I am god for a short time, but then I'm toast.

April 3, 2009 4:42 PM

I am trying to think of all possible popular cultural references to the following event: Person finds him or herself in a foreign land and is mistaken for the local/regional god. I can only think of two times when this happens but I know it happens quite a bit more in tv/fiction/movies etc.

1. Joe vs. the Volcano

2. Pirates of the Caribbean 2

Yes I know I'm uncultured.

Go hive mind go!

posted by allthewhile to media & arts (48 comments total)

The classic example would be Rudyard Kipling's "The Man Who Would Be King," but this kind of shit happened to Captain James T. Kirk all the time.
posted by Kirklander at 4:43 PM on April 3 [2 favorites has favorites]

C3PO in Return of the Jedi
posted by -harlequin- at 4:43 PM on April 3 [1 favorite has favorites]

Stargate SG-1, it happens regularly in the early seasons.
posted by Science! at 4:44 PM on April 3

Cortez, no? I think there's a Neil Young song about it, if wikipedia's not your thing.

That would be "Cortez the Killer."
posted by emhutchinson at 4:45 PM on April 3

This'll give you a bunch more.
posted by Pater Aletheias at 4:46 PM on April 3 [2 favorites has favorites]

The Gods Must Be Crazy.
posted by Maias at 4:47 PM on April 3

There's an ancient version of this in the New Testament:

In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed 10and called out, "Stand up on your feet!" At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.
When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in human form!" Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.

Acts 14:8-13
posted by Pater Aletheias at 4:47 PM on April 3 [1 favorite has favorites]

John Frum
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 4:52 PM on April 3

Pater Aletheias beat me to it! That'll teach me not to follow links
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 4:54 PM on April 3

Um, I'm embarrassed to even post this but this scenario occurred in one of the Hawaii vacation episodes of Saved by the Bell. The local Hawaiian tribe thought that Screech Powers was a god and they followed him around places and did his bidding.
posted by amicamentis at 5:08 PM on April 3 [4 favorites has favorites]

Wizard of Oz?
posted by Fortnight Bender at 5:08 PM on April 3

Hernan Cortez, the Spanish conqueror of Mexico and the Aztec Empire was mistaken for the God-King of the Aztecs, because he landed on a specific date — the return of Quetzalcoatl.
posted by iamkimiam at 5:09 PM on April 3

Captain Cook was taken as the Hawaiian god Lono when he got there.
posted by barnacles at 5:11 PM on April 3

The movie Heavy Metal had such a skit.
posted by Ziggy Zaga at 5:26 PM on April 3

I can only think of two times when this happens but I know it happens quite a bit more in tv/fiction/movies etc.

1. Joe vs. the Volcano

This does not happen in Joe Versus the Volcano.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 5:28 PM on April 3

I think every Star Trek Series had this happen at least once a season. Star Trek Voyager had ferengis use a replicators to make people think they were gods.

In a Twilight Zone episode that was later parodied by both the Simpsons and South park an astronaut finds a race of tiny people that worship him as a god.

In a Tin Tin comic he uses the prediction of a solar eclipse to convince people he is a god. Which is from Mark Twain's a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's court, which is from Christopher Columbus actually doing it on one of his later voyages.
posted by monkeywithhat at 5:32 PM on April 3

The Road to El Dorado.
posted by Ziggy500 at 5:33 PM on April 3

Didn't the Aztecs think that the arriving Spanish conquistadores' ships were quetzacualtol ?
posted by Max Power at 5:38 PM on April 3

It happens to Bender

also, that article points out some other possible instances: "This episode explores themes similar to "The Seventh Sally" by Stanisław Lem, "Microcosmic God" by Theodore Sturgeon, The Twilight Zone episode "The Little People", and Alan Dean Foster's short story "Gift of a Useless Man."
posted by Vic Morrow's Personal Vietnam at 5:50 PM on April 3

A similar trope is when a character accidentally fulfills the criteria to become King/Emperor etc, which is the plot of a Futurama episode.
posted by so_necessary at 5:52 PM on April 3

SIMPSONS has at two occasions I can think of...

Treehouse of Horror VII
Lisa's science experiment develops more than she anticipated when she becomes a god to little folk.

And a second episode where Homer is mistaken for the Pagan god of some island people while on vacation (I think).
posted by saradarlin at 5:54 PM on April 3

Two, but they're both of the maybe variety: Gulliver's Travels and The Time Machine. I say maybe because, while I'm fairly sure the point-of-view character in each wonders aloud that the locals must take him for some sort of god, I'm not sure that we ever get any confirmation of that from the locals themselves. Someone who has read them more recently (or more carefully) feel free to chime in and correct me.
posted by wheat at 6:01 PM on April 3

"Sky Coyote" by Kage Baker, although the character's appearance as a god is intended, and does not go exactly as planned.

And no, this does NOT happen in Joe vs. The Volcano.
posted by mmoncur at 6:02 PM on April 3

Rygel in Farscape - episode "Jeremiah Crichton" (Season 1)
posted by Zoyashka at 6:09 PM on April 3

The Chipmunk Adventure? According to Wikipedia, Theodore is worshipped not as a god but as the "Prince of Plenty", but... I'm pointing it out anyway.
posted by two or three cars parked under the stars at 6:15 PM on April 3

In Ice Age II the sloth is taken for a god, I believe. Bit hazy on the details though.
posted by jacalata at 6:17 PM on April 3

I think it happened to Gilligan when he put his head on top of a totem pole.
posted by markjamesmurphy at 6:31 PM on April 3

I think it happened in the animated movie "Madagascar," but I really can't remember.
posted by egeanin at 6:39 PM on April 3

A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
posted by marsha56 at 6:44 PM on April 3

This doesn't happen in The Gods Must Be Crazy
posted by Confess, Fletch at 6:45 PM on April 3

This is essentially what happens in one of my favorite movies, which was only recently released on DVD: Farewell to the King.
posted by kurtroehl at 6:58 PM on April 3

There's always The Life of Brian, only it doesn't involve going to a foreign land.
posted by kimota at 7:58 PM on April 3

Not quite a god but pretty close, the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever.
posted by scalefree at 8:18 PM on April 3

In Red Dwarf Lister is the god of the cat society, and there is also an episode where Rimmer becomes god of a civilization populated by his own clones.
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 8:41 PM on April 3

Larry Niven explores this idea pretty extensively in his Ringworld books. Basically, since the world is so goddamn huge, there's a long tradition of technologically advanced groups claiming godhood to the more savage tribes. Many of the main characters use the "god gambit" as well.
posted by Netzapper at 10:56 PM on April 3

I have a feeling this happens in a scene from Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates by Tom Robbins -- can anyone else deny or confirm? It's been awhile since I read it.
posted by tamarack at 11:57 PM on April 3

I have a feeling this happens in a scene from Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates
I think that it's actually the parrot that they worship
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 12:50 AM on April 4

A Harvey Birdman episode, Futurama episode 'My Three Suns'.
posted by Submiqent at 1:39 AM on April 4

Oh and Bender makes himself the reigning pharaoh in 'A Pharaoh To Remember'.
posted by Submiqent at 1:41 AM on April 4

This is from real life so may not count, but in Vanuatu, the Duke of Edinburgh is worshipped as a god.
posted by permafrost at 4:33 AM on April 4 [1 favorite has favorites]

Family Guy when Chris joins the Peace Corps and Peter goes to the island and is worshiped.
Three Stooges, probably a couple of times, but when they go to an island in search of a tree and Curly becomes a prince. (until he sees he has to marry the king's ugly daughter) Nyuk Nyuk.
posted by Gungho at 5:42 AM on April 4

In Jess Whedon's Firefly series, the nearly amoral mercenary Jayne is worshipped as a local hero in Jaynestown (completely undeservedly). It's a fantastic episode.
posted by misha at 7:39 AM on April 4

There's a British music hall song from 1909 called "I've Got Rings on My Fingers" by R.P. Weston and F.J. Barnes that deals with an Irishman cast up on a tropic isle. You can find the words here: http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=3117. It has a catchy tune.
posted by jackmcc at 8:48 AM on April 4

In the Duckman episode "The One With Lisa Kudrow in a Small Role," Ajax is abducted to a planet where he becomes worshipped as the 'son of Dod.'
posted by KatlaDragon at 3:47 PM on April 4

It doesn't happen in the movie Madagascar (just watched it tonight). Certainly not in The Gods Must Be Crazy movies (though they are well worth watching for the sheer fun of it).
posted by lhauser at 11:15 PM on April 4

My first thought was Apocalypse Now, and, to a lesser extent, Heart of Darkness.
posted by themadjuggler at 12:43 AM on April 5

In Madagascar, the characters are welcomed enthusiastically as the "New York Giants" because they scared away the predatory foosa. They were feared/respected, but not seen as divine.
posted by amicamentis at 8:28 AM on April 5

Thanks to everyone who provided an answer to me!
posted by allthewhile at 3:25 PM on November 4