Friday, July 9, 2010
Babylon 5 on religion
Babylon 5 was one of the most interesting series in its treatment of religion. Brother Theo promoted a relatively promising view of Catholicism that acknowledged its ambiguity. G'kar became an exalted spiritual leader. I found the Minbarri's complex notions of religion to be one of the first realistic portrayals of how an advanced alien culture might view religious experience (G'kar himself eventually comes to this view). The episode "Parliament of Dreams" realistically portrays a multicultural religious movement. About the only thing missing from Babylon 5 is a realistic treatment of evangelical religion and Islam. I would argue that historically these two religious movements have faired rather badly at the hands of sci-fi television writers. Fundamentalism in particular, was a target for derision by the writers of STNG and DS9 (anyone remember when Vedek Winn goes "creationist wacko" on Keiko Obrien). Islam, meanwhile, has never been adequately shown in any sci-fi series. Indeed, in sci-fi television, the assumption seems to be that only Christianity (Catholicism and an occasional liberal Protestant) and Judaism exist. Examples of detailed analyses of other religions are rather scare. The Doctor Who episode "Kinda" explores some Buddhist themes, and Star Trek Voyager condescendingly dealt with Native American religion, but overall most sci-fi characters are Christian, secular, New Age, or (on rare occassion) Jewish in outlook. Surely there's enough complexity in the world to now deal with religions other than the traditional ones America has gifted us with. And I also think we need more nuanced treatments of sci-fi fundamentalism, not Stargate SG-1 and DS9, but the reboot of Battlestar Galactica and the excellent Dune miniseries
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B5 handled religion so well. Like when Zach stood up to Garibaldi about his belief in the afterlife. That was a great, you believe what you want and I will do the same moment. We don't even know what Zach's beleifs are.
ReplyDeleteMaybe they concetrate on catholics and jewish people because their religion can be used as a cultural identity. By knowing a person is Jewish or Catholic, you gain an understanding into that persons thinking. Protestants are too diverse with varying beliefs and varying levels on those beliefs. There isn't a lot of dogma or ritual associated with them. Other cultural references would be more pragmatic for those characters.
I guess what I mean is that people know what it means to be Jewish or Catholic. But it doesn't mean any one thing to be protestant. I would say the one exception would be a southern black person stating they were Baptist. Imagery of a choir singing and clapping with a very emotional preacher comes to mind imediately.
Dear Budd,
ReplyDeleteYea, B5 really did well with religion. I forgot to mention the whole Foundationist thing as well, which is one of the most realistic sci-fi religions ever conceived for television. I like how b5, unllike Star Trek, isn't stupid enough to think religion will dissappear in a couple centuries. I think Catholicism and Judaism are also seen as a lot more non-threatening than Christian fundamentalism or Islam. My problem with portrayals of religious fundamentalism on television, with the major exceptions of BSG (reboot) and the Dune miniseries, is that the fundamentalist characters usually end up as caricatures, rather than flesh and blood figures. This applies to both Christian and Muslim fundamentalists. I believe fundamentalists have quite understandable motives, not even always wrong ones, though certainly misguided, so I opposse putting them in a neatly delineated box.
Good points. the need to convert just doesn't arise in the other groups. Pen Gillette had a good take on people trying to convert him. It is probably on you tube.
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