Batman V Superman: 10 Ways It Must Improve On Man Of Steel
9. Less Christian Symbolism
Theres a reason that Christian symbolism is so easy to spot in movies. Themeslike sacrifice, belief, and the relationship between the father and son can be found all throughout fiction, but the problem with Man Of Steel was how obvious it made these influences. Despite dealing with fantastical science-fiction elementslike a pending alien invasion orfighting Zod on a spaceship, the narrative immediately broke focus to invoke some sort of religious notion. From Clark visiting a church for guidance to floating into space with the likeness of Jesus on the cross, it just didn't belong and people took notice. The jarring turn to the narrative had no set-up and the religious parallels immediately took us out of the moment.
Superman doesn't need Christian undertones for audiences to pick up on his role as an all-powerful saviour. Religion doesn't really have a place in his life and shoehorning in some unnecessary symbology just dilutes the other messages of the film. Sadly, the trailers for Batman v Superman make it appear as if this religious motif is going to continue. Superman bathed in light as he rescues people from the flood as well as the focus on him being a "false god" don't exactly inspire confidence that Snyder has dealt with this. But it doesn't conclusively prove that it will be as bad this time around either.
Even though the likelihood of this trendrepeating itself seems high, for all we know, the focus on Christianity could be limited to those select moments we've already seen. We could be in store for a couple of shotsthat are up for interpretation as opposed to obviously being influenced by Christianity.A more subtle hand in their executioncould go a long way to improving the sequel,and it's still possible that Snyder isable to pull away from some of these more overt symbols in favour ofa broader thematic palette.