dev_chieftain (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
dev_chieftain) wrote2012-06-04 11:12 am
dev_chieftain) wrote2012-06-04 11:12 am
Religion and Anticipation for Brave (Spoilers for people who are avoiding promotional material!)
1. The religion bit! I was looking at photos of nebulae and suchlike to try to decide how I'm going to draw the background for the animation project, and thought offhandedly that stars shedding their outer layers as they go nova are quite beautiful. In fact, I find space phenomena pretty beautiful in most cases, even if they sometimes also terrify me. And while looking I thought, how is it that people can be the way they are when they're religious, and also look at this stuff and be into sci-fi?
I'm not saying 'how can you be a religious scientist', because, hello, scientists since the Enlightenment have argued in favor of being scientific while also being religious. They don't have to be mutually exclusive. I'm saying, how can you buy into an idea of an omnipotent being who would be so petty as to tell you how to live your daily life, mandate that it's okay for you to hate some of its other creations just because they don't believe in the omnipotent being, and still also believe that that omnipotent being created this universe? Surely an omnipotent being that could create a universe like ours would care about everything in that creation, and have created many places with life. Who's to say that stars aren't alive? Who's to say that rocks aren't? And who's to say that, when creating it all, this omnipotent being would have done anything but love every part of it?
As a person who enjoys creating, I can tell you, I don't go around creating things with pieces I don't like in them. Other people, you know, they might not like those pieces so much, but my personal aesthetic is reflected in the things I make. If I give up creative control for any reason, I lose that-- but in its purest sense, when I'm creating, I am always making something I consider worthwhile and meaningful, because I enjoy the act of creating.
A god or goddess or whatever you want to call it would have to genuinely love everything, everywhere, and even though it's the be-all, end-all for us, Earth is a tiny tiny piece of all that. It's ludicrous to assume that this creature is watching us closely, or even aware of us at all. But if it is-- if it is in fact also omniscient-- then what excuse can you possibly have to ever oppress anyone else voluntarily? If you acknowledge the existence of an all-powerful being that cares about everything, you can't hurt other creatures without specifically disrespecting that being. So either the impetus behind the Big Bang is there and doesn't care, or it's there, it cares, and there's no good excuse to be cruel, ever. (From the standpoint of people who are religious; it's not that I don't acknowledge the possibility that there is no such force, so much as that in this context, if someone's religious I have to assume they believe in a god or goddess.)
It just doesn't make a lick of sense. Why is it people who identify as religious are often the most hateful people I meet? It's the exact opposite of what all the religious texts tell you to be.
2. The Brave bit. I'm sort of looking forward to this movie, but I'm worried it might not deliver.
I guessed, after the second preview was released, 'Oh, she's going to wish for her life to be more interesting and as punishment her family is going to turn into bears. I guess Brother Bear wasn't a total failure.'
Danny has recently confirmed that I'm correct, having encountered a book with a summary of the movie wherein one of the bears is obviously wearing a crown, and thus the girl's mother. He's concerned that the movie's just a rip-off of Spirited Away.
I don't really think so; Spirited Away is hardly a pioneer in the genre of 'my adult supervisors have disappeared, and I'm trapped in a fantasy world!' (Other examples include Coraline, Labyrinth, The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland and Chronicles of Narnia). Notably, in Spirited Away there's no conscious decision on the girl's part that causes her parents to become trapped in the fantasy world-- whereas in Brave, the preview makes it clear that our heroine will be wishing her problems into existence by not realizing what she has.
I'm interested in the movie, but I'm hoping for a better ending than 'I should have appreciated how awesome my family was all along, and I'm sorry for acting out like a bad little girl. YOU know best.'
It wouldn't hurt for mommy dearest to also come to some realization that she was being too controlling, or for goofy, supposedly blameless dad to realize that if he wants to support his daughter, he needs to support her decisions instead of being a fair-weather friend. Sometimes kids movies nail this and have the parents as much a part of the "oh, shit. I'm sorry, and I'm going to do my best to be good by you from now on" process, but sometimes they fall back on 'you shouldn't have run away from home, Dorothy.'
I'm hoping for a Little Mermaid style ending, in this sense, where Controlling Parent realizes that it's okay to let Freespirited Child actually have a life of her own. We shall see. Definitely anticipating this one.
I'm not saying 'how can you be a religious scientist', because, hello, scientists since the Enlightenment have argued in favor of being scientific while also being religious. They don't have to be mutually exclusive. I'm saying, how can you buy into an idea of an omnipotent being who would be so petty as to tell you how to live your daily life, mandate that it's okay for you to hate some of its other creations just because they don't believe in the omnipotent being, and still also believe that that omnipotent being created this universe? Surely an omnipotent being that could create a universe like ours would care about everything in that creation, and have created many places with life. Who's to say that stars aren't alive? Who's to say that rocks aren't? And who's to say that, when creating it all, this omnipotent being would have done anything but love every part of it?
As a person who enjoys creating, I can tell you, I don't go around creating things with pieces I don't like in them. Other people, you know, they might not like those pieces so much, but my personal aesthetic is reflected in the things I make. If I give up creative control for any reason, I lose that-- but in its purest sense, when I'm creating, I am always making something I consider worthwhile and meaningful, because I enjoy the act of creating.
A god or goddess or whatever you want to call it would have to genuinely love everything, everywhere, and even though it's the be-all, end-all for us, Earth is a tiny tiny piece of all that. It's ludicrous to assume that this creature is watching us closely, or even aware of us at all. But if it is-- if it is in fact also omniscient-- then what excuse can you possibly have to ever oppress anyone else voluntarily? If you acknowledge the existence of an all-powerful being that cares about everything, you can't hurt other creatures without specifically disrespecting that being. So either the impetus behind the Big Bang is there and doesn't care, or it's there, it cares, and there's no good excuse to be cruel, ever. (From the standpoint of people who are religious; it's not that I don't acknowledge the possibility that there is no such force, so much as that in this context, if someone's religious I have to assume they believe in a god or goddess.)
It just doesn't make a lick of sense. Why is it people who identify as religious are often the most hateful people I meet? It's the exact opposite of what all the religious texts tell you to be.
2. The Brave bit. I'm sort of looking forward to this movie, but I'm worried it might not deliver.
I guessed, after the second preview was released, 'Oh, she's going to wish for her life to be more interesting and as punishment her family is going to turn into bears. I guess Brother Bear wasn't a total failure.'
Danny has recently confirmed that I'm correct, having encountered a book with a summary of the movie wherein one of the bears is obviously wearing a crown, and thus the girl's mother. He's concerned that the movie's just a rip-off of Spirited Away.
I don't really think so; Spirited Away is hardly a pioneer in the genre of 'my adult supervisors have disappeared, and I'm trapped in a fantasy world!' (Other examples include Coraline, Labyrinth, The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland and Chronicles of Narnia). Notably, in Spirited Away there's no conscious decision on the girl's part that causes her parents to become trapped in the fantasy world-- whereas in Brave, the preview makes it clear that our heroine will be wishing her problems into existence by not realizing what she has.
I'm interested in the movie, but I'm hoping for a better ending than 'I should have appreciated how awesome my family was all along, and I'm sorry for acting out like a bad little girl. YOU know best.'
It wouldn't hurt for mommy dearest to also come to some realization that she was being too controlling, or for goofy, supposedly blameless dad to realize that if he wants to support his daughter, he needs to support her decisions instead of being a fair-weather friend. Sometimes kids movies nail this and have the parents as much a part of the "oh, shit. I'm sorry, and I'm going to do my best to be good by you from now on" process, but sometimes they fall back on 'you shouldn't have run away from home, Dorothy.'
I'm hoping for a Little Mermaid style ending, in this sense, where Controlling Parent realizes that it's okay to let Freespirited Child actually have a life of her own. We shall see. Definitely anticipating this one.