God in "War of the Worlds": 1953 & 2005
Permit me a detour into pop culture…
I saw last night for the first time at a parishioner’s incredible home theater. Edge of your seat action. Great visuals. Really enjoyed it.
My foray into movie reviewing here is to point out how the church functions in this version of the story as compared to the great 1953 George Pal version of the same story. (There are obvious nods to the original film in Spielberg’s version – the alien telescope and the dead alien at the end – but in reality it is a different movie. The voice over narration at the end and beginning of each was almost identical, but the similarities in plot end there, it would seem.)
In the George Pal version, the church and its ministry is featured quite prominently. One of the significant characters, you will remember, is Sylvia’s rabat wearing minister uncle, bravely facing the Martians armed only with a Bible (actually looked more like a BCP, in my opinion) and the 23rd Psalm.
Later in the film, the scientist hero of the piece and the presumptive romantic interest, Sylvia, take refuge in a church. (We actually see inside several churches. Each is treated with respect in the film, with heroic moments of clergy praying in the midst of crisis. That people would seek refuge in the church is natural and understandable. Indeed each is packed.) The critical moment comes when the church in which our scientist protagonist and Sylvia are taking refuge is attacked by the Martians. It is precisely at that moment that the invaders begin succumbing to terrestrial viruses and bacteria.
In essence, attack the church and God is going to get you.
In the final scene, as God is given credit for defeating the Martians, the strains of “O God, our help in ages past” is offered as a paean of praise to the Lord who saved them. And the entire context suggests that it is no generic god that saves the world, but the Christian one.
Now fast forward to 2005.
There is only one scene in which a church is featured. Early in the movie, as the aliens (not sure now where they are from) emerge from under the ground in their long hidden tripods (al Qaida sleeper cells??) we see a church as the backdrop of this first attack. It is empty and is soon ripped apart by the fissures created in the pavement by the ascent of the alien craft. The steeple falls, and soon ungodly destruction is unleashed.
In the ensuing action, no prayers are uttered. And the mention of god only returns with the voice over at the end. But now the context has emptied of the specificity of the 1953 film. A generic and rather deistic god provides the micro-organisms that wind up defeating the invaders. We win by “earning” the right to survive by billions of deaths over our sorrowful history through the evolution of immunities. A sort of evolutionary pelagianism.
I don’t imagine that Spielberg or the screenwriters had any intention of making a science fiction meditation on “Dover Beach” and the receding tide of faith. But they have.
Now, if we take science fiction movies as reflections of the socio-political hopes and fears of the age (as I generally do), then what lessons can we draw from these two films?
In the 1953 version God and the church are the true refuge and salvation in a world threatened by another Red Empire. Both military strength and scientific excellence are insufficient to face the threat. The Christian faith is central in facing the crisis of the age.
Now in 2005 it would seem that religion or “spirituality” is something that pertains to the placid season before the crisis. When the crisis of the age ensues, our religion is the first luxury that is discarded. And while the military is insufficient to the threat (science is absent in this film), we face the crisis through an almost animal will to survive. Persistence in the face of insuperable obstacles is what saves the day. And this will to survive may call us to descend below human decency. While in 1953 there was only one mob scene where human decency is discarded, 2005 is in many ways one long mob scene. We beat the bastards by outlasting them, no matter what it takes.
What are the implications? I’d be interested in hearing people’s thoughts.
I saw last night for the first time at a parishioner’s incredible home theater. Edge of your seat action. Great visuals. Really enjoyed it.
My foray into movie reviewing here is to point out how the church functions in this version of the story as compared to the great 1953 George Pal version of the same story. (There are obvious nods to the original film in Spielberg’s version – the alien telescope and the dead alien at the end – but in reality it is a different movie. The voice over narration at the end and beginning of each was almost identical, but the similarities in plot end there, it would seem.)
In the George Pal version, the church and its ministry is featured quite prominently. One of the significant characters, you will remember, is Sylvia’s rabat wearing minister uncle, bravely facing the Martians armed only with a Bible (actually looked more like a BCP, in my opinion) and the 23rd Psalm.
Later in the film, the scientist hero of the piece and the presumptive romantic interest, Sylvia, take refuge in a church. (We actually see inside several churches. Each is treated with respect in the film, with heroic moments of clergy praying in the midst of crisis. That people would seek refuge in the church is natural and understandable. Indeed each is packed.) The critical moment comes when the church in which our scientist protagonist and Sylvia are taking refuge is attacked by the Martians. It is precisely at that moment that the invaders begin succumbing to terrestrial viruses and bacteria.
In essence, attack the church and God is going to get you.
In the final scene, as God is given credit for defeating the Martians, the strains of “O God, our help in ages past” is offered as a paean of praise to the Lord who saved them. And the entire context suggests that it is no generic god that saves the world, but the Christian one.
Now fast forward to 2005.
There is only one scene in which a church is featured. Early in the movie, as the aliens (not sure now where they are from) emerge from under the ground in their long hidden tripods (al Qaida sleeper cells??) we see a church as the backdrop of this first attack. It is empty and is soon ripped apart by the fissures created in the pavement by the ascent of the alien craft. The steeple falls, and soon ungodly destruction is unleashed.
In the ensuing action, no prayers are uttered. And the mention of god only returns with the voice over at the end. But now the context has emptied of the specificity of the 1953 film. A generic and rather deistic god provides the micro-organisms that wind up defeating the invaders. We win by “earning” the right to survive by billions of deaths over our sorrowful history through the evolution of immunities. A sort of evolutionary pelagianism.
I don’t imagine that Spielberg or the screenwriters had any intention of making a science fiction meditation on “Dover Beach” and the receding tide of faith. But they have.
Now, if we take science fiction movies as reflections of the socio-political hopes and fears of the age (as I generally do), then what lessons can we draw from these two films?
In the 1953 version God and the church are the true refuge and salvation in a world threatened by another Red Empire. Both military strength and scientific excellence are insufficient to face the threat. The Christian faith is central in facing the crisis of the age.
Now in 2005 it would seem that religion or “spirituality” is something that pertains to the placid season before the crisis. When the crisis of the age ensues, our religion is the first luxury that is discarded. And while the military is insufficient to the threat (science is absent in this film), we face the crisis through an almost animal will to survive. Persistence in the face of insuperable obstacles is what saves the day. And this will to survive may call us to descend below human decency. While in 1953 there was only one mob scene where human decency is discarded, 2005 is in many ways one long mob scene. We beat the bastards by outlasting them, no matter what it takes.
What are the implications? I’d be interested in hearing people’s thoughts.
posted by peregrinator at 10:47 AM
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