The Sorcerer Supreme and The Immaculate: a Contrast

Last night I enjoyed watching the movie "Dr. Strange: the Sorcerer Supreme" with my two grandsons. I enjoyed even more our theological conversation this morning. Luke (12) and James (10) are bright, inquisitive and fascinated by mathmatics, science, politics, religion, fantasy, history and just about everything. So we agreed that this genre of magic and socerery (Harry Potter, Star Wars, etc.) enjoyed as pure fiction/fantasy as distinct from reality, can be fun and harmless. But I was eager to contrast our Catholic worldview with that underlying these movies. First of all, we contrasted magic and genuine Mystery. They are opposites of each other. Magic, even what is alleged to be "white" and benign, gives the practicioner super powers; it enhances control and power to an extreme. By contrast, surrender to the Mystery of God is a yielding to powerlessness, to littleness, to humility and a willingness to be guided, strengthened and sanctified by a Higher Power. For example, for Catholics the Eucharist is not magic, it is a Mystery, a Miracle by which bread-and-wine become the Body-and-Blood of Jesus and we in receiving become as well His Body-and-Blood. In the early stages of Dr. Strange's training in sorcery he is told to "forget everything you know." He is to be freed from his imprisioning Ego; his propensity to control; his unconscious fear of death; his self-centeredness and arrogance. But that journey doesn't go very far. He does master higher powers and makes some moral improvement but remains the same Dr. Strange. Certainly no growth in holiness. But "holiness" is not a reality in this world because there is no God, no Holy One. Rather, this is neo-pagan universe, with various super-powers, energies, forces which compete violently with each other; but there is no transcendent, all-powerful, all-good, Creator who watches lovingly over a good Creation. And so, theirs is a dualistic universe, with good-and-evil in constant competition and tension without any final victory of one over the other. Everyone is good and bad; it is a matter of degree. Dr. Strange as the hero-protagonist is neither appealing or inspiring even as he is moving in the right direction. But more significant still is The Ancient One, Ther Sorcerer Supreme, the most powerful opponent of the dark underworld. Played by Tilda Swinton, this figure is gender-ambiguous. The exquisite femininity of the actress radiates in spite of her baldness, her fierce militancy and unflinching authority. She (for me this is she, even as she is referred to as Sorcerer not Sorceress; the movie leans to a "woke" deflation of sexual difference) strongly resembles the eerie, bald, androgynous Satan who tormened Christ in the garden of Gethsemane in Mel Gibson's The Passion of Christ. The sexual dysphoria of the demon-figure is manifestly perverse and evil. By contrast, the Sorcerer Supreme, also called The Ancient One, appears as good, appealing and gentle. But later in the story Dr. Strange comes to discover that her power and longevity are due to her drawing powers from the dark sides. She is NOT an unequivocally good figure, more complex, confused and ambiguous. She, like the rest, is a fluid mixture of good and bad. Here we might contrast her with another fictional icon: Lord of the Rings' Galadriel as played by the mesmerizing Cate Blanchett. Tolkien presents here a perfect image of our Blessed Mother Mary in her purity, goodness and efficacy. She is breath-takingly lovely. She is gentle, healing, protective. She is innocent, free of any stain of impurity. She is an invincible, triumphant opponent of the Dark Powers. She is not a goddess but she is supernaturally graced to convey the good and repel the bad. She is an image of Mary. Perhaps here we see the striking contrast of the two worldviews: The Ancient One remains forever trapped in ambiguity, indecision, vulnerability in a neopagan, dualistic universe of eternal conflict and chaos; Mary, vulnerable-finite-limited as a creature, is perfectly humble, surrendered, and collaborative with God; she is a final, definitive and victorious NO to Satan. The two could not be more oppossed. How happy that we live in a Catholic, not a neo-pagan, Reality!