What does Heaven look like?
So, I saw "Constantine" recently (in fact, I saw it twice, because I love the story), and I noticed something odd. Well, odd in the societal sense, not in the "why is there a demon riding on the bus?" sense. There's already plenty of that.

In this movie, there are a plethora of demons. There's a scene with a swarm of them in the air, a weird demon made up of bugs and vermin, the eurotrash demon, and the standard group of Anne Rice-vampire demons (what is the collective term for vampires? A pride? A gaggle? A murder? No, I think I'll use 'a clutch of vampires'). In fact, the movie even ranks demons and gives them names (Half-breed, soldier demon, Balthazar).

Two angels. Two. And only one gets a name. Now, granted, that angel is a pretty pivotal part of the story (and my personal favorite character). Still, only two angels in the entire story. The neutral witch doctor gets more screen time than they do.

In "Constantine" we spend roughly 2-3 minutes in Hell. And I must say, they did a damn fine job representing Hell. However, while the movie makes multiple trips to hell and spends about two percent of it's film-time there, we only get to see Heaven for about ten seconds. Heaven is seen from a great distance, and we just get a vague idea what it's like.

The devil gets about 3-5 minutes of airtime. He cavorts and japes, and pretty much acts like you would expect the devil to act (although, I don't get that outfit). He chats, he deals, he whines and threatens. Meanwhile, God doesn't even get a walk-on role.

I guess, what I'm getting at is, why is it so much easier to display evil than it is to display good? We get evil in movies and TV all the time. To use Keanu in another example, the movie "Devil's Advocate" spends the entire time revolving around the devil (masterfully played by Al Pacino), while not showing a single minion of God. Pacino raves against God, but we get no rebuttal.

Now that I think of it, there are so many examples, it's funny. We seem to take evil seriously, but we barely touch on good.

From the dark side, The Omen, The Exorcist, The Prophecy, Legend. From the side of good, Bruce Almighty, Angels in the Outfield, Touched by an Angel, and Heaven can Wait. So, the Devil is horror and drama, God is sappy comedy.

Sadly, the last movie I can think of that really explored the nature of "good", or dared to feature God as a serious character, was a John Freakin' Denver movie!!!

That's right. Go watch the old "Oh, God" movie again. It's dated, but the part where George Burns starts answering questions is sheer genius. It stands out because you had a Hollywood movie that actively presented God's position.

It seems like you can only show God in one of two ways. The first is to make a movie that trivializes God to a simplistic caricature of a spunky grandfather (see Bruce Almighty). This is the route that almost all movies will take. It's safe, it tests well in the bible belt, and doesn't offend anyone.

The other way is to make a ballsy movie that speaks unflinchingly about your own personal view of God. Let's call this the "Passion of the Christ" method. While it is incredibly one-sided and exclusionary, this method is the best way we, as a culture, can advance. And, when it is done with the fervor that Mel feels for his God, it can make the world take notice.

If I can digress for a moment, I should also note another great film, forwarding the cause of religious thinking, "Dogma". It may seem odd to talk about one of Kevin Smith's Jay & Silent Bob movies as a serious treatise on religion, but just look at the story. We have fallen angels, the metatron, cherubim and a muse. We see a 13th apostle, and discuss the idea that Jesus was black. As far as making people think about religion, I think Dogma was incredible (however, they really dropped the ball when Alanis Morissette showed up).

Anyway, back to God's screen time. Think of what Hell looks like. There, that was easy, wasn't it? Lots of smoke, fire, dark caves with dangerous looking stalactites, people being whipped for no reason, or doing manual labor that has no purpose, guys with pitchforks laughing as they torture people, and a red filter over the whole thing. Easy!

Now, picture Heaven. No, really think about what it's like. Not as easy, is it? Most people picture Olympus, with everyone standing on clouds, wearing togas for some odd reason, and constantly watching the panoply of human strife. Do they have books in Heaven? If so, why? Don't you have access to all knowledge and wisdom? Do they play sports, and if so, how do they get around the idea of violent competition? Do they listen to real music, or is it really just harps? Why togas?

The problem is that people have a really good idea of what Hell is like, because they just lump together all the things they hate about Earth into one experience. However, they can't really picture Heaven, because most people define 'good' as a lack of evil. How do you lump a "lack of evil" into one experience, without making it look incredibly boring?

And what about God? When most people think of God, the first thing they think of is asking questions. The really religious people will think of supplicating first, but eventually, they come around to the idea of asking the questions that never seem to be appropriately answered (why must innocent children die? Why must people suffer at all?). Would it be possible to come up with a character that actually can answer these questions, can expand people's understanding of what it means to be good, and even make it seem attractive to people? Could you really make a character who is good, and inspires people to emulate him? Inspires them to give of themselves?

I think most writers say, No. They really can't. Or at least, it's just too hard to try. And that's how we get things like "Bruce Almighty".

By the way, if you ever get a chance, check out the British mini-series called "The Second Coming". It's about a guy who, on his 30th birthday, realizes that he is the son of God. The show asks the question, if Jesus came back now, would we be able to handle it? What would we do? The show takes no easy shortcuts, it flinches from no difficult questions, and it seriously makes you think about religion.

movie, religion, god, devil
- posted by BrandG @ 1:55 PM