Guardians of the Galaxy 3 was Christian propaganda

Spoilers for GOTG 3 below:

Okay, so when Rocket was dying and he saw Lylla in the entrance to the afterlife, it got really weird for a second when Lylla referenced “The hands that guide the hands that create us”. Now, the hands that created Rocket and Lylla are the hands of the High Evolutionary, and Lylla is telling Rocket to embrace an identity beyond him. That makes sense. But whose hands guide the Evolutionary’s? God’s?? That seems to be the implication, that somehow an otter is a christian. And I say christian instead of religious, because she is clearly referencing the idea of a grand plan that is not present in polytheistic religions, she’s talking about god’s plan. Or dare I say, she is asking Rocket to be part of “the greatest story ever told”

But it was just one odd sentence, so I let myself doubt this was intentional. Maybe the writers put that in there without thinking of the agenda-ness of it because it was just the terms in which they saw the world. Maybe it was an accident, an oversight.

So anyway, 10 minutes later the High Evolutionary says “I’m an atheist”, and every one of his minions in the room points their guns at him. Animal abuse? No big deal. Eugenics? Been there done that. Destroying a planet full of sentient life? Who cares? You’re an atheist!? HOW DARE YOU

But okay, maybe that’s not what they really meant in the scene. I’m joking with my friends, “Jesus is gonna show up at the end of the movie”, and I don’t mean it, this is probably where it’ll end

So anyway, then Chris Pratt dies in space and “ADAM” Warlock shows up, the camera does an obvious reference to The Creation of Adam, and Warlock saves Cris, allowing him to be raised from the dead. Bruh. Jesus actually showed up at the end of the movie

QHC,
QHC avatar

First off, credit given for writing up an explanation and posting in a public forum, even if I do think this is a crazy take that doesn't stand up to pretty much any level of scrutiny.

And I say christian instead of religious, because she is clearly referencing the idea of a grand plan that is not present in polytheistic religions, she’s talking about god’s plan.

There is a colossal reach from "there is a god with a plan" to specifically Christianity. Judaism and Islam don't get a chance to audition for the part at all, huh? And that's just the Abrahamic traditions that directly share the only attributes you listed. There are plenty of other religions that fit, and that includes other monotheistic belief systems (which also begs the question, why is Christianity not categorized as polytheistic and why does that distinction matter at all?).

I'm also just going to assume you mean evangelical Christianity and not other sects, given the general unawareness of the subtleties of religion in general.

keeb420,

my interpretation of the part where they pull the guns on the high evolutionary is that he had always made himself to be a god to them. by saying he doesnt believe in god(s) he is admitting that he is not a god, and thus not worthy of their devotion.

itd be like if a cult leader admitted it was all fake right before making everyone "drink the kool aid" and them turning on the cult leader.

realcaseyrollins,

I'm not sure which take is worse, this one, or the take that Barbie is pure third wave feminist propaganda

polygon,
polygon avatar

Simply referencing Christianity isn't propaganda. Like it or not, it's a touchstone most everyone can relate to and so it gets used in plenty of plots, from sci-fi to horror. Would you call Kevin Smith's Dogma Christian propaganda because it references Christianity? Bruh. Actual God showed up there too. I don't get upset when religion is referenced, so long as it isn't used to beat me over the head with. I mean Marvel has a literal Norse god as a main character. Why would it be any different to have a Christian god as a main character?

Anyway, even if you map this movie 1:1 with Christian tradition it has nothing good to say about it. That is the opposite of propaganda.

HobbitFoot,

The movie does a great job in showing the High Evolutionary as a monster with great power. If you map him as the Christian God, then the movie made God the villain.

The movie plays with a lot of Christian tropes, but it doesn’t feel like propaganda because it isn’t saving good things about Christianity.

LegitNerd,

I agree. The way I see it, the movie is more focused on having their characters accepting their pasts, embracing the family they have made, and charting their futures based on their desires. Yes it plays with tropes but in no way is it Christian propaganda. If it were Christian propaganda, then Rocket would’ve never turned away from the High Evolutionary. Adam even goes through his own change from being the Warlock of the Sovereign to being a Guardian. It’s a wonderful story I believe and a great send off for this iteration of the team.

Conyak, (edited )

I mean, he was called Adam in the comic books. The Christian analogy was there long before the movies. That said, the idea of a grand plan exists in plenty of polytheistic religions. Hell, even quantum physics has a theory about the grand design. Many of the beliefs in Christianity come from polytheistic religions. The story of Jesus himself is remarkably similar to Isis in Egyptian mythology. I don’t think you can try to represent the afterlife without some similarities.

baby,

You could’ve hidden the spoilers better, the sentence about Rocket dying was the first thing I read about the post and I didn’t even open the post until I started writing this comment. The preview showed it

OZFive,

He might die/might not die/might have appeared to die…This is SciFi, no rules for death and such.

But yes, spoilers should be hidden.

starlinguk,
starlinguk avatar

So is Harry Potter. And Lord of the Rings. Tropes, bitches.

unknowing8343,

Common tropes have existed forever. We can complicate stories a lot, but at the end of the day, all stories share stuff, specially the stuff that has worked for thousands of years.

giddy,
@giddy@aussie.zone avatar

The imagery of Adam saving Starlord was also a big clue

Astroturfed,

Maybe I was too distracted by how laughably awful the movie was, but I didn’t really get that. It did seem very anti-genetics/cloning/animal testing. Maybe some Christian overtones but not as heavy handed as your making it out.

BruceTwarzen,

I thought the exact same thing. I had some goped because people seemed to like it, but it was pretty revilting and boring.

Blaze,
@Blaze@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Also, I don’t get why you are getting downvoted, your theory is interesting

TooMuchDog,

He’s not getting downvoted for presenting an interesting analysis of the Christian themes in the movie, he’s getting downvoted for claiming the use of those themes makes the movie Christian propoganda.

Blaze,
@Blaze@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

I see

Blaze,
@Blaze@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Hello,

Happy to see you again,

You might maybe want to either use the spoilers tags, or add them in the title? I don’t care, but I know some people might be a bit annoyed

spoilerExample

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