Indeed, in its first decade Indian film production was entirely dominated by the so-called mythological genre. Indian filmmakers have been working with Hindu imagery (and profiting handsomely off it) for over a century.
But his contention that Krishna is “meant” to be worshiped in temples, instead of viewed on the movie screen, relies on a too-simple dichotomy. Perhaps the right of non-Hindu filmmakers to use imagery that derives its power and appeal from Hindu sources should be challenged. Part of Zed’s point has to do with appropriation.
For comic-book fans and other serial viewers of superhero movies, his is surely the definitive combination, to date, of blue skin, portentous rhetoric, and apocalyptic power – the avatar (so to speak) to beat. Manhattan’s cinematic debut in 2009’s Watchmen was a memorable one. Robert Oppenheimer’s epiphany on viewing the first atomic detonation, as voiced in the words of the Bhagavad Gita: “I am become Death, Destroyer of Worlds.” Dr. Manhattan, a philosophically inclined giant whose name and imagery were inspired by the Manhattan Project – and specifically by J. The most powerful character in DC’s celebrated “alternative” comics series, Watchmen, is Dr. But in the same period, perhaps not entirely by coincidence, another blue-complected character emerged at Marvel’s rival, DC – a figure that does show a clear debt to Krishna. The Apocalypse character dates back to the X-Men stories published by Marvel Comics in the mid-1980s, and his origin story involves motifs borrowed not from Hindu, but Egyptian mythology (whence the Ra reference). Or to any Hindu antecedent, that is, that doesn’t already come filtered through layers of American popular culture, including another comic-book franchise. That being noted, the association of the X-Men’s blue-faced villain with Krishna would seem to owe little to any actual antecedent in Hindu tradition. One senses that American misunderstandings of Hinduism, and prejudice against it, are sources of familiar and enduring concern for Zed. Zed’s prayer was interrupted several times from the gallery news of his invitation, by Harry Reid of Nevada, had been met with an e-mail protest circulated by Christian groups. In 2007 he opened a session of the United States Senate, the first Hindu guest chaplain in its history.
(Along with Time, some South Asian YouTube channels picked up the story, and comments can be found there echoing Zed’s sense of offence mishearing “Ra” as Ram has added to the grievances of some.) There has been one notable occasion, however, on which Zed attained national visibility as the face of American Hinduism.
Zed is the president of an organisation called the Universal Society of Hinduism, but – notwithstanding his own rather grandiose styling – it is unclear how many Hindus he actually speaks for. “Lord Krishna was meant to be worshiped in temples or home shrines,” he protested, “not for pushing movies for the mercantile greed of filmmakers,” and pressed the director to have all Krishna references deleted from the film.
One of the film’s trailers features this grandiose statement: “I have been called many things over many lifetimes: Ra, Krishna, Yahweh.” And as reported in Time magazine, the line caught the attention of Rajan Zed, a Hindu priest based in Reno, Nevada. Apocalypse is the name of the villain, who makes his own claim to divinity in no uncertain terms. Big budgets, big muscles, big explosions: Each release only strengthens the genre’s domination of Hollywood – and the sense that comic-book franchises make up a contemporary mythology and superheroes are its gods.Īmong this year’s offerings is X-Men: Apocalypse, which opened the last week of May. CC BY 3.0 via Wikimedia CommonsĪnother summer, another season of superhero movies.