Sunday Matinee #62 Final Destination
Tony Todd is the master of creepy horror vibes!
John 12:20-33 | Revised Common Lectionary | EnterTheBible.org
Fifth Sunday in Lent | 03.17.2024
Context: Jesus has entered Jerusalem for Passover with a parade. The city is filled with people from across the region and some come to listen to Jesus. Before long, Jesus begins speaking of a touchy subject, his death. While he has done this in private with his disciples before (and he will again soon), this time it is in front of the crowds. There is a supernatural element of this story, too, as people hear truth spoken amongst them.
27 “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say: Creator, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. 28 God, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” 33 He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.
Final Destination | 2000
IMDb | Letterboxd | RRMC
Context: Alex Browning (Devon Sewa) and and Clear Rivers (Ali Larter) are among a handful of survivors who avoided going on an airplane after Alex has a premonition that it will crash. When, indeed, the plane does crash, “Death” stalks the survivors one by one. The pair sneak into the morgue and are confronted by mortician Mr. Bludworth (the amazing, amazing, can I just write “amazing” one more time Tony Todd) who appears to know more than meets the eye about their fate… and what to do about it.
Mr. Bludworth: It’s all part of Death’s sadistic design leading to the grave.
Alex Browning: Design… Does that mean if you can figure out the design you can cheat Death?
Mr. Bludworth: Alex… You’ve already done that by walking off the plane.Your friend’s departure shows that Death has a new design for all of you. Now you have to figure out how and when it’s coming back at you. Play your hunch, Alex, if you think you can get away from it. But remember the risk of cheating the plan, of disrespecting the design… could incite a fury that could terrorize even the Grim Reaper. And you don't even want to fuck with that Mack Daddie!
Commentary:
“Can you say that in English?!” is a cliche bit of dialogue in movies when one character uses language the rest of the characters don’t understand. Perhaps they use a lot of technical jargon, some “insider speak” to explain what they have to do. Maybe they use more poetic language, letting the abstract and esoteric make their point for them. The rest of the characters look around, bewildered, until one of the more snappy people snarks out and says, “Can you say that in English?!” I admit, I sometimes feel like that when reading what Jesus says in the Gospel of John.
It’s no secret that compared to how Jesus is depicted in the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, all of which have tremendous similarities and are “in sync” with each other, the way Jesus is depicted in the Gospel of John is just a bit different. He gets more poetic, more philosophical. He lets the abstract make his point for him, even if his disciples - and we - can get lost from time to time.
In these final teachings before John 13-17, what is often called “Jesus’s Farewell Discourse,” Jesus has a moment of foretelling with the crowd. He tells them it is not his place to ask God to take away what will happen, that though it is troubling, indeed he will die. While we saw Simon Peter rebuke Jesus for this a few weeks back, this time a voice speaks up, to confirm what Jesus has said. The way it’s depicted could be seen one of two ways. First, it could be supernatural, truly a voice from heaven that they could all hear. Second, it could be a group consensus, a true understanding that God is part of what will happen. Is the truth somewhere in-between? I admit, I’m not usually keen on determining which seemingly supernatural moments of the Bible are history and which are truth. I’ll say this: when Jesus speaks about his death, whether poetically or straightforward, he knows what he is talking about. He will not deny it, nor will he let anyone else deny him this.
That’s a big contrast to Final Destination, a movie all about attempting to deny Death the satisfaction of a day’s job well done. A group of teenagers deplane after one has a premonition that they will all die and indeed, the plane does go down. But Death wants the final word, and picks the survivors off, one by one. The deaths are never poetic or abstract, just gory and abdomen-churning.
The scene with Tony Todd as the creepy mortician is fascinating. His character, Mr. Bludworth, seems to know much more than he’s letting on, as though he knows how the supernatural is at play. He’s in a practical, science-based line of work, but death is that line between the physical and spiritual that someone like Bludworth is more than ready to dance upon. He calls Alex and his friends out for cheating death and warns them if they think they can get away with it, stick with it. But it won’t be easy, by any means. Death comes for us all. In my experience, that’s not just in the movies! That Mack Daddie is everywhere, unfortunately.
Jesus won’t deny his death. Alex and his friends try to deny Death their deaths. Between the two, we see Jesus live his life filled with teaching, preaching, healing, gathering, and inspiring - even though he knows it will lead to his death. Alex and his friends live lives of fear to avoid death that ultimately is unavoidable. Even if they were to escape the terror of the film, would they not all succumb, anyway? I suppose in that respect, Mr. Bludworth’s warning is true: they “could incite a fury that could terrorize even the Grim Reaper.” Because really, is a life lived in fear a life lived at all? Looking over your shoulder at every step is no way to take a step forward.
What about us? Do you continue doing the right thing, even when you know the right thing will be challenging for you personally? What helps you get through the tough stuff? When was a time you “got away with it,” but ended up looking over your shoulder too much for comfort? Can certainty ever be healthy and if so, when?
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Read Sunday Matinee #17 Carrie:
