Last week was Friday the 13th, and I spent it the way I have spent always spent that most unlucky of days since I was a kid... watching Friday the 13th marathons. Of the big slasher franchises the original Texas Chainsaw Massacre is my favorite film, while Nightmare on Elm Street is my favorite series because of the grand overall arc of the stories.
Jason is my favorite killer, though. Always has been. The iconic mask, his empty eyes, the tragedy that birthed him, the innovative brutality, the ninja-like stealth, and let's face it, his flicks have always had the best boobs in them. There's just something almost epic about him, as if he was the personification of some primal force.
It's damn near Biblical... in fact, that's what I've come to realize about Jason as a person. He is meant to represent a dark mirror of Jesus Christ. Now, this is a little nuts, so bear with me.
See also: The Last Ranking of Friday The 13th Movies You'll Ever Need...Until the Next One
Much of this has to do with the concept of Christ as part of a trinity. He is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, separate but equally all three at all times. Jason himself is also part of a constant trinity. As the drowned boy he is the son, the innocent and the victim who overcomes his death. As the hulking masked killer he is the embodiment of his mother's murderous will, the creator and the wrath from above.
Finally, he is an Unholy Spirit, the demonic center that powers both other forms seen in Jason Goes to Hell That spirit is represented by a strange snake-like creature, a serpent that can temp others through possession to carry out his rampages.
That's not the only parallel trinity either. Christ is portrayed in the Bible as three ages, infant, young child, and grown man. Jason as well appears exactly in these three ages in his blood Gospels. We see him as a young boy both mentally, and at times physically, such as the ending of Jason Takes Manhattan. His most constant form, and his most prolific as with Christ is as an adult.
Then there's that demonic creature from the ninth film again, sometimes referred to as the Hellbaby. The true nature of Jason's conception and birth are hard to pin down, and it's never really been established in the films definitively. Some say Elias Voorhees, a drunken abusive descendant of black magicians was Jason's father, while others claim that Pamela conceived Jason through her own witchcraft. Regardless, the Hellbaby form possesses the ability to re-enter a woman of his bloodline, living or dead, to birth himself in a twisted parody of the Virgin Birth.
Piece continues on next page.
