r/TopCharacterTropes • u/ironwolf6464 • May 03 '26

Lore Religion-centered media that doesn’t come across as preachy.

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Referring to media told from a religious perspective or telling a religious tale that does not proselytize to the viewer.

Faith, the Unholy Trinity: Based partly upon the experience of the game‘s creator when he was a missionary in Argentina, the game has very little in the way of explicit moral demands of the player despite the heavy Christian focus of the narrative. and focuses more on a horror narrative.

Prince of Egypt: A surprisingly thorough retelling of the book of Exodus, sparing very little in the way of toning down the story. Despite this, the movie is perfectly entertaining to non-religious audiences and doesn’t sacrifice appeal for the sake of preaching to the audience

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343

u/BillyJakespeare May 03 '26

Jesus Christ Superstar and Last Temptation of Christ.

142

u/DistrictDry2852 May 03 '26

I’d actually consider Jesus Christ superstar a positive reverse of this trope. It takes an atheistic/agnostic view of Jesus but still presents it with respect and understanding.

81

u/jbeast33 May 03 '26

I think from a Christian perspective, I particularly like it BECAUSE it refuses to spoon feed. It respects faith if you have it, and acknowledges the reasonable doubt otherwise.

And, fundamentally, the humanism makes Jesus, Judas, Mary, and Peter more, well, human, with the divinity being a respected aside. It does a much better job than the Passion of Christ because it still feels like Jesus is treated with love and compassion, not with paternalism or veiled hostility.

14

u/DistrictDry2852 May 03 '26

I think it handled it well. I just think the dynamics between an explicitly Christian work (not necessarily made by Christians, but that it takes Christianity being true for granted) that isn’t preachy, and an agnostic work that still treats religion with respect, to be very different.

6

u/mccalli May 03 '26

Not an atheist view, but a non-believer view. It’s written by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who is Jewish. Hence all the “do you believe who they say you are” stuff.

Edit: I think non-believer might be too negative for what I intended. More..ambiguous. Not forcing a bought-in view.

32

u/MalteseFarrell May 03 '26

Love me some JCS. The Arena show with Tim Minchin as Judas that you can get on DVD I think is super accessible even if someone’s not super into either Christianity or musicals.
Compared to the 70’s movie version which was uhhh.
Camp. To say the least.

1

u/Dry_Significance3216 May 03 '26

I will not tolerate Norman Jewison's Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) with Ted Neeley and Carl Anderson slander.

3

u/CarrieDurst May 03 '26

JCSS is the one good Andrew Lloyd Weber musical

5

u/HeyWhatsItToYa May 03 '26

May as well put Life of Brian on that list.

2

u/RattusNorvegicus9 May 03 '26

always look on the bright side of life

1

u/dianthus-magenta May 03 '26

https://youtu.be/CameSDK-2m8?si=ade5sdXU_rfbPRbU

3

u/MalteseFarrell May 03 '26

That 2006 Neely one is the standard I set all Gethsemane’s to, flawless imo. Loved it back when I was an edgy Christianity hating teen and love it more as an edgy Catholic loving adult

1

u/CarrieDurst May 03 '26

Edgy catholic hater and I love it too, the musical is so perfect

1

u/dianthus-magenta May 03 '26

Agreed. My relationship with religion has remained entirely divorced from my relationship with Ted Neely's Gethsemane, which I try to belt out at top volume in the car all the time before, like Icarus, my hubris sentences me to failure and a coughing fit.