Eternals Through the Eyes of GenZ
There may be no other cultural artifact as formative in the lives of our students as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The MCU has become so foundational that students who have never picked up a comic book are hooked on these movies. I even heard a student recently deride another for thinking Deadpool was a Marvel movie (as I thought to myself, “isn’t it?”) - the MCU totally defines what’s culturally “in” for many. With the newest release, Eternals, we’re presented with an opportunity to engage students in conversation about deeper themes. Today, I want to present six of those themes we can use Eternals to launch meaningful conversations.
Diversity
One of the first things you may notice when you watch Eternals is how diverse the cast is. The breadth of ethnic diversity is striking, especially when you compare it to the first ensemble movie, The Avengers, where the team was largely homogenous. Beyond ethnic diversity, Eternals contains the most cultural diversity between the characters and settings, includes the first deaf superhero, and leans the most into the sexual diversity we’re accustomed to in our culture. While I think the amount of diversity will be notable to those of us who remember a time when things felt less diverse, I don’t think the students in our ministries will consciously notice it - because it’s simply normal to them. As we engage our students in conversations about this movie, how can we endorse the good aspects of diversity, while refraining from endorsing every aspect the film affirms? Perhaps this article is a good starting point: Reclaiming Tolerance.
Family
As the Eternals are comprised of such a motley crew, and have been on mission together for thousands of years, they develop as a type of family. While this theme isn’t as meme-worthy as it is in the Fast and Furious movies, the strength family can provide, the struggles of loving people you have differences with, and the pain of a family breaking apart are all present in Eternals. I think it’s also worth noting that the family presented represents the diversity of families we’re accustomed to. While less of our students are coming from nuclear families, are we adjusting the way we do ministry or operating out of old assumptions? In addition to that, there are a lot of ways we can spark students to think about the theme of family, and even to consider how the relational interactions the Eternals have can help us consider how to live as part of a youth group and church family where others are different than us.
Creation
Why does humanity exist? If we were created, why? How are things in the universe created and sustained? These are heady theological questions, and also ones that Eternals gives significant time to considering. As the film challenges us to think about the nature of creation, issues of freewill are also prominent. In fact, as I sat waiting for post-credits scenes, I heard several people in the theater debating the nature of freewill. In this regard, Eternals stands on the shoulders of Loki, which presented us a familiar character to wrestle through these questions with - a perfect primer for raising them with a largely unfamiliar cast of characters. Taking the baton from Loki and the focus on Earth, bringing the entire universe into view, Eternals can be a great stepping point into discussions on the creation of humanity and the universe. This can even lead us to raise the question, “Why is humanity worth saving?”
Technology and Social Media
I’m assuming that if you’re reading this, you’re aware of how ubiquitous smartphones are, and how much social media is impacting us. We’ve all seen students who are addicted to technology. If we’re honest, many of us are as well. What I did not expect was that Eternals would present technology, particularly the smartphone, as something addictive, to the point that multiple comments are made about it. We also see one character who is enamored with being on the screen, even saying to his cameraman, “Did you get that?” For a generation of students who desire to be a Youtuber or social media influencer more than any other career, this theme resonates. Even these Eternals - who have seen thousands of years of history and have not always been swimming in the soup of our always-on culture - are vulnerable to the same temptations we are with our screens. Engaging our students in conversation about this may be as simple as asking, “What did you think about this? Is this your experience with technology?”
Relativism
I was surprised to an extent that the “truth is relative” theme was not as dominant in Eternals, although that may be that our culture simply assumes that now. However, there are a few ways relativism crept in that can be useful for sparking conversation. As the Eternals move through human history, they encounter a lot of different civilizations, and the film references many of the mythologies within those cultures. Whether they claim to have made up those stories or make jokes about them, the subtle wink is to say, “these stories are old and not serious”. While we may agree that pagan mythology could fit that description, Eternals does take a shot at one Biblical story as well. There’s also the “you followed your heart” narrative that is brief but present. How can we help students to see that this relativism is a foundational piece of the culture around them, and likely even their own worldview?
Identity, Purpose, and Belonging
It’s been said that the three primary needs of adolescents are to discover identity, purpose, and belonging. Wrestling with questions of who we are, what we should do, and where we fit in is part of the human condition, and apparently it’s part of the Eternal condition as well. The characters wrestle with who they are (especially tying into questions of creation), and we even see one of them struggle with perpetually living as an adolescent. The mission they’ve been sent on is one of their primary struggles through the film as well, in a similar way that Loki and Mobius struggle with the TVA. And the tensions between fitting in with a mixed-up family or living among humans are front and center. This feels like a layup for us to press into students’ own struggles with these questions.
Whether you’ve seen all of the MCU movies or have avoided them like the plague, we can’t avoid the impact they’re having on our culture and in the lives of our teenagers. May we be wise as we enter into the culture to look for the truths we can affirm and the values we must confront. And may we find fruitful conversations with our students as we engage with them on these themes.
Editor’s note: If you like this article, you may enjoy the Thanos to Theos podcast, cohosted by Mike McGarry, Kevin Yi, and Clark Fobes on the Rooted MInistry Podcast Network. This podcast discusses comics, culture, theology, and youth ministry. A recent live-episode may be a good place to start if you’re wondering what comics and youth ministry have to do with one another. You can subscribe to Thanos to Theos wherever you listen to podcasts.