MovieChat Forums > Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) Discussion > I'm An Atheist Who Loves This Movie

I'm An Atheist Who Loves This Movie


Just saying. It's a great movie. Love the 70's hippie vibe, the music, the dancing. Everything. I am a complete atheist who doesn't believe in the christian god .....or ANY god of any stupid religion anywhere. But this movie still ROCKS!

reply

I am a Pagan and this is one of my all-time favorite movies!!



No Louis, you're mistaken. It's not me.

reply

I've been fairly irreligious for some time. I grew up going to either church (Episcopal) or Quaker Friends' meetings at various points over the years but at this point, I've been spiritually agnostic (if that makes any sense) for some while. Now, I've actually started to develop some Pagan leanings. But I am certainly a bit disenchanted with organized religion. And still, I too love this film and this music. I am fascinated with the characters and songs. And I do love the 1970s aesthetic that's all over this rendition.


So, yeah, it's definitely possible for atheistic, non-religious, or non-Christian people to appreciate this opera. And in fact, it probably gets the most venom from certain branches of Christianity. I would suspect that any non-religious person who despises Superstar for its subject matter has not genuinely heard or seen the show in any form.



"Sometimes it's right to feel a fool"- Cleggy

reply

Troll_Dahl if when you say "I am disenchanted with organized religion" I read that as MAN MADE RELIGION,which leads me to recommend to you or anyone to read the book "ONE LIGHT" by Jon Whistler and is published by Light Pulsations.The books can be purchased at any good book store or at www.lightpulsations.com

reply

Thanks for the recommendation. It was thoughtful. I do, however, have my own avenues of spiritual exploration. All our religious or spiritual thought originates or comes through other humans at some level. My main emphasis is on individualizing spirituality, and avoiding any sort of religion that becomes more of an organization than a religion, or is more of a political or social than spiritual force. There wouldn't be so much backlash against organized religion were it not for efforts to institute it as public policy.

What I am interested in is internal and possibly in all of nature. It's an aspect of ourselves that we benefit from cultivating.

reply

Enjoy it while you can. Your enemy is not Christianity, it's smugness. The Muslims don't permit such things, but Christianity does, though I'm sad to say. Kinda like shooting yourself in the foot to be "outspoken."

reply

I don't regard Christians as my enemies--or Muslims. There is a problem with fundamentalists and radical, violent sects of all stripes (and a million and one reasons for such dangerous perversions to take root more readily in the Middle East than elsewhere). I have respect for individual practitioners of all faiths. I just wish that some of them would in turn respect the natural and healthy plurality of beliefs in human society. One reason to support a secular state is because a society in which people are not able allowed hold and pursue varying beliefs (within the reasonable limitations of, on balance, not hurting themselves or anyone else) may be more likely to stir up conflict through rebellion. It's the same basic issue that arises with any sort of authoritarian or totalitarian environment.

If you're insinuating there's a point at which American outspokenness collides with stupidity, I would tend to agree. At times it almost seems as though a right to be recklessly dumb is enshrined in our constitution, if not for the fact that stupidity is one of those things that cannot be granted nor revoked by law.


Om Shanti

reply

Yes, I just watched this again for a second time, after seeing it as a teenager when it came out. It turned out to be better than I expected. I think it hasn't aged at all, compared to other films from the 1970s, like Jaws, The Exorcist, or the Star Wars films, which are impossible to take seriously.

As for being an atheist, you can believe that assuming God exists, he is the Christian God. Works of art like this one make that idea more plausible to me.

reply

[deleted]

What exactly is a complete athiest as opposed to a normal one? Are you young?

Only those with no valid argument pick holes in people's spelling and grammar.

reply

There is an athiest-agnostic spectrum and as a complete atheist he does not think there is any chance 'god' exists.

reply

At the time Webber and Rice described it as written from an agnostic viewpoint.

reply

I would like to read that. There is NO where in this movie that Jesus is shown giving back to his followers. Just constant "me, me, me". I obsessed over the soundtrack of this movie for at least a year when I was 11-12 yrs old. The music is VERY powerful and consuming. LOVE IT. I was also the daughter of a minister and never really got the omnipresent thing. I thought this might help explain this. Yeah, well, that never happened but I do love the film. Just watched it again after 25 yrs or so and now Im on the 4th viewing in a few days.

reply

I saw this movie as a pagan and as an atheist. And I recent got the 2000 version of JCS. Same story but different cast, setting, and feeling. The new version took some getting used to, still hearing the outdoor movie in my head for the first few times. But I love both movies. They're wonderful. Great story, great drama. And the music has stuck with me for four decades. I'm sitting in the mall food court watching the 2000 version on my laptop right this second and singing along, struggling to keep it under my breath. I say watch both of them, but remember they are different movies, both terrific in their own ways.

reply

Agnostic Jew checking in... JCS is one of my all-times favorites. Never gets old.

reply

Me too!

reply


I worship The Devil, and I love this movie!

your wife makes a damn good breakfast

reply

I believe in music and I was made for dancing. Long live rock.




My "#3" key is broken so I'm putting one here so i can cut & paste with it.

reply

I'm a Christian and I love this movie too. Believe me, there are more Christians that dislike this than non-Christians. Like you said, it was written from an atheists perspective.
I like it so much, I played the part of Caiaphas in a local musical production of it :)

reply

it was written from an agnostic's viewpoint, not an atheist's. Jesus' speech addressed to God the Father is played straight.
I'm a Christian and I was in high school when the JCS studio LP came out. I have always loved it. Bit it wasn't until recently that I saw the film version. I thought Jewison did a fantastic job, even though I am 'used' to hearing Ian Gillan and Murray Head as Jesus and Judas.






"Joey, have you ever been in a Turkish prison?"

reply