Is every police officer in police procedurals corrupt?
Is every politician in nightly TV or movies dishonest?
Then, there is the clergy on TV and in the movies. Every one a hypocrite or worse.
Really? How against the law of averages is that?
I watched the second to last PENNY DREADFUL this morning admist multiple interruptions to do blood runs for hospitals. Vanessa Ives (Eva Green) spent most of the hour possessed by a being of ancient evil. Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett), one of the two lone men of honor in the show, threatens Sir Malcolm to rip out his throat (not an idle threat from a werewolf) if he does get a priest to perform an exorcism. Of course, much to my disgust, the priest turns out to be a stodgy ... hypocrite. What a surprise. Not. What WAS a surprise was that, when Vanessa starts tearing bloody chunks out of everyone, she begs Ethan to kill her with his Colt. Tears in his eyes, he shoves the gun's barrel against her chest, rips off the blessed St. Christopher medal about his neck, presses it against her forehead and ... Performs the rite of exorcism in Latin.
The Monster was a Man of God.
(Much like my own Samuel McCord -- though he calls God the Great Mystery -- as what He is up to most of time is a mystery to him.) PENNY DREADFUL is always a surprise for me -- usually a welcome one. PENNY DREADFUL is certainly visually transporting. The new Victorian Gothic drama on Showtime is a triumph of production design, from the elegantly wallpapered and laddered library of a wealthy lord to the overcrowded, grubby streets of London, where newspaper hawkers herald the return of Jack the Ripper. The ladies’ richly colored dress fabrics glow purple and turquoise against the cool gray cobblestones, off of which you’ll find a dim, stench-filled opium den with a slaughterhouse in the basement. Tonight is the last show -- The previews hint it will not be a happy ending for Ethan or for the prostitute, dying of consumption, that he loves. (Much like Robert B. Parker's Spenser) Apparently, a decent man, though flawed as we all are, cannot be accepted by modern audiences. No. The only acceptable heroes are anti-heroes. There is no longer room for TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD ... or HELL IS EMPTY. I hope tonight's PENNY DREADFUL breaks tradition and not my raised hopes.
Faith is a concept not honored any more I know.
What concepts do you find lacking in today's novels and other entertainment?
What genre seems to be lacking in today's novels and movies?
Speaking of anti-heroes:
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Or perhaps we should just think of what it means to walk the true path: