This is a brilliant article! Thank you. As a longtime fan of the Bourne franchise, this crystallizes my thoughts on it. If I may, I'd also like to suggest that the arc of Jason's character in the first three movies not only reflects baptism as you so clearly demonstrate, but also offers a particularly poignant look at the state of the modern Western world, lost in a search for meaning and identity, with its collective memory mostly erased, thrown back on its gut instincts for survival. There's hope for Jason, because of his conscience, buried deep within him but still alive and growing. But he needs a Marie to really bring him out of himself. His conscience (don't kill Wombosi!) can take him a long way, but ultimately he needs love (Bourne: "When something you love is taken from you, you want to know the truth"). Love, suffering, identity, personal choice, nature, memory, the totalitarian control of the CIA and its technological web - I believe John Paul II would have had a lot to say about these movies...
Thanks! Glad to hear I'm not the only one taking these films so (not too) seriously :)
Yeah, that connection to the state of modern Western man rings very true. It's probably a lot more deliberate on the side of the movie makers than my more playful connection to Baptism. I certainly agree that JPII would have a lot to say!
And, since, as you point out, Bourne/man is "lost in a search for meaning and identity," what he really needs - not just for survival - is an identity and meaning that he cannot invent for himself. Moreover, since "you have made us for yourself" (St. Augustine), that identity cannot be merely an earthly one, it needs to unite us to our eternal end.
Thus, although he may not know it, and although the filmmakers may not realize it, the path to that identity goes through the waters of Baptism.
This is a brilliant article! Thank you. As a longtime fan of the Bourne franchise, this crystallizes my thoughts on it. If I may, I'd also like to suggest that the arc of Jason's character in the first three movies not only reflects baptism as you so clearly demonstrate, but also offers a particularly poignant look at the state of the modern Western world, lost in a search for meaning and identity, with its collective memory mostly erased, thrown back on its gut instincts for survival. There's hope for Jason, because of his conscience, buried deep within him but still alive and growing. But he needs a Marie to really bring him out of himself. His conscience (don't kill Wombosi!) can take him a long way, but ultimately he needs love (Bourne: "When something you love is taken from you, you want to know the truth"). Love, suffering, identity, personal choice, nature, memory, the totalitarian control of the CIA and its technological web - I believe John Paul II would have had a lot to say about these movies...
Thanks! Glad to hear I'm not the only one taking these films so (not too) seriously :)
Yeah, that connection to the state of modern Western man rings very true. It's probably a lot more deliberate on the side of the movie makers than my more playful connection to Baptism. I certainly agree that JPII would have a lot to say!
And, since, as you point out, Bourne/man is "lost in a search for meaning and identity," what he really needs - not just for survival - is an identity and meaning that he cannot invent for himself. Moreover, since "you have made us for yourself" (St. Augustine), that identity cannot be merely an earthly one, it needs to unite us to our eternal end.
Thus, although he may not know it, and although the filmmakers may not realize it, the path to that identity goes through the waters of Baptism.