Holy Transcreation, Spidey!

The above may seem like a sort of comics tautology, or an old "Batman vs. Spiderman" crossover. It's not. It's my reaction to "Spider Man: India," put out by Gotham Studios Asia. My curiosity was initially piqued by reading an article in the Weekly Standard called Marvel Comics and Manifest Destiny. The article quotes Gotham CEO Sharad Devarajan:

I have always believed that the superhero relates to a "universal psyche" already firmly established in India through centuries of mythological stories depicting gods and heroes with supernatural abilities . . .

Myths, heroes, and their transformation over time, and the ways in which Hindu myth and Western pop fiction can synthesize; fascinating!

Hmm...I wonder if any Hindus are bitching about rampant eclecticism? I'm guessing not, but, then, this is a group of religions that has no problem assimilating & creating new deities, even through such popular media as film. While Santosi Ma has gone from an almost purely filmic existence to become an extremely popular goddess, what we see as "new" is not similarly conceptualized within Hindu thought, as the linked article notes.

According to devotees interviewed by Stanley Kurtz (All the Mothers Are One: Hindu India and the Cultural Reshaping of Psychoanalysis, 3) Santoshi Ma has always existed. The popular movie which brought her to stardom can be understood as just another one of her worldly manifestations. Since shakti theology asserts the divinity of matter, any material - from wooden, stone or clay icons, to rivers, mountains or even popular films - can be considered a manifestation of the divine. Kurtz explains, "[The Hindu] notion of the divine knows neither borders of time, place, substance, nor identity. . . "

Yet, the Hindu deities are very distinct; there's no whinging about "archetypes not being real."

Rather than dismissing the medium of film as profane (and therefore having nothing to offer to the sacred practice of religion), Kurtz explains that in India, during showings of Santoshi Ma, "the theater is transformed into a kind of temple, and the act of seeing the film is often taken as an act of worship." (Stanley Kurtz, All the Mothers Are One: Hindu India and the Cultural Reshaping of Psychoanalysis, 18) However, he is careful to point out that the theater, while considered an acceptable realm of worship, is still seen as lower on the hierarchy and less pure than other types of worship because of its nature as a commercial medium. (Stanley Kurtz, All the Mothers Are One: Hindu India and the Cultural Reshaping of Psychoanalysis, 18)

I wonder if comic books will be lower down than theaters?

The Spider Man: India stories replace the scientific explanation for Peter Parker's transformation via a super-spider to Pavitr Prabhakar's receipt of powers from a mysterious yogi. Instead of having Uncle Ben be coincidentally killed by the criminal Peter allows to escape, Uncle Bhim is killed when he attempts to help a young woman set upon by thugs whom Pavitr had previously chosen to ignore. The Green Goblin is a rakshasa. This fits in with this idea:

In the case of Santoshi Ma, modern media and technology can clearly be seen as advancing traditional religious beliefs rather than butting heads with them. For example, Kurtz points out that Santoshi Ma's worship is not at all unorthodox in spite of the unconventional reason for her now widespread worship - the modern medium of film which was able to reach masses of people very rapidly.

And if you think this is all coincidental (you know, like Uncle Ben being in the wrong place at the wrong time) think again: Deepak Chopra is behind Gotham Studios Asia.

"Through the studio, we plan to reinvigorate some of civilization's greatest mythologies, to tap into the primal energies of India and Asia's great tradition of storytelling," Chopra said in a press release.

Oh ... and the use of 'Gotham'? That has nothing to do with Batman or New York. Gotham is the name of Deepak's son, who, apparently, "will write many of the titles."