[It's] almost impossible to suggest the imaginative impoverishment, the sheer stupefying banality, of … [the] version of the last days of Christ [in the movie Jesus Christ Superstar]…. In another respect, however, I underestimated the work; I had expected the alleged anti-Semitism of the film to be no more than the random fallout of its pandering to the anti-establishment sentiments of its audience, to be, in that sense, unintentional. But though the villainy of the Jews "works," all right, so, too, would the villainy of the Romans, who, if anything, could have been a good deal more easily made standins for cops or American imperialists than can the Jewish priesthood be equated with any of the usual bêtes noires of the counter-culture. Yet the Romans are so thoroughly exculpated by the film of any responsibility for Christ's crucifixion as to become virtual instruments of the Jewish priests, who bring Jesus to a reluctant Pilate with the demand "We need him crucified!" And though the Romans are hardly made attractive … Pilate is at least given an introductory speech in which, reflecting on a dream, he worries about his prospective involvement in Christ's death and how the future will judge him: "Then I saw thousands of millions / Crying for this man / And then I heard them mentioning my name / And leaving me the blame."
This speech, whatever it may lack in scriptural grounding, is at least consistent with the obsession that almost all the characters at one time or another manifest with respect to their standing with posterity, their image…. And even Jesus himself, foreseeing his death, inquires of God, "Will I be more noticed than I was before?" and, later, cries out on the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forgotten me?"—though possibly this last is less a case of meaningful textual emendation than of simple indifference to meaning, as is, presumably, Christ's elsewhere wanting to know that he won't "be killed in vain."
This is a free excerpt of 328 words. There are 692 words (approx.
2 pages at 300 words per page) in the full critical essay.
Read the rest of this Criticism with our Webber, Andrew Lloyd 1948– Rice, Tim 1944–: Critical Essay by William S. Pechter Access Pass.
