Thursday, July 16, 2015

X-Men: Apocalypse trailer "I've been called... Yaweh"

It's not too often that a sci-fi movie or book rubs me the wrong way, nor am I the kind of person that gets offended at every little thing. I'm a big fan of reimagining the universe, asking questions about how things would operate given a different set of presuppositions, and so on. But, Marvel and Fox have officially vexed me. I am greatly vexed.

In the leaked trailer for a future installment in Fox's line of Marvel movies, "X-Men: Apocaplypse," the super villain Apocalypse utters the line,

"I have been called many things in many lifetimes- Rah, Krishna, Yahweh."

From a sci-fi standpoint, this line is stated in a fictional, atheistic world with questionable morals and a non-linear temporality. So, from within the movie's own frame of reference, it's forgiveable. However, Marvel and Fox do not exist within Fox's alternate mutant reality, and neither do the movie's viewers. We live in this world, with real beliefs and passions. And with real current events.

Right now there are wars going on in other countries over beliefs. Real wars. People are dying over the names of various gods. So I have to ask- Marvel, Fox- Why did you not throw Alah's name in there? Instead of using the name of a god who's name is being used in a great war that is causing very real deaths, you chose to use the sacred, personal, name of the God of the two groups of people most likely not to do anything about it. Jews won't even say or spell this name because it's so sacred. Christians use it, but generally only in certain contexts, preferring the simple English "God." Why not Allah? For that matter, why not some name no one will care about? Bahamut? Satan? Ba'al? Zeus? I could keep going of course. The fact is, you've done a very cowardly thing. You've tried to do something provocative by suggesting the (invisible, timeless) God of (at least) two major world religions is a mere mortal mutant (and an evil one at that), but you did it by choosing a God who will bring you the least amount of kickback from his followers (same thing could be said of Krishna). 

In all- Marvel, Fox- You've chosen poorly. 

I suggest, from the voice of a fan, you make some changes before the actual movie comes out.

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