Page - 143 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 03/01

Bulletproof Love: Luke Cage (2016) and Religion | 143www.jrfm.eu 2017, 3/1, 123–155 Luke Cage (2016) opens us up to a particular moment in the United states and elsewhere when militarism, racism, and economic exploitation have crippled Black and Brown lives. The show invites theological reflection and interroga- tion because of its themes of freedom, art, and humanity. Black theology and Womanist Theology offer unique vantage points for engaging Luke Cage meth- odologically. Because both theologies are grounded in the reality of Black lives, these theological frameworks are relevant in regard to Luke and the harlem community. for James Cone, the parent of Black Liberation theology, Black experience, Black history, Black culture, revelation, scripture, and tradition en- compass the sources for Black theology.50 Concern for the community and lib- eration in light of Jesus’ gospel guides the theological norm or hermeneutical principle in Black theology. Womanist theology concerns itself primarily with the liberation of Black women and the family, establishing a positive quality of life for women and the family, and forming political alliances with other margin- al groups struggling to be free of the oppression imposed by white-controlled American institutions.51 for understanding the concept of a monster, James Baldwin is useful. in the documentary Take this Hammer (richard Moore, Us 1963), Baldwin says, “i’m not describing you when i talk about you. i’m describing me . . . We invented the nigger. i didn’t invent it. White people invented it.” Baldwin articulates that the creation of the monster (nigger) emerged from white supremacist fears imposed on Blacks. in Democracy Matters, Cornel West describes niggerization as the act of American terrorism on Black people, treating them as niggers for over 350 years, making them “feel unsafe, unprotected, subject to random vio- lence, and hated”.52 Like the tuskegee syphilis experiments in the late 20th cen- tury, Dr. Burstein takes Luke’s Black body without any concern for his human- ity. Burstein objectifies Luke into a thing that can benefit U.S. imperialism and militarism. for centuries, the white gaze has invented slaves, sambos, welfare queens, Jezebels, hulks, and even animals out of Black bodies. these catastrophic mis- nomers are made possible by what emilie townes calls “the fantastic hegem- onic imagination”. Townes says, “The fantastic hegemonic imagination traffics in peoples’ lives that are caricatured or pillaged so that the imagination that creates the fantastic can control the world in its image.”53 in this way, we may understand Luke Cage’s impenetrable Black body as a result of white suprema- cist fantastic hegemonic imagination. the creation of Luke Cage emerges from the imagination of Dr. Burstein and not from Luke himself. Luke’s impenetrable 50 Cone 2010 [1970], 24–35. 51 Williams 1994, 53. 52 West 2004, 20. 53 townes 2006, 21.