|
|
This is one of her less blasphemous utterings.
"DO I LOOK LIKE SOMEONE WHO CARES WHAT GOD THINKS!?"
Basically, this is when a character decides to compare him/herself favorably to a deity. This can either be joking or serious (although either one can still be blasphemous).
The exact form can vary. One of the most common forms is a variant of saying one has "more X than God" (usually something that the deity in question wouldn't even bother to possess according to the theology). Also, the most common thing to top is money (especially someone in the Fiction 500). A more serious forms is actually claiming to be greater than God.
This usually involves the Abrahamic God, but not always. Regardless of which God, in a setting where Gods do exist, the character often ends up Tempting Fate. Bonus points for doing it right in front of an actual god.
A Super Trope to A God Am I, Bigger Than Jesus.
A Sister Trope to Blasphemous Praise (giving this boast in the third person), Answers to the Name of God, Pride.
Examples:
open/close all folders
Advertising
Anime and Manga
Comic Books
- In Wanted, Adam One doesn't see the point in Mr. Rictus advocating for the Fraternity to step out of the shadows, since they're "already sitting here with more money than God".
- The Ultimate Marvel version of Nick Fury, aka Samuel L. Jackson, after leading the first operation in the universe to successfully drive off Gah Lak Tus:
I tell you, Cap. All this made you think there might not be a God. You know what all this makes me wonder? I'm wondering that when I get up to them pearly gates...
...Is God gonna put up a fight, or just move over and let me sit down?
- In the first few issues of Young Justice (the comic obviously) Agents Fite and Maad are introduced and claim to 'have more clearance than God'.
- In an issue of The Simpsons, Homer becomes the owner of a new boat and proclaims that it is so powerful that God himself could not sink it (Averted fter a large ice cube is backed into the boat causing it to sink; following the repairs, Homer claims that he wishes to retract his earlier comments about God's ship-sinking abilities, also offering praises to Allah, Buddah, and Ra).
- In Sonic Universe, Shadow delivers a particularly epic one right to a god.
Deny me all you want, but with [a Chaos Emerald], even a god must bow before the Ultimate Life Form.
Fan Works
- In Time Braid, Sakura once makes reference to Naruto having 'more chakra than God' after being exposed to the various side effects (namely, he can't have sex with normal women without knocking them unconscious by overwhelming them with his aura, and there's a similar problem with his using the Yamanaka mindwalk jutsu).
- Technically, she herself is a Kami-descended, ergo Goddess material, and therefore is right.
- "Welcome to NERV. God's in His heaven because He's scared of our superior firepower."
- In Christian Humber Reloaded, the main character references this. Considering that he's a God Mode Sue who keeps on growing in power after this, it's not an exaggeration.
Not even god and Satin can stop me, which is kind of cool not having to worry about getting punished by god because you can strike back at him.
- Mines of Dragon Mountain: Tirac brags at one point about how he killed all but three of Equestria's gods in the ancient past.
- In The Prayer Warriors, Hades claims that he cannot be defeated by anyone, even by God or Jesus. The Prayer Warriors prove him wrong by simply praying.
Film
- Batman Begins: SWEAR TO ME!
- James Bond villains:
- GoldenEye:
Janus: What's true is that in forty-eight hours, you and I will have more money than God.
- Tomorrow Never Dies:
Carver: Soon I'll have reached out to and influenced more people than anybody in the history of this planet, save God Himself. And the best He ever managed was the Sermon on the Mount!
- MGM Studios used a less divine form, with the old slogan, "More stars than there are in the heavens."
- In the Godfrey Ho film Honor and Glory, the bodyguard Jake Armstrong's business card is said to read "You couldn't be safer in the hands of God." He seems to actually believe it, too.
- The Fantastic Four movie has Johnny Storm saying that Victor Von Doom has more money than God. In comparison Reed Richards is worth "less than a postage stamp." (He may have a point, considering Reed Richards Is Useless ...)
- In Speed Zone! (a.k.a. Cannonball Fever), the Strothers Brothers characters are described as "having more money than God's accountant".
- Consider this beauty from Kill Bill Volume 1: Hattori Hanzo on his latest sword, "I can say with no ego that this is the finest sword I have ever built. Should you encounter God on your quest, God will be cut". It's a callback to a similar line in a voiceover near the beginning, which in turn references a Zen Buddhist saying: "If you meet a buddha, cut him down. If you meet a demon, cut him down."note It's supposed to mean that one doesn't care about good or bad and has attained release from the world, but now means that one has extreme resolve in his mission and doesn't care who needs to be sacrificed to attain it, the exact opposite of the original meaning. The exact wording used in the movie is probably an intentional change, meant to invoke this trope for American audiences.
- In both the play and the film versions of Steel Magnolias Ouiser—pronounced 'Wheezer'—tells Shelby that "The only reason people are nice to me is because I have more money than God."
- In Monty Pythons Life Of Brian: "All I did was say to my wife, 'That piece of halibut was good enough for Jehovah!'"
- In Tropic Thunder, the director Damian Cockburn calls the helicopter that brought the actors to the remote part of the jungle as God, and himself as Jesus Christ, making this the ultimate Blasphemous Boast. Given the nature of the movie, it was probably inevitable. And 10 seconds later he gets blown up by a landmine.
- In Creepshow, Aunt Bedelia is said to be "older than God."
- In Clash of the Titans, Casseiopeia earns the wrath of the goddess Thetis by boasting her daughter was more beautiful than the goddess. She said this in the goddess's own temple.
- In Bride Of Re Animator, Herbert West has a pretty high opinion of his work. "'Blasphemy'? Before what, 'God'? A God repulsed by the miserable humanity he created in his own image? I will not be shackled by the failures of your God. The only 'blasphemy' is to wallow in insignificance! I have taken the refuse of your God's failures, and I have triumphed!"
- Dune (the 1984 film): "Usul, we have wormsign the likes of which even God has never seen."
- (500) Days of Summer: a reference by the protagonist's younger sister to his ex dating a guy "with abs like Jesus".
- In Keeping The Faith, Anna says, "I work harder than God. If He had hired me, He would have made the world by Thursday."
- Used in a slightly tragic sense in Hobo With a Shotgun: Drake, following the death of his son Slick, proclaims that he knows more pain than God does - God's son came back in three days. The hobo, who's noticed Drake's complete lack of compassion for his other son, dismisses this with, "You're a shitty father."
Literature
- In Orson Scott Card's horror novel The Lost Boys (no vampires appear) a young software engineer will tell anyone who listens that he makes more money than God. If only he had actually told people the dollar amount, he might have found out sooner that his boss was cheating him royally.
- Used indirectly in C. S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces, where the Fox claims that Istra is "prettier than Aphrodite herself". Orual is Genre Savvy enough to be concerned about this, but the Fox dismisses her concern as foolish superstition. Turns out the gods are not amused.
- In the Warrior Cats series, Tigerstar claims that he is more powerful than StarClan because he changed the number of Clans in the forest from four to two.
- More poetically, Alexander Pope once wrote, "Yes, I am proud; I must be proud, to see/Men not afraid of God afraid of me."
- Toyed with at a few points in the Circle of Magic series. A character will compare another character to a god - Briar thinking that with Rosethorn near it's as if her Mila of the Green is standing there - and immediately dissemble, thinking to themselves that they meant no disrespect.
- In the Discworld series, the Gods are mostly the petty vindictive sort found in Greek and Roman mythology, so many characters hold the not unjustified belief in their superiority. Not so much a boast as a criticism of lackluster Gods. On the other hand, it is noted that declaring such sentiments aloud is unwise unless you're lightning proof.
- Unseen Academicals Lord Vetinari doesn't outright claim to be better than God, but does declare this to be a goal worth pursuing:
"One day I was a young boy... when I saw a mother otter with her cubs. Even as I watched, the mother otter dived into the water and came up with a plump salmon, which she subdued... As she ate it, while of course it was still alive, the body split and the pink roes spilled out much to the delight of the baby otters. Mother and children dining upon mother and children. And that is when I first learned about evil. It is built into the very nature of the universe. Every world spins in pain. If there is any kind of supreme being, it is up to all of us to become his moral superior."
Live Action TV
- The Daily Show used the money version to highlight different Middle East countries. There were the conservative, "death to America" countries, and then there were those with more money than God.
- There's a season two episode of House actually called'' "House Vs. God". Chase keeps a running tally on a whiteboard with House's successes on one side and God's on the other. It ends in a tie.
- Done accidentally, in the show High Tide. One guy makes loads of friends, so much that they keep asking him to be godfather to their daughters. So one of the protagonists quips that, "You have more goddaughters than... God."
- Done in the Yes Minister episode "Doing the Honours" while discussing the Order of St Michael and St George. The Order has three grades: Companion (CMG), Knight Commander (KCMG) and Knight Grand Cross (GCMG). Jim Hacker's Principle Private Secretary Bernard Woolley explains what the abbreviations mean in the Civil Service:
Woolley: ...Of course, in the Service, CMG stands for "Call Me God". And KCMG stands for "Kindly Call Me God".
Hacker: What does GCMG stand for?
Woolley: "God Calls Me God".
- One episode of Law & Order: SVU had a cult leader get shot by his pregnant twelve year-old wife for pulling one of these during a three-person Mexican Standoff. He had, idiotically, told the girl to shoot the liar in the room. As Olivia tries to talk the girl down, he keeps yelling more and more fire and brimstone scare tactics at the girl until he claims that he was greater than God. She immediately shoots him because "He told a lie. No one is greater than God."
- In the 1990s The Outer Limits episode "The New Breed", the protagonist, the inventor of Nano Machines that can heal any damaged or diseased cells in the body, is accused of playing god. His response: "Let's just say God created a flawed man. I think I can do better."
- Let's just say his attempt to do better doesn't quite go according to plan.
- A small one in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Ioulus claims that the town that Herc and he saved should have built a shrine to them. A lightning bolt strikes a nearby bush. The duo speculate if it was the gods or not. So Ioulus tests the "lightning never strikes somewhere twice" concept by repeating the line right next to the bush. It happens again. Oddly enough this gives Ioulus precognitive abilities at the low, low cost of being fried with a lightning bolt.
- In The Sopranos, Jackie Aprile Jr. to his getaway driver before robbing Tony's gang:
Jackie Jr.: I don't care if God passess by, you do not move this car.
- But averted in that Jackie Aprile Jr. is in fact a Too Dumb to Live Darwin Award contender that has little claim to such authority.
- Wilhelmina in Ugly Betty episode "Betty's Baby Bump", regarding her latest scheme to regain control of MODE:
Wilhelmina: As I march up the steps of the Meade building, it will be the greatest comeback since... Jesus.
- Several episodes of Monk, such as "Mr. Monk and the Billionaire Mugger" and "Mr. Monk and the Sleeping Suspect", include characters being described as having more money than God. In "Mr. Monk Goes to Jail", one character wrote a book entitled "Richer Than God: The Lambert Lawson Story".
- Doctor Who gives us this exchange:
Catwoman nurse: And who are you to make this decision?
The Doctor: I'm the Doctor. If you don't like it, if you want to take it to a higher authority, there isn't one. It stops with me!
- Blackadder II episode "Bells".
Lord Flashart: "Still worshiping God? Last thing I heard he started worshiping me!"
- The Babylon 5 mantra:
"Ivanova is always right. I will listen to Ivanova. I will not ignore Ivanova's recommendations. Ivanova is God. And if this ever happens again Ivanova will personally rip your lungs out!"
- She then takes a moment to apologize to God for the boast.
- There is an arc in Twin Peaks where Benjamin Horne reenacts the American Civil War with models as a way of solving the personal problems that caused his nervous breakdown. However as he gets better the side he chose (the South) starts to win. As his troops are about to enter Washington D.C. he says (in an affected Southern Drawl) "Only God can stop us now; and I believe in my heart that the Almighty is a Southerner!"
- I guess you could call it inverted in an episode of Frasier. Frasier's producer Roz is considering hiring Frasier's less-than-noble agent Bebe Glazer. When Roz is trying to justify it be saying "Come on, it's not like she worships the Devil or anything," Frasier retorts with "She doesn't have to; he worships her."
- Pierce at one point claims to have written a song that will "make the Devil poop God's pants". That might be some kind of blasphemy record.
Music
- House of Pain's song "Jump Around" has a non-blasphemous version: "I've got more rhymes than The Bible's got psalms." Since it's accepted that the Bible has a finite number of psalms (150, to be exact), nobody gets offended (and the claim is still pretty impressive).
- Porcupine Tree's "Slave Called Shiver"
I may be nothing now, but I will rise
I'll have more followers than Jesus Christ
- Lil B has claimed to be God, to be the Devil, and to look like Jesus. He also claims to be "The Based God."
Niggas hatin on me bro, but I don't give a fuck, bitch!
Young Based God in the motherfucker
I'm god, I look like Jesus
And I'm coming with that motherfucking heater
Bitch, suck my dick.
- Jacques Brel was notorious for his blasphemous boasts in his songs. (See the article itself)
- The song "Creation & Destruction" by Immortal Technique is a Boastful Rap taken Up to Eleven.
Devils are incompatible
I been around since the planet was inhabitable
I spit in the ocean and created microscopic animals
Which evolved into two species: the righteous and the cannibals
But until then, I had alien women suck me off
When God said, "Let there be light", I turned it the fuck off
- And the stinger at the end of that verse:
Cause I allow God to let you motherfuckers exist
- The song "Disasters" by the Non-Prophets
How do you expect someone to take you seriously
When it's obvious the god you trust is hateful and inferior to me
"I'm kidding"; Really folks, who asked us to be modest?
Thinking when you hear these jokes you laugh just to feel smarter
- An interesting variant occurs in Larry Gallagher’s "I Am Better Than Your God", in which, as the title implies, the singer claims to be better than God. This isn’t because the singer considers himself to be great or powerful but because the version of God he is singing about is an extremely reprehensible being.
Mythology
Professional Wrestling
Theater
Video Games
- A variant in Super Robot Wars, Sanger's Catchphrase and Badass Boast is that "I am the sword that cleaves evil! There is nothing I cannot cut!" (Which becomes "smites evil" in the English localization.) When fighting more powerful opponents, he sometimes replaces "evil" with something more dramatic and context-appropriate, including at one point "God".
- Near the start of the life of the PlayStation, Sony released an ad campaign in the US that explicitly stated that the Playstation was "More powerful than God", attempting to prove that it wasn't for kids. Unsurprisingly, shortly afterwords, the campaign was taken down.
- At the end of Policenauts, Gates Becker goes on a Motive Rant, claiming that God made a mistake in designing humanity as naturally unfit for life in space, and justifying the extensive organ harvesting syndicate which he oversees as merely "picking up [His] slack".
- In Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure, Marjoly claims to be mightier than God, more beautiful than Goddess, and the Devil's master.
- A guy named Glass in Fire Emblem has gained some notoriety by claiming that his swordplay is so peerless that even the gods fear it. Considering the fact that he's just the level 2 boss, this turns out to be one of the most epic cases of Suicidal Overconfidence ever.
- Captain Falcon from F-Zero faces against god in a race, but not before saying it's cocky to think it can beat him.
- Alex from the Golden Sun series is a great example of a Blasphemous Boast in the face of a near-god, and a better example of being immediately shut down by said god.
Web Original
- In the Yu Gi Oh The Abridged Series movie trailer, a brief scene involves Yugi getting swarmed by fans and exclaiming "I'm more popular than Jesus!".
- Darwin's Soldiers:
Subject 19: So come on! Give me a real challenge! Give me a fight against a God!
- This little gem from Time Cube:
- This bash.org quote.
- The Nostalgia Critic:
- "I am your Jesus."
- "That's right! I am going to judge God!"note He was comparing Heston's The Ten Commandments against The Prince of Egypt and their different portrayals of God. Prince's God won and NC was informed by God Himself He was the other type before smiting the NC.
- In Mario Plush Forever, Giga Bowser claims to be more powerful than Master Hand. Big mistake.
- From Super Mario Bros. Z:
Mecha Sonic: I'm not a monster! I'm a GOD!
- Dragon Ball Abridged - Frieza incites a Bolt of Divine Retribution this way.
"If I'm really as evil as you say I am, then let God strike me down where I stand." (ZAP!) "Ha! Nice try, jackass! Next time, give it your A-game!"
- It runs in the family. When his brother Cooler had been referred to as "he", he once replied: "That's 'He' with a capital 'H', by the way!"
- From this Cracked article: "Look, we're not trying to sound holier than thou on this matter. We're just saying that we are Jesus."
Web Comics
- In the Bob and George fancomic Jailhouse Blues, one weapon that Mega Man gains after defeating "Obviously Compensating For Something Man" is "More Ammunition Than God."
Mega Man: There's got to be a catch.
- The Last Days Of FOXHOUND: Psycho Mantis on Ocelot:
Psycho Mantis: Look, this is a man who believes that if God himself came down from the heavens, pointed a shotgun at his head and fired, God would miss.
- Sluggy Freelance:
Riff: I put more spice on those wings than God could.
- Touhou Nekokayou: Referred to as a "Blasphemous ... um ... Battlecry" in The Rant for comic #109:
- Towerof God:
Quant Blitz: "A mere Regular acting on behalf of God? Preposterous! The true god of this testing area is ME!"
- Awesome Hospital alters a dialogue standard of the Medical Drama for context, but retains the sentiment:
Nurse Punk Rock: You can't play someone's life like a Stratocaster, Sven! You're not Hendrix!
Dr. Guitar Solo: In this hospital, I AM HENDRIX!
Western Animation
- The Simpsons
- Homer got a perfect 300 bowling, and compared himself to God. He didn't actually say he was better than God, just equal in bowling ability. Which, if Homer always bowls 300, is simply mathematically accurate. Even God can't score more points than the maximum number possible.
- In another episode, Bart declares that the revivalist preacher/faith healer Brother Faith "dances better than Jesus himself."
- In yet another episode, Bart describes the gravy Marge and Becky made as "better than God's sweat."
- Being a parody/homage of The Beatles, "Homer's Barbershop Quartet" references John Lennon's real life boast (see under Real Life below). The Be Sharps took Lennon's quote to extreme by naming their second album "Bigger Than Jesus", complete with a cover that showed the quartet walking on water (itself a takeoff on the Abbey Road cover).
- And yet another example has Lisa convince Bart and Homer they have leprosy. Bart claims that in the Bible 'Some holy guy' cured the lepers. After remembering it was Jesus Homer quickly asserts "Wait, I know someone even Holier than Jesus! Flanders!"
- When Homer goes on a Hunger Strike to protest the local baseball team's plan to move, he sings a little song which includes the line "I'm kinda like Jesus, but not in a sacreligous way."
- When Homer buys a gun, he describes the feeling of power it gives him as "how God must feel when he's holding a gun."
- Also towards the end of "Mr. Plow", Homer after saving Barney's life goes into partnership with him in the snow-plow business, shouting out that if two friends stick together, not even God Himself can stop them. Cue a voice from the clouds: "Oh, really?" and the weather immediately becomes warmer, melting all the snow.
- Angry Beavers did a similar spoof as The Simpsons did at one point, with Daggett claiming that they were "Bigger than sliced bread", with people acting in an identical manner to John Lennon's "Bigger than Jesus" boast. Subverted, however, when Daggett clarifies that he meant that they were physically bigger than a loaf of sliced bread, placating the fans.
Tabletop games
- Warhammer uses this a lot with the chaos gods. A random Chaos worshiper deems himself greater than the gods and usually finds himself cursed.
"Your foe is well equipped, well-trained, battle-hardened. He believes his gods are on his side. Let him believe what he will. We have the tanks on ours."
- From the flavor text of the Netrunner card 'Fortress Architects':
"You want us to build that? Not even God has the money to afford that!"
Real Life
- John Lennon's "Bigger Than Jesus" comment wasn't really a boast. He was actually saying that it was a bad thing. Given John Lennon's later songs like God and Imagine (where he very blatantly considers it a good thing), it's not too hard to see why he was misinterpreted so easily.
- Averted by Mister T, who - back when he was a bodyguard to celebrities - advertised his service with "The best protection short of God Himself."
- Nick Lowe's debut album was named Jesus of Cool. Unsurprisingly, it was renamed for the USA market to the much-less-cool-sounding Pure Pop for Now People.
- From Long For This World, on Aubrey de Grey, "My wife borrowed my notebook and wrote to me in big block letters: He is more sure of himself than God."
- Both inverted and played straight: During the 1970s a church in Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia put up a sign saying, "What would you do if God came to Hawthorn today?", under which an Australian Rules Football fan graffiti'd, "Move Peter Hudsonnote Hawthorn Football Club's star full forward at the time to centre half forward!". Upon hearing of this, Hudson jokingly complained that God had never attended a single training session.
- This entire page: http://creationtheory.org/Essays/PlayingGod.xhtml
- Theodore Roosevelt was praised in his own lifetime that he was better than God. And given his record, who could blame them?
- The surnames Quirós (from northern Spain) and Garrido (from southern Spain) are rather old. So old, several lineages using either surname have the following as their family motto: «Antes de que Dios fuera Dios / Y el sol diera en estos riscos / Los Quirós eran Quirós / Y los Garrido, Garrido.» ("Before God was God / And before the sun shone in these cliffs / The Quirós were Quirós / And the Garridos were Garridos."). There has to be some truth to it, as not even the Inquisition took issue.
- Many academics think the "Before God was God" bit refers to the time before Christianity arrived to the Iberian Peninsula, so it's just a fancy way to say something like "Before we followed a single god.". Still, whether taken at face value or not, it's a rather strong statement about one's family.
- An old joke: In an English village, the vicar visits a beautiful garden and congratulates the owner:
Vicar: Isn't it amazing what a good gardener can achieve with God's help?
Villager: You should have seen it when it was tended by just God on His own.
|
|
