Decline and fall in popular culture
I saw Fun with Dick and Jane this weekend - excellent slapstick, silly, fluff. The basic plot is that two yuppies lose everything in a corporate financial scandal (some nice Enron digs) and turn to crime to rescue their life style.
What struck me as I left the theater was that the couple losing it all never made mention of religion as a means of coping. I don't mean they should have run down to the church, got right with Jesus, and had it all come out ok, or that they should have (like Job) praised God through their tribulations - either of those things would have made it a terrible movie as a slapstick comedy. But what seemed missing was jokes at the church's expense. They should have gone to a church for help (spiritual or otherwise) and been rebuffed in another comic scene.
The fact that the director and writers felt that one could structure a plot about people losing it all without any reference to faith suggests that popular culture doesn't see faith as a major ingredient in life anymore. Compare the wonderful Monty Python sketches from thirty/forty years ago - the vicar sergeant, the Spanish Inquisition, the church service in The Meaning of Life, the Protestants vs. Catholics on birth control scene in the Meaning of Life, the entire movie of Life of Brian and also the Holy Grail. All of these made fun of religion but also assumed it was an important part of life that could be made fun of and required an audience that understood some basics about religion to get the jokes.
This may not be a trend - it's just one movie, after all, but I can't think of many recent films I've seen with religion as a part of normal life.
What struck me as I left the theater was that the couple losing it all never made mention of religion as a means of coping. I don't mean they should have run down to the church, got right with Jesus, and had it all come out ok, or that they should have (like Job) praised God through their tribulations - either of those things would have made it a terrible movie as a slapstick comedy. But what seemed missing was jokes at the church's expense. They should have gone to a church for help (spiritual or otherwise) and been rebuffed in another comic scene.
The fact that the director and writers felt that one could structure a plot about people losing it all without any reference to faith suggests that popular culture doesn't see faith as a major ingredient in life anymore. Compare the wonderful Monty Python sketches from thirty/forty years ago - the vicar sergeant, the Spanish Inquisition, the church service in The Meaning of Life, the Protestants vs. Catholics on birth control scene in the Meaning of Life, the entire movie of Life of Brian and also the Holy Grail. All of these made fun of religion but also assumed it was an important part of life that could be made fun of and required an audience that understood some basics about religion to get the jokes.
This may not be a trend - it's just one movie, after all, but I can't think of many recent films I've seen with religion as a part of normal life.
Posted by Andy Morriss on
Thursday January 5, 2006 at 12:58pm