Fr. Thomas M. Pastorius July 16, 2017 Spiritual Ponderings: Faith & Film Suicide Squad
As we continue to look at some of the stories that were made movies this past year, let us remember to explore some of the spiritual insights the author may have planted in the movies (knowingly or unknowingly).
Suicide Squad: The premise behind this comic book movie is an interesting one. A woman, by the name of Amanda Waller, gathers together humanity’s worst criminals. Each of these criminals has one or more special superpower. (I would argue Harley Quin’s super craziness is her superpower). Amanda implants a small bomb inside each of them that will go off if they do not do as they are told. They are then place under the command of Colonel Rick Flag.
An ancient witch named Enchantress becomes determined to take over Midway City. Amanda Waller sends the Suicide Squad to Midway City with the mission of rescuing a “high value” asset from the city before the witch gets him or her. Throughout the movie, the Joker tries to rescue his girlfriend Harley Quin. Amanda Waller is eventually captured by the Enchantress and the villains are given a chance to run away. Instead of running away they gather together and defeat the Enchantress and save the world.
Spiritual Insight #1 Doing Bad Things Do Not Make Us Bad The men and women of the Suicide Squad have embraced the label of being a villain. Each has done so for a different reason for example: Deadshot does it for the money, Harley Quinn does it for love (or lust), El Diablo does it because he uses his gift (superpower) for his own personal gain instead of helping others, and Killer Croc does so as a result of the way that others of treated him.
They fail to realize that “villain” is just a label and not who they are at the deepest part of the being. Each of them is a child of God and has the capacity for doing good. They just have to reject the label of villain and start doing good. There is a young French man named Jacque Fesch who is up for canonization. Jacque was a villain, he killed a police officer while robbing a bank. In prison though he took ownership of his evil choices and became a mystic.
Spiritual Insight #2 Good Guys are Bad Guys because they objectify others Even though Amanda Waller is trying to protect the people of the world from an evil threat and is not labeled a criminal she is a bad guy. What makes Amanda Waller a bad guy is that she objectifies others. Everyone in her life is a means to an end. She will treat them well while she needs them but the moment that she does not need them they become expendable. This is proven by how she treats Rick Flag, the other intelligence operatives trapped in Midway City with her (she kills them all without a moment of hesitation) and of course how she treats the villains.
John Paul II stated in his teachings that the opposite of love is not hate but rather objectification. When we love someone, we want what is best for them even if it requires a sacrifice on our part. The opposite of them is when we use another person, even if it hurts them, for our own benefit. Amanda Waller is therefore one of the evilest people because she only sees people as an object. We see that most of the villains cared for someone for example Deadshot loves his daughter, Harley loves the Joker and El Diablo loved his family.
Spiritual Insight #3: Image of God
The Enchantress and her brother Incubus, according to the story, were at one time mistaken in history to be a god or goddess. They decided that since people are no longer worshipping them that they would kill all the humans. This is pagan mythology/theology at its best. We must be careful that we do not assume that this is how God really is. Our God is love and therefore He is: “Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, (love) is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 12). Remember that God is not like the Enchantress or Incubus.