# My initials are J.C. Think maybe I'm a Christ figure? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 28, 2006, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-initials-are-j-c-think-maybe-im-a-christ-figure/362564 "2006-06-28T23:09:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Interrobang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/interrobang/32/17463_2.png) [@Interrobang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Interrobang)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-initials-are-j-c-think-maybe-im-a-christ-figure/362564/1 "2006-06-28T23:09:31Z")
Some fictional characters have a hard legacy to live up to. They’re savior figures, destined to lead humanity through dark times and bring them to a promised heavenly destination. And just to make the symbolism inescapable, their initials are J.C. **John Connor** , for example. He already knows that he’s destined to lead the rebellion against SkyNet. Initials: J.C. Christ figure: heck yeah. **Jesse Custer** , of _Preacher_ fame. Like the title says, he’s a preacher. He spends some time in a town called Salvation. His word is as compelling as God’s. Christ figure: I should say so. What other characters have the initials J.C. and a mission to save humanity from what ails it? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-initials-are-j-c-think-maybe-im-a-christ-figure/362564/2 "2006-06-28T23:13:53Z")
**Joe Christmas** in Faulkner’s Light in August **John Coffey** in Stephen King’s The Green Mile ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-initials-are-j-c-think-maybe-im-a-christ-figure/362564/3 "2006-06-28T23:15:22Z")
Jerry Cornelius {in all his various manifestations}. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-initials-are-j-c-think-maybe-im-a-christ-figure/362564/4 "2006-06-28T23:18:26Z")
Also **Jim Casey** in Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-initials-are-j-c-think-maybe-im-a-christ-figure/362564/5 "2006-06-28T23:27:26Z")
Not very Christlike: [Joe Camel](http://www.forces.org/images/joe-camel.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2006, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-initials-are-j-c-think-maybe-im-a-christ-figure/362564/6 "2006-06-28T23:39:35Z")
Then there’s James Cameron. He’s the King of the World. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-initials-are-j-c-think-maybe-im-a-christ-figure/362564/7 "2006-06-29T01:50:25Z")
The visiting alien in _The Day the Earth Stood Still_, who tries to save humanity from itself, and is killed for his efforts, takes the name John Carpenter when he goes incognito to see what earthlings are really like. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-initials-are-j-c-think-maybe-im-a-christ-figure/362564/8 "2006-06-29T02:15:14Z")
_apologies to Bill Cosby_ Just because your dad kept saying “Jesus Christ, knock it off!”, doesn’t make you the messiah. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-initials-are-j-c-think-maybe-im-a-christ-figure/362564/9 "2006-06-29T02:27:35Z")
Feh. It’s not as easy as they make it sound. Trust me. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-initials-are-j-c-think-maybe-im-a-christ-figure/362564/10 "2006-06-29T02:31:45Z")
> [@Jonathan Chance](#): > > Feh. It’s not as easy as they make it sound. Trust me. [Monty Python voiceover] Well now you’re just showing off. [/MPV] ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-initials-are-j-c-think-maybe-im-a-christ-figure/362564/11 "2006-06-29T03:16:23Z")
Is Jack Chick a fictional character? ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-initials-are-j-c-think-maybe-im-a-christ-figure/362564/12 "2006-06-29T03:32:43Z")
**Jiminy Cricket** is clearly a Christ figure. In the original Carlo Collodi book he even rises from the dead to help Pinocchio. (He’s just called “Cricket” in the book. They called him “Jiminy” in the Disney film because “Jiminy Cricket” is a mild oath, I suspect because the initials are … “JC”.) By the way, my initials aren’t JC, but I’m the firstborn son of Joseph and Mary, and my birthday’s in December. Do i qualify? ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-initials-are-j-c-think-maybe-im-a-christ-figure/362564/13 "2006-06-29T03:53:38Z")
In Unbreakable Bruce Willis plays David Dunn, but it is Samuel Jackson “Elijah Price” that announces to David that he is the hero. ---
**Author:** ![Selkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Selkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Selkie)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-initials-are-j-c-think-maybe-im-a-christ-figure/362564/14 "2006-06-29T04:10:13Z")
While hardly leading people toward a heavenly destination, **John Constantine** of _Hellblazer_ has certainly saved humanity from enough demons and other mystical and mythological nasties that many readers feel he qualifies. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-initials-are-j-c-think-maybe-im-a-christ-figure/362564/15 "2006-06-29T10:57:57Z")
Not that I’ve read it, but I know I’ve heard that **Jimmy Cross** from _The Things They Carried_ is supposed to be a Christ figure. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-initials-are-j-c-think-maybe-im-a-christ-figure/362564/16 "2006-06-29T14:13:18Z")
Joan Crawford as she was portrayed in the book and film _Mommie Dearest_. She certainly wasn’t a Christ figure but Faye Dunaway did inspire worship among a certain segment of the population. ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-initials-are-j-c-think-maybe-im-a-christ-figure/362564/17 "2006-06-29T15:26:02Z")
John Carter of Mars ([Edgar Rice Burroughs’ “Barsoom” books](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/series/-/68/mass_market/ref=pd_serl_books/102-7895366-1938561)) not only has the right initials, but when he mentally teleports to Mars, his body here on Earth falls backwards with his arms outstretched. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ululate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/59ef9b/32.png) [@ululate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ululate)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-initials-are-j-c-think-maybe-im-a-christ-figure/362564/18 "2006-06-29T15:32:22Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > The visiting alien in _The Day the Earth Stood Still_, who tries to save humanity from itself, and is killed for his efforts, takes the name John Carpenter when he goes incognito to see what earthlings are really like. With bonus points for “carpenter”, of course. (I wonder why they didn’t name him “Josh Carpenter”?) ---
**Author:** ![davenportavenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f8ce5/32.png) [@davenportavenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davenportavenger)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-initials-are-j-c-think-maybe-im-a-christ-figure/362564/19 "2006-06-29T15:36:07Z")
“I am not Jesus, though we have the same initials…” – **Jarvis Cocker** of Pulp ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2006, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-initials-are-j-c-think-maybe-im-a-christ-figure/362564/20 "2006-06-29T23:48:23Z")
That or **Jed Clampett**. Hard to tell for sure. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-initials-are-j-c-think-maybe-im-a-christ-figure/362564.md?page=2)