Loving the Alien

Figure 1 The Apotheosis of Marvin by Anonymous

I went to Sunday School this morning to make my mother happy and also because I wanted to document the Marvin the Martian mural in the youth wing of Mauldin First Baptist Church. I'm always telling people about this workand no one ever believes me, including my mother, who has never made it over to that part of the building in the twelve or so years that the mural has been there. (It's a big church, just shy of megachurchdom.)So here it is.

Uncle Mark and I have puzzled over the inspiration for this piece. He pointed out that artists throughout the ages have included scenes of contemporary life in religious art, not to mention portraits of donors, live models, etc. Masaccio's Brancacci Chapel frescoes, for example, featured portraits of the Brancacci family. And a lot of people in Mauldin probably think Marvin the Martian is real, so there you go.

Figure 1a, Detail
Here we see Marvin in the Garden of Eden, holding out the apple to tempt Adam. Does this make Marvin Eve? If so, what does this piece say about spirituality and gender?

Figure 1b, Detail
Heavens to Murgatroyd! Marvin's rigid moral code makes him perfectly suited for receiving the Ten Commandments.

Figure 1c, Detail
As I told Uncle Mark, I can see Marvin as the Old Testament God--he was, after all, continually trying to destroy Earth--but what are we to make of Marvin as Jesus? The issue is further problematized when we consider that Marvin wears the armor of a Roman Centurion. This identification of Jesus with his own executioners is a bold statement on the nature of good and evil--even the most egregious sinner can be saved through the imitation of Christ. Note the stigmata.

Figure 1d, Detail
How can our skeptical, scientific world make sense of the Miracle of the Loaves and Fishes? The artist's answer: Jesus had Martian superpowers.

Figure 1e, Detail
Random dude with a sword and a soul patch. I got nothing.