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Permalink Reply by Brenda Joanne on May 26, 2010 at 3:06pm

Point taken, but it soured it for me in todays context, I want the modern day stories to reflect no religion at all. Guess I'm hard nosed about that. LOL Want pure sci-fi.

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Permalink Reply by Laura on May 26, 2010 at 3:24pm

Fair enough. I understand your disappointment - I would have loved a totally scientific ending too. But I also think that art with themes of an afterlife and the supernatural can be enjoyed by atheists. And, I did enjoy getting to see all the characters reconnect in limbo and let go of their issues and be happy. I recognize that that's not the way it works in the real world, but I'm happy to see that these characters got to experience it in a fictional world.

You must have been pretty pissed off at the ending to BSG - as was I - but that's another story. :)

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Permalink Reply by Brenda Joanne on May 26, 2010 at 9:36pm

I guess I feel that teaching anything religious these days leads to war and terrorism.
I know, I know, I know....that's a stretch and a half but that is how I feel. The goodie goodie two shoes Mother Theresa niceness of religious teaching can also be taught instead in the form of good manners, social rules of interaction, old wives tales, nursery rhymes and stories, etc.

For example:
"Egyptologists have identified ancient texts that teach the Egyptian idea of philosophy. These texts divide into more than one ancient literary type. Many of them are instructions, identified in Egyptian with the word seboyet . But other texts that discuss philosophy include complaints, prophecies, and testaments. Some scholars refer to these texts as a group as “didactic literature,” the literature the Egyptians used to teach philosophy. Many of the texts identified as didactic literature combine more than one literary type within them. The Eloquent Peasant , for example, begins as the story of a farmer bringing his crops to market. He encounters a corrupt official who attempts to rob the farmer. The majority of the text is a series of orations on the nature of maat (“right conduct”). These orations amount to a treatise on the nature of maat. The narrative or frame story enhances the treatise by giving a concrete example of what happens when maat is ignored.Both the frame and the treatise mutually reinforce each other and thus the reader learns more about the nature of maat. Additionally, the orations themselves amount to an example of Egyptian rhetoric."

and....

"A proverb, (from the Latin proverbium), is a simple and concrete saying popularly known and repeated, which expresses a truth, based on common sense or the practical experience of humanity. They are often metaphorical. A proverb that describes a basic rule of conduct may also be known as a maxim. If a proverb is distinguished by particularly good phrasing, it may be known as an aphorism."
(the bible simply distributed proverbs).

Any modern day stories of a religious nature simply perpetuate the cults.

I didn't follow BSG.....but faithful follower of Star Trek, all generations, (also Red Dwarf and Lexx). Wasn't into Dr. Who, and not into vampires and werewolves or ghosts. How about you?

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Permalink Reply by Laura on May 27, 2010 at 12:58pm

I understand your concern, but I don't think it did teach religion. It was pretty clear to me that the characters had "redeemed" themselves and one another, with no help from any gods. They even showed us that Jacob and the MIB were regular people and not dieties. And, the characters had free will, despite being put into certain circumstances by Jacob. In the end, we were told that the "limbo" world had been created by the characters themselves so they could find one another, again not by a god. So while there was obviously lots and lots of religious imagery, I think the theme was that our relationships to one another are the most important things in our lives and provides our lives with meaning. And, I think where the character were "going" in the end was open to interpretation. They themselves didn't know what came next. Just because they were bathed in a bright light doesn't mean they went to heaven. This could be taken as their happy acceptance of the ends of their lives, which they were okay with, because they had found each other.

Anywho, I'm a big Star Trek fan (mostly just TOS and TNG). When it comes to scary creature movies, I'm all about zombies.

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Permalink Reply by elaine kilshaw on May 25, 2010 at 8:25am

Glad now I only watched part of the first episode. Can you tell me if they all seemed good enough for a perceived beautiful heaven.
There was a black and white film once about people on their way to heaven. I will research and find out the title.

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Permalink Reply by Brenda Joanne on May 25, 2010 at 8:32am

There was all the human passion that exists and behaviours too. Hate, lust, greed, violence, envy, deceit, murder, etc. Was the point that no matter what you do.....there is a heaven waiting for you? there IS an afterlife? a white light that makes it all go away and everyone becomes a sweet angel in the sky? We don't really die...we just "move on"?

Ugh.....

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Permalink Reply by Wesley on May 26, 2010 at 11:28pm

Yes.. Michael Moorcock is brilliant at this sort of thing too.. http://www.multiverse.org/

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Permalink Reply by Brenda Joanne on May 25, 2010 at 6:18pm

Cool.

They all became whisperers???? not bad.

I was craving a really astounding sci-fi finish, more of a physics thing.
Maybe a "Q" of Star Trek kind of thing.
Or another mind bender of the non-religious sort.

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Permalink Reply by Graham E. Lau on May 25, 2010 at 11:31pm

Never got into the show. Watched a few episodes. Thought they all kind of sucked. Seemed like really bad writing that lacked any real substance or meaning and just hinged upon "reality show" style edginess. Not my kind of show. But, if Lost is your thing, then I hope you enjoyed it.

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Permalink Reply by Dave G on May 27, 2010 at 9:55am

I never watched Lost, so its ending has no real meaning for me one way or another.

I don't have a problem with fiction having religious overtones, or even blatant religious structure. For example, there's a western I liked titled 'Purgatory', where the town of Purgatory actually is Purgatory, and the townsfolk are all dead people trying to overcome their vices in order to get into heaven. Enjoyable movie, no need to actually believe in its religious assumptions, any more than it is required to believe in the Norse gods if you read the Thor comic.

That said, a series finale that leaves major questions unanswered, raises more questions than it resolves, and tries to whitewash its flaws with wishy-washy feel-good platitudes would certainly piss me off, if I were a fan.

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Permalink Reply by Laura on May 27, 2010 at 10:02am

Hey Dave. I don't think that Lost did that. It gave lots of answers, and it also provided all the context needed for the viewer to answer the rest of their questions on their own, much like a good book. I personally probably wouldn't have enjoyed having the answer to every single question spoon fed to me. Sure, a couple plot lines didn't make a lot of sense by the end, but it was a six year series, and most everything fit together in my mind, so I'm satisfied.

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