Depictions of God in popular culture

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Monotheistic God as depicted in popular culture.

Contents

[edit] Art

In the Western World, God is frequently depicted as an old white man with long white hair and a white beard. Perhaps the best-known realisation of this depiction is Michelangelo's fresco The Creation of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

[edit] Film

  • In the movie Superstar, God is played by Will Ferrel. When Molly Shannon's character exclaims "oh my God!", Will Ferrel responds with "Oh my me!"

[edit] Television

  • The popular American television show The Simpsons has played on this characterization, depicting God similarly, but with the show's unique yellow-caucasian skin, although he has 5 fingers, whereas all other Simpsons characters have four. The face of this God is almost never seen in early years. In one episode this God stated on separate occasions that he has three eyes and five thighs. In a Treehouse of Horror introduction, he is fully seen, but has neither three eyes nor five thighs. He is also not omniscient or omnipotent, as he tells Homer "My son went to Earth once. I don't know what you people did to him, but he hasn't been the same since".
  • In Family Guy, God is a white-haired and bearded old man. This God goes to mass, hates being told the story of Job, and was once mugged in his kitchen by Albert Einstein while making Shrinky Dinks. He also shows a sense of humor.
God, as portrayed in South Park
God, as portrayed in South Park
  • In Comedy Central's South Park, God resembles an odd looking rodent creature, with a forked tongue with which he eats flying insects. God is portrayed as caring and sympathetic: he helps his old nemesis Satan with his relationship troubles, though by calling him a "pussy" and a "whiny bitch" in true South Park fashion. He later imprisons Satan's ex-lover Saddam Hussein in Heaven to help the devil get a fresh start. God is also naive, however, as he buys Saddam's explanation that the WMDs he's building in Heaven are really "chocolate chip factories". God also considers himself a Buddhist.


  • God, depicted through numerous human-looking avatars, was a central character in Joan of Arcadia. (2003-5)
  • In the Fox sitcom Futurama, the character Bender, after a freak accident caused him to float aimlessly in space encountered an entity that was supposedly God, because its reply to Bender's question Oh my God are you God? was Possibly, I do feel love and compassion for all living things...my good chum. It is also possible, as Bender theorized, that because he speaks in binary this entity may be the remains of a space probe that collided with God (Godfellas).
  • In a World Wrestling Entertainment storyline, Vince McMahon booked a tag team match at the Backlash 2006 pay-per-view, pitting himself and his son Shane McMahon against born again Christian Shawn Michaels and God. At the show, God was portrayed as an invisible entity and later leaves the match, making Michaels lose.
  • In God, the Devil and Bob God is depicted as a hippie with sun glasses based on Jerry Garcia.
  • In Wonder Showzen, in the episode Space, God is not seen but, through his language, is portrayed as a racist black person. At the end of the episode God shoots himself and dies. The characters then cook him and eat him.

[edit] Comic books

  • God is the main villain of the comic book series Preacher. (1995-2000)
  • In Marvel Comics, God was portrayed in Fantastic Four #511 as closely resembling comic book legend Jack Kirby.
  • In the webcomic Sinfest, only God's hands are shown, often making use of sign language or hand puppets to illustrate his points.

[edit] See also

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