I was introduced to the film "Jesus Was a Commie" created by Matthew Modine in my college theology class. This short film firmly opened with statements comparing the actions of Jesus to that of a communist. My initial reaction was "Wow! That was bold"! When the term communist is brought up, Jesus would not be the first to come to mind for many. Communism triggers thoughts of violence, oppression, lack of expression, as well as dictatorships. How could Jesus be involved with such awful occurrences? Yet, Matthew Modine displayed a rather positive view on communism that certainly changed by opinion about this ideology. Modine simply stated that communism failed due to the greed of the human race. Each person wanted to be better than the next. Jesus encouraged selflessness as well as equality among all people, aspects of communism that seemed to be forgotten throughout history. Jesus valued "loving thy neighbor as you love thyself", and communism would instill a lack of competition between people and the ability for those to be oppressed. This film definitely opened my eyes to a new way of thinking about communism as well as theologizing about Jesus in a new way. Through Modine's analysis of several attributes of communism and depiction of Jesus's life in the past, the statement "Jesus was a commie" became increasing more accurate. This makes me think, will communism ever lose its negative connotations and could Jesus's form of communism displayed by Modine ever truly work in the modern world?
A10172943
A10172943