indirectly popped up with the blue one that can pop around to different places. He was the one in the church. Not a villain. Maybe Nightcrawler?

Then the one guy played that villain who was Egyptian and almost one bit they defeated him dropped several names and one was yes his but it was so subtle and most don’t know what it meant anyways and it could have also stood for Joshua and so some thought maybe he was hinting at having been his step father. But nothing in the mainstream Disney films have had something like Jesus and Thor fighting side by side and Thor protects Jesus or something then later on jesus turns water into wine and they joke about their dads. It’s not that I think anything would really happen bad from it, other than the same people who get mad about everything else from Harry Potter to metal, I just am hard pressed that Disney would do it atm.

I do want to see this Thor movie know. Bale looks like a nice evil villain.

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Found Jojo available in my library’s Hoopla database subscription. I watched the first episode in translation. Puzzling and interesting at the same time. I found the melding of nobility sensibilities from two cultures fascinating as well as the simplicity of the natures of the characters (all one thing: evil, innocent, gullible, tragically heroic,etc.)

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whenever I hear x-men I have to think of those who are men no more. explains their behaviour, trying to compensate :slight_smile:

I always think of Jennifer Lawrence. Raven or Mystique. Felt she was the best character in the series. But then again they wrote the series to highlight her a lot.

Searched this a little: “Valkyrie could’ve been talking about the Greek God of Carpenters Hephaestus, or even Lu-Ban, the God of Carpentry from Chinese mythology.” or a reference to jesus without being a certain one that would get them in trouble.

I thought of a disgruntled Orual from C.S. Lewis’s Till We Have Faces. It is nice to see such questions played out but it its portrayal of the gods is not in any way serious so it goes nowhere.

We liked the goats the most. Can’t get that scream out of my head.

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