‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ is one of the most awaited movies of 2016,
from the ‘X-Men’ film series. The official trailer released recently reveals
that Apocalypse, the immortal and invincible, wakes up after thousands of years
to be disillusioned by the world as he sees it. He decides to cleanse mankind
and create a new world which will be ruled over by him. This mass-destruction
of mankind, however, has to be stopped by a group of young X-Men led by Raven
and Professor X.
Just another movie-plot and what am I doing writing about it in my column?
Well, seems like the elimination of mankind by Apocalypse has not been taken
very kindly by some men! The trailer has him say, “I have been called many
things over many lifetimes – Ra, Krishna, Yahweh.” Ra was the chief of the
Egyptian Pantheon during the ancient times and Yahweh, was the chief god of the
ancient Israel. While the followers of Ra who do not exist, and Yahweh, have
not raised any objection, the same is not true for Krishna, who is the main god
for many across the world, especially with certain sections of the Indian
society. The objection is – why should the evil in Apocalypse be compared with
the Hindu god, Krishna, who stood for all that was right and just?
Many references to Apocalypse in the movie seem to have parallels with Krishna.
Apocalypse is depicted in blue and he can assume a massive size, whereby the
mortals look small in front of him, are just couple of the physical
similarities. Apocalypse, like Krishna intends to usher in a new world era, as
the present ones need to be destroyed.
Is this intentional or a matter of misguided inspiration? Misguided, because
the objectives of both Apocalypse and Krishna might seem similar, the
intentions are far too different. The comparison of Apocalypse as the ungodly
personification of evil with a Krishna is a bit of an oddity here. It seems,
director Bryan Singer, was trying to hit out at the concept of god and
devotion. In an interview he says “What is a God? Why would someone create and
rule over a race simply to be worshipped?…….that’s the big giant ego of the
old God.”
So is Singer trying to question the concept of god, since he finds the entire
concept of devotion as an act of forced supremacy by the creator on the
created?
A demand to edit the references to Krishna from the trailer and subsequently
from the movie has been made by a certain group, but the question is, how
critical is the need to do so?
The West has always been obsessed with the Hindu pantheon, especially with Ganesha,
Shiva and Kali to name just a few, and many a times for all the wrong reasons.
Depictions of deities on footwear and undergarments have been witnessed earlier
as nothing but a perverse desire to seek attention. This is not the first time
that someone has referred to a Hindu god without a holistic understanding and a
thorough knowledge of what the deity signifies, and I doubt if this will be the
last time.
Mythology by and large has its own language which is allegorical in nature. It
is contextual and taking aspects out of context just leads to disastrous
effects and this has happened before. Creating new mythology is understandable
and I would say a primeval desire of human beings. But should that be created
on the misguided misunderstanding of the old mythology? Should it be created on
premises which are contrary to the established ones, just to shock and awe and
for a purpose which lends more credence to commerce than substance? Or is this
just another example of courting controversy to gain publicity?
Finally, to be fair to Krishna, who battled many a force since his birth and
triumphed at every step, does a passing reference to him, undermine his
enormous following across the world?
As Krishna in a recent teleserial was prone to say – swayam vichaar kijiye?
First appeared on News18.com
