Abraham Philip Parena Grade 12 - ICT

Mr. John Anthony B. Profetana INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY

Reflection No. 2

REFLECTION ON SHAZAM!

As much a comedy as it is an action flick, DC's latest film, Shazam!, expands the horizon
of what a superhero film can do. While villains get punched, the battle of good and evil is
ultimately waged in the heart of a boy searching for family.

Shazam! tells the story of Billy Batson, a 14-year-old boy who was separated from his mother at
a carnival when he was small. He's been in foster care ever since, repeatedly running away from
foster families and group homes and committing minor misdemeanors, all in the name of tracking
down his biological mother. When his social worker places him in a group home run by Victor
and Rosa Vazquez, she warns Billy this is his last chance. Unsurprisingly, Billy is reluctant to give
this new foster family a chance, despite the welcome of his five new foster siblings and the
Vazquez' instance that he consider this his home. For Billy, "home" is with his biological mother
and nowhere else.

If a foster kid in middle school didn't already have a hard enough time knowing his place, Billy is
chosen by The Wizard Shazam to be his champion in the battle against the seven deadly sins. Now,
when Billy says the magic word—“Shazam!”—he transforms into an adult man. If the film has
been funny to this point, it now turns to full-on comedy, channeling Big to great effect.

While this premise is fun, it's never juvenile. The conflict that drives the film is Billy's own
inability to accept his foster family. Before Billy’s first meal at the Vazquez house, Victor puts his
hand over the middle of the table and calls for prayer. The rest of the family puts their hands in
too; this is clearly a ritual that binds them together. But Billy crosses his arms and looks away,
torn between the family in his head and the family inviting him to the table. He can’t bring himself
to say yes to this family, even though the family has already said yes to him.

One of the Apostle Paul's favorite metaphors for the life of faith is that of adoption. In Ephesians
1, Paul announces, "In love [God] predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in
accordance with his pleasure and will…” He wrote to the Galatians that "God sent his Son, born
of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to
sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who
calls out, `Abba, Father.’”
He later expressed a more developed version of this same metaphor to the Romans, writing, "For
those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not
make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your
adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, `Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit
that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs
with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”