And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James.
I’m deeply sorry to keep returning to Acts for those classy title quotes, but this time I had no choice.
Because I was thinking tonite about social & cinematic interpretation of literature, & I realized that one of my favorite adaptations had never really occured to me as even being an adaptation in the first place. True, the 1973 film Jesus Christ Superstar is based on an Andrew Lloyd Weber stage musical (one of the only I like, to redeem myself a little, if I can), but there’s no arguing where the inspiration really comes from. At the same time, tho, the story of JC Supe – as I sometimes call it – is hardly the same story of Jesus of Nazareth that yer going to find in the Bible, no matter what version you prefer. Take, for example, Simon the Zealot.
The most dimly-lit of all the Apostles, Simon is only explicitly mentioned twice in the entire Bible: Acts 1:13 & Luke 6:15, & even then only by name. The guy might have been a great dude, or maybe he was just that guy who knew one of the other Apostles since 1st grade & didn’t really get along with any of the other guys but they all tolerated him cos Peter swore he was cool. Or something like that. Either way, he doesn’t get much face time. The big screen Jesus Christ Superstar, however, devotes what is basically an entire 5 minute Jazzercise routine to him, complete with slow-mo jumps over some rocks & awkwardly-edited stop motion cuts, all the while moaning & howling over Jesus (he would be the motionless one wearing all white):
Basically what I’m driving at is that liberties are taken when you flesh out the written word, & sometimes it can work (this is the best song from this musical, & I swear it’s one of the movie’s most titilating scenes as well). Even the book market’s all-time hottest seller isn’t offbounds. This whole dance number starts staged & choreographed, but ends dusty, shaking, & in one big call-&-response of spiritual ecstasy. It’s wonderful, & otherwise, who in the world would ever care about Simon except Peter?