Occult/New Age centers of Transhuman Space!

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

Christianity is often misunderstood and misapplied in Hollywood, for that matter.
.

Oh heck, Christianity is often misunderstood and misapplied by Christians. Probably by me included. It's that little misfortune known as mortality.

Soul Surfer seemed to present evangelicals that looked more or less like real evangelicals though.

Luther didn't do badly though it was obviously biased toward the protagonist; however it showed some complexity. One thing nice was it made Medieval and Renaissance civilization look like a civilization. There was a Corrupt Church and Deadly Decadent Courts, but there were also hints of other things like Luther pointing out that Emperor Maximilian had decreed that everyone had a right to a trial, and scholars debating points of philosophy. Sixteenth century people were made to look violent, and treacherous but they weren't made to look uncivilized.

Shepherd Book on Firefly is a good character. I am not sure whether he rings true for me or not though.

On the other hand some of the portrayals in Hollywood were more then a bit cringeworthy. Like the cliche Mission From God Serial Killer, or the cliche pulpit tyrant. It's not that such don't exist, it's more that they seem to be done badly when they are portrayed. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a self-perpetuating thing with a lot of Hollywood types remembering quarrels they had when they announced that they were intending to make their living in the Den of Iniquity.

Pioneer romances vary in quality; some of them are just to anvilicious about the piety, but others are reasonable enough.

Anne of Green Gables was fairly good.

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

Oh heck, Christianity is often misunderstood and misapplied by Christians. Probably by me included. It's that little misfortune known as mortality.

Soul Surfer seemed to present evangelicals that looked more or less like real evangelicals though.

Luther didn't do badly though it was obviously biased toward the protagonist; however it showed some complexity. One thing nice was it made Medieval and Renaissance civilization look like a civilization. There was a Corrupt Church and Deadly Decadent Courts, but there were also hints of other things like Luther pointing out that Emperor Maximilian had decreed that everyone had a right to a trial.

Shepherd Book on Firefly is a good character. I am not sure whether he rings true for me or not though.

On the other hand some of the portrayals in Hollywood were more then a bit cringeworthy. Like the cliche Mission From God Serial Killer, or the cliche pulpit tyrant. It's not that such don't exist, it's more that they seem to be done badly when they are portrayed. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a self-perpetuating thing with a lot of Hollywood types remembering quarrels they had when they announced that they were intending to make their living in the Den of Iniquity.

Pioneer romances vary in quality; some of them are just to anvilicious about the piety, but others are reasonable enough.

Anne of Green Gables was fairly good.

You have hardly mentioned dogma, history, or customs-- apart from material in Luther.

I don't think we are thinking of the same things.

EDIT- I looked it up to be sure. Luther was not a Hollywood film. Nope. It was an indie production partly funded by a Lutheran organization.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

You have hardly mentioned dogma, history, or customs-- apart from material in Luther.

I don't think we are thinking of the same things.

I was thinking specifically of customs, not dogma(which I would not want Hollywood to get into if they can't do it right which they probably can't). History is mostly Biblical Sword and Sandals epics which we have kind of ODed on.

Like I said, Soul Surfer gets the culture right. I recognized it right away. Pioneer Romances I am less sure about but then it is probably better then most subgenre's of westerns. I haven't seen a Sword and Sandals that covers any period more then a few years AD so getting Christianity accurately is rather meaningless.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

. Luther was not a Hollywood film. Nope. It was an indie production partly funded by a Lutheran organization.

I suppose that was to be expected. Probably something like that would be the case of most of the ones I mentioned too.

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

I was thinking specifically of customs, not dogma(which I would not want Hollywood to get into if they can't do it right which they probably can't). History is mostly Biblical Sword and Sandals epics which we have kind of ODed on.

Like I said, Soul Surfer gets the culture right. I recognized it right away. Pioneer Romances I am less sure about but then it is probably better then most subgenre's of westerns. I haven't seen a Sword and Sandals that covers any period more then a few years AD so getting Christianity accurately is rather meaningless.

I haven't seen Soul Surfer.

I know nothing of "Pioneer Romances." Is this stuff romance novels set in the West of the 19th century, involving settlement and religious themes as well as lovey stuff?

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

I suppose that was to be expected. Probably something like that would be the case of most of the ones I mentioned too.

Most films I like are indie.

100% organic, natch.

LOL.

This is getting to be a long enough tangent that we might wish to shunt it to GenChat.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

I haven't seen Soul Surfer.

I know nothing of "Pioneer Romances." Is this stuff romance novels set in the West of the 19th century, involving settlement and religious themes as well as lovey stuff?

It's a subgenre. Old West but not usually having gunslingers and usually having plots similar to Amish romances. More or less like what you said. The Love Comes However series is the classic example.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

Most films I like are indie.

100% organic, natch.

LOL.

This is getting to be a long enough tangent that we might wish to shunt it to GenChat.

Nah. I have to go to bed soon anyway.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

I was thinking specifically of customs, not dogma(which I would not want Hollywood to get into if they can't do it right which they probably can't).

Does View Askew Productions count as Hollywood?

[tantric]

Personally, I'd like to see more about the transformation of Voodoo into a world religion. As in, does it have a canon? Organized priesthood? What happened to the other Afro-Caribbean religions? How about a reconciliation with other African religions - how is Voodoo doing in Nigeria or Palo Mayombe in the Congo? How are the ACR's doing in Brazil?

Naturally, given my interests, I'd also like to see info about other African Traditional Religions and their transformations. I'd posit that a reactionary phase in Africa that involves the rejection of Abrahamic religions is rather likely, perhaps even a widespread adoption of Nguni/Zulu beliefs by Euro-South Africans, a kind of South African Voodoo. Also a bit more about techno-animism, which has probably grown by leaps and bounds. Maybe even the expansion of Bwiti into a modern day secret society. Just for kicks, how about an AI messiah?