Introduction
Jesus Christ Superstar by Andrew Lloyd Webber is a perfect interpretation of the 1970’s social and religious beliefs. It is a rock opera that shook the consciousness of many by its dynamic rhythms and modern interpretation that was so longed for among society of America last century. The music was specially composed as well as lyrics by Tim Rice. The rock opera is special in its content due to the political and personal battles that are clearly presented in throughout the work between Jesus and Judas Iscariot.
Rock Opera’s Content
The opera’s main focus is Christ’s life during his last week before Crucifixion. Though the work does not actually reflect the Gospels’ account, though it was initially intended to, the opera came out pretty much nice and still leaves many people pleased after watching. So, it would be correct to say that the work is more a show rather than an informative layout, moreover, the resurrection is not included. However, it is remarkable that the opera is a wonderfully modern interpretation of Jesus’ psychology. This is the aspect never touched upon before. People of utmost religious beliefs were twisting their minds of what Jesus really felt or thought during specific events of his life. So, this interpretation is a fresh breeze in the religion stream and, of course, arouses many controversial feedbacks. It is interesting that this work presents Judas as a tragic character who is worried about what Jesus tries to convey to his disciples. The lyrics, pervaded with slang make it especially possible for youth to pay attention to the religious issues and indulge in the rethinking of Biblical plot. As a matter of fact, it has been known as in-time-created work for youth and church were drifting apart, whereas Jesus Christ Superstar bridged the notions of slang, youngsters, and biblical issues.
Jesus Christ Superstar’s Context
So, the important thing is to determine why characters acted the way they did in accordance to the script and authors’ idea. In order to outline that it is necessary to understand the context it was written within. It is claimed by scientists and historians that Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John had many inconsistencies (Farley, 2009). For example, all of them were found written in Geek, which directly contradicts the Jewish origin of Gospels (Fiero, 2010). Moreover, the day of Christ’s crucifixion is confused saying that it was on the day of Passover and the other Gospel, John, claims it ‘was on the Day of Preparation for Passover that this occurs, but this is confusing historically.’ (McKinney, 2010). So, it seems like Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice had substantial grounds to create such a provocative content.
As Met by Audience
As such, it is obvious that the opera made a real splash among public for its controversial interpretation. Evidently, the absence of resurrection and other more expressive scenes were met unfriendly by various religious groups. The show was condemned by the older generation, as well. The reason for that was over-sympathetic performance Judas, it is believed that some of the verses were way offensive towards Jesus, hence the entire work’s focus spins around Judas as a positive hero but not the other way around, as it was supposed to be (following the title). Moreover, the scene of crowd of people who wanted Christ’s crucifixion is condemned by public for misinformation about Jewish being responsible for Jesus’ death. The opera was broadcasted in many countries of the world, and was banned in South Africa because of ‘irreligious’ content.
In a word, the musical was accepted as the work against faith. The first reason to claim that was because Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice did not accept Jesus as God. This is a good explanation why they did not include resurrection into the play. They considered Jesus to be one from the crowd – not a chosen one, not a God’s son: “It happens that we DON’T SEE CHRIST AS GOD but simply the right man at the right time at the right place.” As said by Tim Rice (The Christianity, 2010). Moreover, the authors continued supporting their ideas later on in several prominent magazines and newspapers, saying that “We are basically trying to tell the story of Christ as a man. I think he Increases in stature by looking at him as a man.” (The Christianity, 2008). So, eventually we see that the story of Christ’s last days was twisted or, let’s say, rethought as per what is considered by Bible. Either it is author’s intent to dissuade public from the church’s dominance or a simple new view, the play gained wide response from public both positive and negative. It is all about the desire of people to be lead by some sort of religious belief, even if it cannot be proven, still a person is likely to believe in divine spark in order to have a spiritual support. While Jesus Christ Superstar debunks the myths in its interpretation.
Jesus Christ Superstar Critiques
So, there were many feedbacks and critiques on the musical. Some said it was a horrible interpretation of the New Testament though fun to watch, and it made a better musical than a content, whereas other claimed that was a newly presented information and a new look at Jesus, which makes him closer to people because we understand he was just as much a human as we are. I tend to agree with the first opinion that this opera is disrespectful towards the beliefs that have been forming throughout centuries. Of course, it is possible to object and say that people deserve to know the truth and find something more new and close to reality than simply having faith in something inconceivable. However, who said people truly need it? Let me be completely unbiased and say that nations throughout the globe have been forming their beliefs starting way long ago, yet the modern society is likely to know what religious standards they feel convenient with. It is remarkable that there appeared the two smart men who dared to challenge the religion and its established notions, although, it might be too harsh for all the religious traditions.
Conclusion
Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice did a great job conceptualizing the idea of Christ’s not belonging to the divine spark. In the opera Judas Iscariot makes his decisions according to his own conscience, which is presented all the way around than in Bible. The character performs a totally new model of conduct as per a foe – it is a magnificently consistent behavior that Lloyd Webber managed to attach to the betrayer. He acts and speaks (sings songs) as if he saw something was insane about Jesus’ ideas, he was worried about the people involved in it (Webber, 1985). In a word, the presentation of Judas is unexpected and caused lots of burring debates that continue until today.
References
Farley, A. (2009) The Naked Gospel: The Truth You May Never Hear in Church. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
Fiero, G (2010) The Humanistic Tradition Volume II: The Early Modern World to the Present. Desoto: McGraw-Hill
McKinney, B. (2010) The New Testament and the Historical Context of Jesus Christ. Web.
The Christianity (2010) Jesus Christ Superstar against Christianity. Web.
The Christianity (2008) JCS-Critically Examined In The Light Of The Bible. Web.
Webber, A. L. & Rice T. (1985) Jesus Christ Superstar: A Rock Opera. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation.