Two Ways of Seeing Jason Bourne

Two of my favorite things about Monday are that Joe Carter at the Evangelical Outpost publishes his weekly Thirty Three Things Column, and I also get my weekly update from Mike Metzger at the Clapham Institute. This week both had a reference to one of my all-time favorite movie franchises - the Bourne series. 

Joe has a link to an article that says that Jason Bourne is a Rambo for liberals, in which the author, Brendan O’Neill, says:

In The Bourne Ultimatum, as in the first two instalments, the only bad guys are CIA operatives. They think little of bugging phones, using spycams to track troublesome elements, shooting uppity journalists, and blowing up CIA men gone wrong in the teeming streets of foreign cities. As Cosmo Landesman says in The Sunday Times, Bourne is ‘the perfect liberal hero’. He allows ‘liberals to enjoy all the forbidden pleasures of the espionage blockbuster: they can see him kick a**, break necks, smash faces and shoot fellow human beings, and not complain about civil liberties because the victims work for the CIA’. Bourne is, says Landesman, ‘the John Rambo of the liberal intelligentsia’

On the other hand, Mike Metzger says that the Bourne franchise is a good representation of the four chapter Christian story:

The Bourne Identity asks the existential question ("Who am I?") according to film critic Manohla Dargis (formerly at the Los Angeles Times). He says the second film, The Bourne Supremacy was moral – "What did I do wrong?" The third installment, The Bourne Ultimatum, is redemptive according to David Denby of The New Yorker. It addresses "How can I escape what I am?" These three questions are addressed and answered in the first three chapters of the "four-chapter" gospel.

For thousands of years, the gospel was a "four-chapter" story enshrined in such early documents as the Nicene Creed (325AD), the Athanasian Creed (4th century) and the Apostle's Creed (8th century revision of the Old Roman Creed of the 3rd century). It was the story behind every story – captured in four chapters: (1) Creation – addressing the existential question "Who am I?" and how life ought to be, (2) the Fall – addressing "What did I do wrong?" to make the world the way it is today, (3) Redemption – addressing "How can I escape what I am?" and make things better and (4) the Restoration – "Where will I end up?" (For those of us who have seen Bourne Ultimatum, we were left wondering, "Where will Jason Bourne end up?")

 

Jason Bourne may seem larger than life, but his story actually reflects an even bigger story. "The Bible tells a story that is the story, the story of which our human life is a part," wrote Lesslie Newbigin. "It is not that stories are part of human life, but that human life is part of a story." When we see these patterns in cinema reflected in Scripture, the seeming gap between "the world" and the Word of God shrinks.

While I think Mr. O'Neill is insightful in his observations I think Metzger offers a more fruitful way of analyzing things.  The O'Neill article views life through a politicized lens, whereas the Metzger article views life through a gospel/redemptive lens.  Metzger doesn't claim that Bourne is a Christian hero, just that the franchise itself asks the inescapable questions which are only answered fully in the Christian story.

The reason that Metzger's take is more fruitful is that it escapes the pitfalls of the political illusion.  As Chuck Colson says:

Have we finally succumbed to what Jacques Ellul, the eccentric French Reformed thinker, prophesied in the 1960s—the politicization of all aspects of life? Ellul foresaw the Information Age and the media's need for a steady flow of information to feed the populace. Media would therefore gravitate to covering centers of power. Politicians would be willing accomplices, because they'd gain fame and clout. All of this has happened, creating what Ellul's prophetic book, The Political Illusion, predicted: the idea that every problem has a political solution.

Comments

[Ched]

These are good observations, and a helpful way of thinking about the Bourne series. These points would also be a good way to transition a conversation toward the gospel in the context of evangelism.

[Eric]

While I've never been keen on letting pop culture contaminate the Gospel (The Gospel According to the Simpson),(The Gospel According to the Sapranos), I understand Metzgers take, but believe we have a major problem with de-contextualization.

If we discard the context and purpose of the film (entertainment) and we discard the political climate in which the film-makers are influenced, and we discount the fact that media has a stranglehold on our culture, if we discount the film-makers political leanings(we all have them),if we toss context, we have an exercise in post-modern thinking. As Christians we are THE guardians of Truth.

I appreciate the 'silver-lining' approach and I always appreciate positivity, when it comes to sharing our faith we can't afford to gloss over the negative, with the hope someone 'get it' through the mire.

And quoting Mr. Ecumenism himself, who in turn quotes Jacques Ellul, a 'Christian'Anarchist?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Ellul

These assumptions are dangerous, and obviously without merit (IMO). It is near impossible in a culture for anyone, let alone someone in media, to be politic free.

In Christ

[Son of William]

Thanks for posting these two articles. As Tolkien once said about Fairy Stories in his essays on fairy stories, and I'm paraphrasing here, "Fairy Stories are not supposed to be analyized. If we are to give analysis to these stories, we come to strange conclusions. Rather, we are to enter into the stories, for this is what stories were made for."

Somehow as I read the Bible, i cannot help but to believe that the way to go is to enter into the stories. Jesus said, "No one can enter into the Kingdom unless he becomes like one of these." to which he was referring to childlike faith and living from the heart.

I think we are not to be afraid of the gospel being contaminated, although I understand what my brother is saying above. My view is that the gospel is uncontaminatable in its true own right and truth. what is contaminatable are human hearts that mis-interpret truth due to brokenness. I believe it takes an awakened heart to see Bourne in Metzger's light. Realising that the reason any film does well at the box office is often due to the fact that those stories contain more truth than we realise.

By the way I am politically free. As most children tend to be..

[Alex Chediak]

David,

I enjoyed the movies, particularly the 3rd installment. But in terms of Metzger's argument, the larger difficulty I have is this: Doesn't Bourne save himself? He essentially chooses his own reality, and wills himself back to his roots. Though I see a Christian analogy in that restoration involves a returning to a true self (the image of God, minus the distortion of sin), I wonder if Bourne is more existentialist than Christian.

Alex

[David Wayne]

Alex - good points all. I can't disagree with any of them. I do realize that every analogy or illustration breaks down at some point, so this is similar - I agree that this is not a Christian story.

But, I think that where Metzger connects with the points you raise is to see that the Christian story haunts our whole world and even stories that have no ostensible reference to Christ, still have echoes of the Christian story in them.

Thoughts?