| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"Cary Kittrell" |
| Date: |
13 Apr 2005 02:11:21 PM |
| Object: |
Next up: The Rapture. Right after these messages. |
Hollywood hates religion? Naw, Hollywood LOVEs ratings.
Forwarded from:
A M E R I C A N A T H E I S T S
A A N E W S
#1163 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 4/12/05
http://www.atheists.org
http://www.americanatheist.org
http://www.atheistviewpoint.tv
GETTING READY FOR THE END OF THE WORLD (AGAIN): ARMAGEDDON
REDUX MEETS POP CULTURE AS NBC SET TO AIR REVELATIONS
It is time once again for The End of the World As We Know It
(TEOTWAWKI).
Tomorrow night (Wednesday, April 13), NBC unveils its much-hyped
mini-series "Revelations." It is part of the flood of religion-themed
programming sweeping into our living rooms, capitalizing on everything
from high anxiety about world events to the American curiosity -- or
is fixation? -- with matters divine and spiritual. We are, despite
our secular institutions and the Establishment Clause, a nation
somewhat rooted in both religious belief and sectarian strife. And we
have never fully abandoned the interest in things apocalyptic and
eschatological, which is what TEOTWAWKI is really all about.
The plot line for this latest doomsday media offering is based loosely
on the Book of Revelation, which for some Christians is a detailed
chronology of the End Times when Christ will return to Earth, do
battle with the Anti-Christ and his nefarious sidekick, the false
prophet, and pronounce final judgment. Before, during or after all of
this (Christian eschatologists argue endlessly over the sequence of
these dramatic events), the saved will literally rise into the air and
meet their Savior while the rest of us suffer under the oppressive
boot of the Anti-Christ. Bill Pullman plays the character of Dr.
Richard Massey, a Harvard astronomer -- and according to reports, a
firm Atheist -- who sees the world through the lens of empirical
skepticism and the scientific method. His world is shaken when a
Satanist serial killer slaughters his daughter in a grisly ritual
murder.
Appearing next is Natascha MeElhone as Sister Josepha Montafiore, a
nun who seems to find ubiquitous evidence that the prophecies in the
Book of Revelation are unfolding with a bewildering cadence. She
calls upon Massey to find out how a comatose girl is suddenly speaking
in Latin (is there a bizarre, Jungian synchronicity here with the
Terry Shaivo case?), and why the shadow of the crucifixion cross has
suddenly appeared on the side of a mountain in Mexico. The two depart
on an international trek, Massey testing his reason against faith, and
Sister Josepha barely skirting the condemnation of her church.
Hollywood Hell 'n Heaven Bound...
For NBC and the entire entertainment industry, fare about religion is
box office gold and a ticket to recapturing social and political
respectability. TV executives are still reeling from the orchestrated
round of indignation over Janet Jackson's risqué performance at the
2004 Super Bowl half time show. And the religious right has
maintained its drumbeat that "Hollywood hates America," and charges
that powerful cultural forces ranging from cable television to the
mainstream press are corroding American values. Some at the pulpit
and the Congressional well are not content that Howard Stern has fled
cable for satellite. Indeed, there is now the "debate" over whether
FCC decency surveillance is needed there and even on the internet.
Television critic Melanie McFarland noted that with Revelations, media
"is trying to take advantage of the current push for Christianity to
take a more prominent role in popular culture.
The program "also relies on our perennial fascination with the
Catholic Church's fondness for mystery, powerful politics and inner
workings, as well as the church's spiritual negative, Satanism."
On a wider level, television and film -- all under the umbrella of the
"entertainment industry" -- have always served up a steady diet of
spiritual and pop-culture religious themes. "Highway to Heaven,"
"Touched by an Angel," even "Nothing Sacred" where Robert Blake
blended a tough-guy persona with a priestly collar, all found loyal
audiences.
And Revelations has roots in a deeper apocalyptic tradition, even if
it is one skewed and embellished by Tinseltown. The show's
writer-producer is David Seltzer, the man behind the 1976 horror-film
"The Omen" which spawned devilish sequels and big takes at the box
office. Seltzer did "a tremendous amount of research" for this new
drama.
"My interest in the Book of Revelation began when I wrote 'The Omen,'
" he told Newsday. "I like to read sermons and interpret those
passages that I've wondered about myself."
The plot line and script for Revelations, he added, have been "vetted
by researchers, fact-finders, opposition researchers, and finally a
highly accredited religious adviser..."
Truth or Fantasy?
According to a Time Magazine poll, about 59% of Americans believe that
the events described in Revelations and popularized in books such as
the prolific "Left Behind" series are coming to fruition. Equally
high percentages say that religious faith is "very important" in their
daily lives, believe in the reality of the devil, and that events such
as earthquakes and other natural calamities, political strife and the
prospect of environmental collapse all presage the "End of Days." And
44 percent of Americans believe that Israel -- a focal point of
apocalyptic prophecy -- was given by God to the Jews and that the
modern-day State of Israel is "fulfillment of the biblical prophecy
about the second coming of Jesus."
That is a market segment which television and film moguls simply
cannot ignore according to Kevin Reilly, president of the
entertainment division at NBC. He recently told the Wall Street
Journal, "We try in the entertainment business to find veins of
interest to tap, and religion is a huge one that is currently very
underserved."
WSJ correspondent Brooks Barnes noted, "Also weighing heavily on
programming executives' minds is President Bush's re-election. In
addition to giving religion a starring role, several shows this
development season are set deep inside 'red' states and feature
ultraconservative characters in the mix..."
But the studio treatment of theology does not automatically rest well
with hard-shell evangelicals.
Writer Jerry Jenkins and religious right evangelist Tim LaHaye,
authors of the "Left Behind" series, have gone public with their
criticisms of the Revelations drama. Over 65 millions copies of their
books have been sold, and the latest in the series, "The Rising," is
at the top of the New York Times best-seller list.
Jenkins told Baptist Press that he is enthusiastic over the prospect
that Pullman's Atheist character will develop into "a firm believer"
as Revelations unfolds. But after a sneak peak of the first episode,
he warned, "What he promises to come to believe is a mishmash of myth,
silliness, and misrepresentations of Scripture.
"Acknowledging that not everyone agrees with my particular take on
end-times prophecies," Jenkins cautioned, "at least they are based on
some commonly accepted study. Revelations seems to draw from
everywhere and nowhere."
LaHaye, a co-founder of Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority group in the
1980s and the theological wordsmith behind the "Left Behind" books,
described the NBC offering as "unbiblical" and "weird," saying that
the plot "is based on some writer's imagination about the Book of
Revelation." Among the travesties cited by LaHaye was the character
of Sister Josepha and her effort to somehow "forestall the
confrontation" between God and Satan, and her protection of a
newly-arrived baby Jesus back for a return engagement on planet Earth.
But LaHaye also says that despite its theological inaccuracies,
Revelations is still useful in dispensing a religious message.
"I believe in end-times events, and I want to see the subject of the
return of Christ remain on the table of public discourse for as long
as possible."
Believers viewing the program, added LaHaye, should discuss the weak
points of the program with others. "I recommend watching it but with
a healthy dose of skepticism."
That skepticism is not so much about the eschatological claims of
bible prophecy, but the sequence of events predicted in the Book of
Revelation and other texts skillfully woven into the "Left Behind"
narrative. For Jenkins, LaHaye and millions of readers, the "End of
Days" begins with a spectacular event known as the Rapture, where the
physical bodies of the faithful are, literally, taken up to Heaven.
(That event has spawned a cottage industry of humorous speculation.
What happens if the pilot of a 737 airliner is raptured? What about
those members of the elect who happen to be driving in tunnels? In a
"Left Behind" movie, clothing lingers after the Rapture; are the saved
naked?) This is followed by a seven-year period of "Tribulation" where
the Anti-Christ runs amok, and is then defeated in the Battle of
Armageddon after Jesus returns.
Not all Christians subscribe to this time line of events, and some
argue that the prophecy of Revelation is "symbolic," or may have
already come to fruition. But the apocalypse is, well, exciting, and
makes for colorful and dramatic programming. Seltzer's "Omen" series
was well known for its gruesome and creative execution scenes. And
Arnold Schwarzenegger's performance in "End of Days" attracted the
same market segment that turned out for equally muscle-bound action
like "Terminator" and "Predator." We love to be scared and thrilled
simultaneously, and it is, perhaps, a tribute to pop-culture that
religion can be pressed into the more benign service of the
entertainment mill.
But while some Christians may argue the religious correctness of the
NBC series, the program's hype and likely popularity suggest something
about the state of American culture, especially its angst and
uncertainty. The show's executive producer Gavin Polone told
Associated Press, "It isn't necessarily preaching anything.
"I don't think there's going to be some church that says, 'Yes, what's
going on in this television show corresponds to what we believe.' "
But AP correspondent Frazier Moore notes that for producers and people
behind the scenes at Revelations, this and similar programs have much
to say about humanity at the brink and on the cultural edge.
"The news that we take our morning coffee with really makes us realize
that anything can happen," said David Seltzer at a meeting with
reporters. "And not only that, all the signs and signals of the Bible
in regard to the End of Days are in play."
Historians would disagree, of course, and note that throughout history
events were selectively interpreted by some as evidence that those
"End of Days" were barreling down the temporal turnpike straight at
the human race. Indeed, a good deal of the hoopla surrounding the new
millennium and the year 2000 (it was really 2001 which marked the end
of the century) was infused with apocalyptic overtones. For some,
events at Jonestown, Ruby Ridge, Waco and other calamities were simple
prequels and rehearsals to the more dramatic eschatological scenarios
to follow.
On a deeper cultural level, "Revelations" may reflect the popularity
of spiritual themes and beliefs that possess incredible immunity to
the incursions of science, reason and modernity. While the spirit of
the Enlightenment has produced a technologically sophisticated culture
and infrastructure, popular beliefs continue to linger behind, even by
centuries. Tim LaHaye's hope that the events like the apocalypse and
the return of a Messiah "remain on the table of public discourse" is
assured. After all, if brain-dead children can speak the word of God
and atheistic scientists become believers, anything -- no matter how
absurd -- is possible. Right?
.
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