Holy Harmonizing Hippies: The Jesus Musicals

[vovat]

The early seventies must have been an auspicious time for musicals based on the life of Jesus, because it's when Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar came out. I recently had occasion to watch the movie versions of both of these. Although both covered the same subject, they did so in quite different ways. Godspell was more of a performance art piece, while JCS was a rock opera with more of a story and exploration of character. Also, Godspell focuses largely on the sayings and parables of Jesus, and JCS explores the events leading up to his death. I have to say I much preferred JCS, but I guess I've never been much of a performance art fan. Godspell also struck me as rather more over the top. Both made Jesus' followers into hippies (a sensible choice for people who wandered around preaching peace and love), but the Godspell hippies had much more exaggerated and clownish outfits. Also, both included some modern references, but they seemed rather more blatant in Godspell. Maybe that's just because of the Three Stooges references, though. It called a lot of attention to its New York City setting, but I don't think this was even mentioned in the dialogue. Actually, I think both musicals were rather minimal productions that don't take place anywhere in particular, but the Godspell movie makers decided on New York. JCS was filmed in Israel, albeit pretty much entirely outdoors.

As far as the portrayals of Jesus himself go, the Godspell Jesus was happy. REALLY happy, in fact, pretty much all the time. The titular superstar of the other film, however, had a greater range of emotions, spending a lot of time fretting and clearly having a temper. Godspell didn't really explore the other characters all that much, while JCS was largely focused on characterization. Judas Iscariot was played as a sympathetic tragic figure with conflicting opinions toward Jesus. Even the high priest Caiaphas, while not the nicest guy, is hardly the irredeemable villain that Christian writings present. As such, I'm a little disappointed that they kept in the stuff about the bloodthirsty Jewish leaders pretty much forcing Pontius Pilate into crucifying Jesus, which rather reeks of antisemitism. Not that I think the makers of the musical were being intentionally antisemitic, but with the nuances they added to other characters and scenes, I would have hoped this part would have been less straightforward. In fact, if the Wikipedia article is any indication, the very fact that the characters are fleshed out beyond their Biblical portrayals caused some controversy among Christian critics. Apparently they would have preferred if Judas had just been a fink, rather than a character with multiple dimensions. Oh, and I also feel it necessary to mention JCS's Herod, a flamboyant partying dork who made for an enjoyable scene. I get the impression Herod is the role they give to the actor who isn't particularly good-looking.

Overall, Godspell was fine for what it was, which was essentially a rather vaudevillian work of performance art based on the Gospels (particularly Matthew). But JCS was more of a fun and interesting viewing for me. I've read that it was based mostly on the Gospel of John, although Judas' fate was taken from Matthew, the book with the most sympathetic presentation of the betrayer.

Comments

[goldenmoonbear.livejournal.com]

I saw both movies as a double feature on the big screen last weekend. Love 'em both :-)

[suegypt.livejournal.com]

I credit JCS with making me consider the humanity of Judas Iscariot, rather than simply dismissing him as Satan, Jr. Since then, I have always wondered if ever there is a situation (such as David Koresh in Waco) that pitted my expectations and beliefs against something or someone so compelling, would i be able to find the right answer, or would i stay safe with what I know (which might be the right answer)?

For instance, if i was among the everyday Hebrew population in Jesus' day, devout in my traditional beliefs, and he came along and said "this is all just words, you gotta find the truth," would i have been among the crowd who shouted him down? Or would I have thought he might be some sort of prophet? Did those people who took up with Koresh come to the conclusion that he was a prophet because he brainwashed them, or because they carefully considered everything and chose freely?

Uh, Godspell didn't make me think of anything, except where else I'd rather be...

[rockinlibrarian.livejournal.com]

I saw a production of Godspell that set it in a Depression-era shantytown. The setting actually seemed to fit it very nicely!

I used to like JCS best, and storywise I definitely still do, but I've come to ADORE the Godspell soundtrack. Then again, I'm pretty hippie in my musical tastes as it is.

[ozma914.livejournal.com]

I also preferred JCS; also not much of a performance art fan.