For inclusion in a WIP, I'd like to have characters discussing what God looks like. The only two actors I remember as portraying God in a movie were Charlton Heston and George Burns. I don't recall the name of either movie.
So, who looks like God? Either of those white males? Or some other actor (white or other) or actress or other celebrity who most would recognize who that is if you mentioned their name?
Are you looking for realism or a Western archetype?
Most classical art depicts god as a white, bearded Caucasian, despite the Christian Bible saying that God created man in His own image yet not coming up with a black Rift-Valley African.
And there are many other candidates for 'God' from Greek, Roman, Egyptian, Indian, Norse etc mythology/religions.
AJ
despite the Christian Bible saying that God created man in His own image yet not coming up with a black Rift-Valley African.
That's generally interpreted as a spiritual image, not physical.
God looks like
As per Valentine Michael Smith, if you grok, then just look in a mirror, for Thou Art God.
Dennis Haysbert played God in the TV show Lucifer. He is black.
In Judaism, God is never portrayed in any image. The Torah specifically forbade ascribing partners to share his singular sovereignty, as he is considered to be the absolute one without a second, indivisible, and incomparable being, who is similar to nothing and nothing is comparable to him.
So, who looks like God? Either of those white males? Or some other actor (white or other) or actress or other celebrity who most would recognize who that is if you mentioned their name?
Alanis Morissette ...
In the tv show Joan of Arcadia (2003–2005) - God was played by many people as god could be all forms.
George Burns was God in the Movies - Oh,God! (1977) Oh,God! Book II (1980) and Oh,God! You Devil (1984)
Charlton Heston in - Almost an Angel (1990)
Alanis Morrisette played God in "Dogma" by Kevin Smith. She also played the character as an additional post-credits scene of the follow-up movie "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back." She is totally not a white guy.
Kevin Smith is a guilty pleasure for me. I especially love his long-running podcast "Fatman Beyond," which discusses everything geek, from movies to comic books to TV. I found the podcast a few years back and listen to the post-new casts every time. I especially love the live shows from the Scum and Villainy Cantina on Hollywood Blvd in Los Angeles.
It is a bucket list thing for me to watch a show there live, even though I'm in San Antonio. I'd be the guy who goes for that show and none of the other tourist traps in Los Angeles.
And I just realized I sound like a damn commercial for Kevin Smith... maybe I am.
If you like a good debate movie you need to see "Dogma" Believe it or not it is a pro-God movie but anti-religious movie. The Catholic church tried to force the studio to drop it.
A Burning Bush; without being consumed.
I Am Who Am.
Do you need a personification of God? Perhaps a Presence would be more appropriate. A light, perhaps too bright to look at directly.
Or a feeling, a "presence" felt as much by your soul as any physical sense.
As for appearance, Jews were (some still are) among the Sematic peoples, perhaps less like Arabs, and more like the ancient "Mediterranean peoples as depicted in ancient art.
The twelve tribes of Israel were taken to Egypt in slavery, then returned to their homeland and conquered or assimilated with other Sematic peoples who had settled there in their absences. Then the Babylonians came, followed by the Greeks/Macedonians invaders, then the Romans, the Arabs fired by Islam, then the Ottoman Empire, and now European and African Jews have returned to the "Promised Land"
Observant (religious) Jews don't believe that God has a physical form, at least not one that we may comprehend. If I understand correctly, it is our Soul that is in God's "Image"
If God chose to manifest in human form, say as Jesus, he could manifest in any human form, male or female. God is omnipotent.
Just my two-cents.
P.S. I think that Charlton Heston was an inspired choice, as much as for his voice, and gravitas. If I were to chose a black actor, James Earl Jones in his prime might be a good choice. A modern actor, Jim Caviezel might be good.
E.T. was a plant (according to Spielberg).
If E. T. was a plant would a vegan still eat him even though they claim they only eat plants because they don't feel pain?
If E. T. was a plant would a vegan still eat him even though they claim they only eat plants because they don't feel pain?
Vegans who claim plants don't feel pain are scientifically illiterate.
AJ
Vegans who claim plants don't feel pain are scientifically illiterate.
I tried to explain that to a vegan and the reply was "You don't hear them cry"
You need to play them the Arrogant Worms song "Carrot Juice Is Murder" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmK0bZl4ILM):
Salads are only for murderers,
Coleslaw's a fascist regime,
Don't think that they don't have feelings,
Just 'cause a radish can't scream
Just 'cause a radish can't scream
But radishes can and do 'scream', just not within the range of our senses.
AJ
That's an interesting idea. For me personally, any church is a power structure, so each character would be picturing a god that lends them power. A male with a beard has a male god with a beard, is the simplest version of that. But ultimately, it's an inward looking discussion.
Well if the Bible is any indication at all , I'd have to say I am the splitting image of God...
As he made Man in his image...
As he made Man in his image...
Wouldn't that make God a rainbow? You have a white man, a black man, a red man, a yellow man....
Wouldn't that make God a rainbow?
Roy G. Biv (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet). The rainbow does not include black. Or brown. Or white.