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shadowkatPassover and Easter are occurring the same time this year, which hasn't happened in a while. I don't celebrate either. I do a little for Easter, but I'm not religious or anything.
Anyhow, yesterday, I watched the 1970s film, Jesus Christ Superstar, which utilized the original cast of the Broadway Musical that premiered in 1971 or thereabouts. They'd just finished recording the cast album, when they were asked to do a film version. What I didn't know, until I watched part of a cast reunion/making of the film documentary special, was it was filmed in Israel. The entire film version of Jesus Christ Superstar is filmed in the Israeli desert, along the shores of Gailee, and among the Roman and old city ruins. And in the caves. It lends a certain spiritual weight to the musical, and to some of the lyrics, which state this soon will be nothing but ruins. It also reminds me that in at the time this all was taking place historically - it was the beginning of the end of the Roman Empire. The people in the story actually thought this was the beginning of the apocalypse, and Jesus was their last chance to be saved. He was their transformative leader - prophesied to save them from themselves and the coming apocalypse. When in reality, he was a revolutionary and socialist, attempting to lead them into a better way of living, of caring for one another, and depending on your perspective? Finding heaven on earth, and moving on to the next plain of existence. But they wanted a King, someone who would wave a magic wand and make their lives better in the here and now, not quite understanding that only they could bring this about.
The musical kind of touches on that, and comments on it, along with the tendency we have to worship leaders and prophets who seemingly appear to provide a hopeful answer to our problems - and then decimate them when they don't deliver on it. This has happened in multiple ways throughout history. And the film version really hammers it home.
The film wasn't just filmed in Israel. It was filmed in the ruins, and among the scaffolding of restoration efforts. It utilized tanks from the Six Day War that had happened just six weeks prior (this was filmed in the 1970s). With the only bits of modern times: the Israeli tourist bus the cast arrives and leaves in, two army planes flying overhead, and the tanks.
History has a tendency to repeat itself in rhyme.
I don't have much planned. And am being extraordinarily lazy this weekend, but at least getting a little more sleep if in snatches. It's a quiet Easter. And my reluctance to take the subway anywhere...means that I'm much the homebody. I'm admittedly giving my knees a break from climbing up and down so many stairs. I'll probably watch Easter Services from the live stream at the Church, from the comfort of my small living room.
Here's a photo from my walk around Greenwood Cemetery, yesterday.
Anyhow, yesterday, I watched the 1970s film, Jesus Christ Superstar, which utilized the original cast of the Broadway Musical that premiered in 1971 or thereabouts. They'd just finished recording the cast album, when they were asked to do a film version. What I didn't know, until I watched part of a cast reunion/making of the film documentary special, was it was filmed in Israel. The entire film version of Jesus Christ Superstar is filmed in the Israeli desert, along the shores of Gailee, and among the Roman and old city ruins. And in the caves. It lends a certain spiritual weight to the musical, and to some of the lyrics, which state this soon will be nothing but ruins. It also reminds me that in at the time this all was taking place historically - it was the beginning of the end of the Roman Empire. The people in the story actually thought this was the beginning of the apocalypse, and Jesus was their last chance to be saved. He was their transformative leader - prophesied to save them from themselves and the coming apocalypse. When in reality, he was a revolutionary and socialist, attempting to lead them into a better way of living, of caring for one another, and depending on your perspective? Finding heaven on earth, and moving on to the next plain of existence. But they wanted a King, someone who would wave a magic wand and make their lives better in the here and now, not quite understanding that only they could bring this about.
The musical kind of touches on that, and comments on it, along with the tendency we have to worship leaders and prophets who seemingly appear to provide a hopeful answer to our problems - and then decimate them when they don't deliver on it. This has happened in multiple ways throughout history. And the film version really hammers it home.
The film wasn't just filmed in Israel. It was filmed in the ruins, and among the scaffolding of restoration efforts. It utilized tanks from the Six Day War that had happened just six weeks prior (this was filmed in the 1970s). With the only bits of modern times: the Israeli tourist bus the cast arrives and leaves in, two army planes flying overhead, and the tanks.
History has a tendency to repeat itself in rhyme.
I don't have much planned. And am being extraordinarily lazy this weekend, but at least getting a little more sleep if in snatches. It's a quiet Easter. And my reluctance to take the subway anywhere...means that I'm much the homebody. I'm admittedly giving my knees a break from climbing up and down so many stairs. I'll probably watch Easter Services from the live stream at the Church, from the comfort of my small living room.
Here's a photo from my walk around Greenwood Cemetery, yesterday.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-21 04:23 pm (UTC)the tendency we have to worship leaders and prophets who seemingly appear to provide a hopeful answer to our problems - and then decimate them when they don't deliver on it
Yes, this! The line "Hey, JC, would you die for me?" followed by that close up of Ted Neeley's face is still the most haunting moment of the movie for me.
no subject
Date: 2025-04-21 06:47 pm (UTC)The line "Hey, JC, would you die for me?" followed by that close up of Ted Neeley's face is still the most haunting moment of the movie for me.
Agreed. The movie/musical really gets across how people want their leaders to "save them" and "to die for them" and "wave their fingers and make them better". Which opens them up to all sorts of scam artists, and inevitably destroys those who truly want to help and are trying to show them a way of helping themselves.