Just caught up with this UK tv series from a former "This Life" writer who created one of my favourite pieces of vampire fiction - "Ultraviolet" (not the godawful Mila film). It's centred around a Catholic priest and his encounters with the paranormal - I'm fine with that sort of fantasy backdrop, and hoped that it would do for "The Exorcist" what Ultraviolet did for "Dracula" - make it aesthetically and thematically bang up to date.
It may be that it did so, but I found the characterisation of an atheist man as an abusive (and worse, toward the end) father who is both abusive and atheist because he is possessed by a demon. There is some balance in that the priest claims to have read the atheist literature in his house (and indeed the Catholic church itself isn't presented in the best light), but the black-hat/white-hat relationship of the two characters is unfair IMO, and the implications a) that an atheist must necessarily be a demon in disguise and b) that he can only be saved from his wicked condition by exorcism, are rather worrying. Overall, it (the first episode at least) seems to be a plea for casual belief in some higher power, rather than the "what if" escapism that I was hoping for (as an atheist).
A blog review and trailer are here;
http://www.the-word-is-not-enough.com/blog/rob/2008/11/review_apparitions_1x1.php
The ghost/mediumship-based "Afterlife" pulled the rug from the sceptics towards the end, but at least it didn't alienate them right off the bat. In fact I found it charming and touching despite its embracing of (fictional) woo. This just turned me off - perhaps I'm being oversensitive.
Anyway, I'm posting it here (by all means shift it if it's inappropriate) because I find it an interesting way to push a religious agenda (if indeed that's what it was). And bear in mind this is only the first episode.
Did anyone else see this last year? Or online? It's got a second series apparently.
It may be that it did so, but I found the characterisation of an atheist man as an abusive (and worse, toward the end) father who is both abusive and atheist because he is possessed by a demon. There is some balance in that the priest claims to have read the atheist literature in his house (and indeed the Catholic church itself isn't presented in the best light), but the black-hat/white-hat relationship of the two characters is unfair IMO, and the implications a) that an atheist must necessarily be a demon in disguise and b) that he can only be saved from his wicked condition by exorcism, are rather worrying. Overall, it (the first episode at least) seems to be a plea for casual belief in some higher power, rather than the "what if" escapism that I was hoping for (as an atheist).
A blog review and trailer are here;
http://www.the-word-is-not-enough.com/blog/rob/2008/11/review_apparitions_1x1.php
The ghost/mediumship-based "Afterlife" pulled the rug from the sceptics towards the end, but at least it didn't alienate them right off the bat. In fact I found it charming and touching despite its embracing of (fictional) woo. This just turned me off - perhaps I'm being oversensitive.
Anyway, I'm posting it here (by all means shift it if it's inappropriate) because I find it an interesting way to push a religious agenda (if indeed that's what it was). And bear in mind this is only the first episode.
Did anyone else see this last year? Or online? It's got a second series apparently.
