Heretical musings on religion and culture from a literary scholar
I wasn't expecting much from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). I'd seen all the bad reviews and hype online. It looked silly, but I was desperate to kill time and eat popcorn, so I went. Firstly, it's a great movie - better than most other Marvel flicks. Secondly, it's worth two years at Seminary school. The whole thing is a messy metaphor for God, the Devil, Jesus, and religious belief in general. I've made similar ...
It's a few days past Thanksgiving, and tonight at dinner we were talking about terrorism, whale hunting and the new Moby Dick movie (In the Heart of the Sea - just found out it's not a Moby Dick movie, but close enough to be included in this discussion). The conversation got started got started because of the shooting today in San Bernardino, California. As of right now, authorities and the media are saying it could be "either ...
I decided to watch Ex-Machina (2015) to blow off some steam, but I started taking notes when this line made me sit up and take notice: "If you've created a conscious machine it's not the history of man... that's the history of Gods." This isn't just a sci-fi thriller, this is an attack on God, by making the obvious connection between creating AI and creating conscious human beings. The movie begs for a theological interpretation, so here it ...
At the end of a hard day's work, I like to unwind with whatever TV show I can find. I tend to like supernatural drama series, but not really shitty high school drama ones. The latest series that has caught my attention is CW's "The Messengers" - which is, basically, the Book of Revelations but on TV. As someone who understands the Apocalypse Story as a vindictive minority group's wish-fulfillment future where all their enemies get ...
As a theology major with his own plans to write bible-based apocalyptic fiction, I was excited to see a new TV show out with some great actors. On the one hand, the same topics are recycled so blatantly from other sources it's cliche on cliche... -A handsome FBI agent called to Israel to chase down a murderer who stole an antiquity... -An attractive red haired archaeologist (also American of course) on a dig under the Temple Mount looking ...
It's a classic love story. Boy meets girl. Girl is wistful and spiritual, boy is scientific and needs facts and data. (Spoiler Alert!) Girl gets cut in half when elevator fails. Besides having the most gruesomely tragic death scene I've ever witnessed - something out of a Final Destination movie - I.Origins starring Brit Marling, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey and Michael Pitt is an interesting, in-depth look at God, faith, spirituality and the space between. In the metaphor that frames the storyline, worms have no ...
I've been excited about the 2014 retelling of the Dracula mythos for quite some time. A Faust-based narration, casting Vlad the Impaler as a suffering hero who made a deal with the Devil to save his people? Sign me up! What I wasn't prepared for was the sermonizing, heavy-handed Christian morality, and cliché, card board cutout representations of good and evil. Let's start with the basics. Vlad the Impaler, Vlad III, was a Prince of Wallachia - Transylvania - who lived in the ...
I was less than impressed with the 2014 remake of the biblical story of Noah and the Ark, featuring Russell Crowe. While some of the thematic and symbolistic changes they made were interesting (I'll discuss those below), the controversy itself offers much for discussion. People are angry because it "wasn't true to the Bible." But the truth is most Christians don't realize the version they learned in Sunday School isn't in the Bible either - ...
"You just gotta have faith," seems to be the motto of Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (2013). It's repeated several times. Faith in what, we don't know - we're dealing with a pluralistic oligarchy of gods, only one of whom is Percy's father. Sure, Percy is the only son, the chosen one, the hero... Percy is the ONLY human son of all THREE of the main Gods (Poseidon, Zeus and Hades). Kind of like Jesus is the ...
Vin Diesel's new Riddick movie (2013) is just the type of movie I don't like: a sequel with no plot where nothing happens. He wakes up on an abandoned planet, and finds a way to get off it. That's it. The whole thing could have been accomplished in 3 minutes, but then the writers would have come up with something else. So it's a 1hr 59minute stall. It's watchable, because there's lots of action and cool stuff happening. ...
It's no surprise to see the theme of political revolution in the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight Rises (2012). Revolution is a no-brainer plot template that is successfully integrated in about half of all big Hollywood Hits: a corrupt totalitarian government (or the threat of one) taken down by a time of rebel freedom-fighters. What I found a little surprising, however, was that the revolution featured in The Dark Knight Rises is the same one that ...
I swear not 3 months goes by before I see the movie trailer for a new cinematographic take on the "Demonic Possession" genre. The newest in this long, long chain of movies (all of which are eaten up by the faithful as pop culture affirmations of religious experiences, based on TRUE STORIES of demonic possession and exorcism), is "The Possession: Darkness Lives Inside." The tagline: "Fear the Demon that Doesn't Fear God." Proof that Demonic Possession is ...
If you're interested in religious mythology, astrological symbolism, or supernatural folklore, grab my book Gods of Myth and Man. You can go buy it on Amazon.
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