T.V. and Theology: musings

[capri0mni]

Preamble: These are probably far less random, as thoughts go, than it seems to me at the moment, and if I've ranted about this before, forgive me, please.

Was watching Ghost Whisperer last night. And just when I start to think I might like the show, they have to go and bring a Satan-like character into it, at the very end, and it looks like there will be a whole "Battle with Satan" story arc for the upcoming season. They did something similiar with the end of Joan of Arcadia's second season; as much as I loved that show, I am so glad the show got cancelled before they could carry through on that foreshadowing.

As far as I'm concerned, it's like that netiquette axiom: "Whoever brings Hilter into the argument, loses, automatically." Satan is so much the Ultimate Big, Bad, Evil, that bringing him into a storyline loses all dramatic and emotional credibility, at least for me.

And now that I'm thinking about it... I've encountered lots of theological debates about Jesus in Christianity: "What did he really mean when he said ____?" and about his relationships with his disciples (especially with the discovery of the Judas text), and Mary, and Joseph, and all. But I've hardly seen any debate about Satan's role in the religion. Satan's role in Judaism is very different than it is in Christianity, after all (don't know enough about Islam to address that question); in Judaism, he's portrayed as a servant of God (a nasty, hard-ass servant, to be sure), but in Christianity, he's portrayed as the enemy of God -- actually waging war against him, trying to destroy the Kingdom of Heaven. And it was, supposedly, to "Save us all from Satan's Power" that Jesus was born and crucified in the first place... So why so little debate, or discussion?

Years ago, when I was with Prodigy as my isp (remember back that far?), I got into an extended email conversation with a Born-Again Baptist about theology (I know, I know... but I was an Internet Noob, and talking to anybody about anything was exciting and new). He was perfectly happy to tackle the question of whether God exists, and whether God's grace could be granted to non-Christians. But as soon as I used the phrase "the Christian concept of Satan," he cut off all contact with me, and I never heard from him again. It was almost as if belief in Satan was a bigger tenet off his religion than belief in Jesus... and that struck me as... odd... and disturbing. But now that I'm thinking about the relative lack of public debate about Satan I wonder if that attitude is more wide-spread than just this one, wierd, dude.

(And now I wonder, if, in this Christian Fundamentalist-based culture, it will ever be possible to have an American TV show about the supernatural without Satan eventually showing up in the cast of characters)

Hmmmm...

Okay. I'm hungry, now... I'm going to log off and order dinner.

Toodles!

Comments

[scarfman]

One of the reasons scarfpeople like Medium better than Ghost Whisperer (though we watch both) is that Medium - most likely because it's based on, and creatively consulted by, a real medium - is more realistic. Realistic, I mean, in terms of what real-life mediums, such as are profiled on Psychic Detectives on CourtTV, are capable of and are incapable of, and how the unseen really reacts in relation to the seen. Medium is also more realistic in that not all the stories are entirely tied up at the end. Also, a mutual friends once in chat complained while watching Medium that nothing happens on it, but I don't agree: it's just not paced at breakneck speed like so much crime tv is. Medium is a breath of fresh air. Oh, and it doesn't have Satan in it.

[capriuni.livejournal.com]

Yeah, of the two, I prefer Medium, myself.

Though, besides the fact that both shows feature women who seem ordinary, but have extraordinary gifts, they really do belong in different genres. Medium is a crime procederal; Ghost Whisperer is an inspirational drama -- like Highway to Heaven or Touched by an Angel. So it might not be fair to compare them...

And since Medium is based on real life, of course Satan is absent. He may exist, but he doesn't turn up, twirling his mustache and cackling evilly, in real life. He's more subtle than that.

This post was just a culmination of three things swirling around in my head: debste between theologians on Jesus's teachings on the radio, on Friday (in honor of Easter), Ghost Whisperer last night, and my bad luck to catch the opening of the movie Spawn, on UPN, this afternoon.

[scarfman]

The other thing is: It seems television series aren't allowed to be merely episodic any more. If a show hasn't got any plotthreads that arc over multiple episodes audiences won't follow it, or the people in charge think audiences won't.

House MD, for instance, was purely episodic until about halfway through its first season. Then there was the six-episode arc about the hospital investor who tried to boss House around. Then his One True Love From His Past and her husband became recurring characters for the end of the first season and the beginning of the second (when she showed up, someone you and I chat with - I forget who - said, "House has officially jumped the shark"). Now, Wilson's moved in with House while Mrs. Wilson decides whether they're divorcing so House and Wilson are the Odd Couple.

Some series trade on season- or series- arcs, and do it well. But it seems to be a case of the networks saying to the creators, "Battlestar Galactica does it! You too!" Medium and Monk of the shows scarfpeople watch seem to be bucking the trend. But scarfmom started watching House late second season, and when the ex left the show scarfmom complained that the show wasn't what it used to be any more, and I had to straighten her out.

Finally: last Friday's Ghost Whisperer was a rerun, you know, and when qtrhorserider and I watched it on the DVR we didn't remember that that scene at the end was there in first airing. We could be wrong, and more recent firstruns have alluded to there being people on the other side who "don't like" what Melinda does. But that was a little spooky.

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[scarfman]

That should be, "scarfmom started watching House late first season".

And while I'm printing errata, I ought to note I've recalled that the preview I've seen of the second half of Medium's current season features a shot of Kelsey Grammer (one of the show's producers) as, according to the announcer, "the Prince of Darkness".

[scarfman]

qtrhorserider and I are watching The Ninth Gate with Johnny Depp off the DVR. It was on Sci-Fi last weekend or the weekend before, riding the tide of the DaVinci Code publicity. It's about a centuries-old book that's supposed to have been coauthored by the devil. I thought of you. I don't mean that the way it sounds.