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Re: Star Wars... It's not the hype
"Joshua M. Neds-Fox" <jnedsfox at moody_edu> sez:
>I bought a kid's book at the supermarket a couple weeks ago: "I Am A Jedi,"
>by Qui-Gon Jinn. Cool, right? A friend pointed out this weekend how scary
>it is that George Lucas is selling what amounts to false religion to our
>10-year olds (or our 5, 4 and 3 year olds, for that matter). The book is
>laid out like a very simple primer to the "Jedi" religion, explaining the
>force, the council, the Dark Side and the Good Side, the importance of
>apprenticeship, etc., etc. All on about 15 pages of 8 by 8 glossy paper.
Better that than 'The Urantia Book'. ;-)
Religion *is* myth.
The majority of humans feel better about themselves if they can believe in
something a little bigger, a little more powerful, a little more
understanding, or a little nicer. Depends on the person as to which
applies, I guess.
>Is Yoda God? Do kids know the difference? It's sometimes difficult to
>remember that a popular myth can be misunderstood by a child to be a kind
>of reality-- especially since sometimes we ourselves can't distinguish
>between the two.
Yoda is more like the revered teacher, who shows the young acolyte (Luke)
the true path.
I've been playing a lot of Dungeon Keeper lately, which has a very
interesting and different perspective. You play the chief evil guy, and
you have to maintain and expand your dungeon, while keeping busy killing
off all the heroes and knights errant who come to steal your hard-won
treasure. It's a good exercise in seeing things differently. Who is to
say that the knight in gleaming armor is always the *good* guy? All I can
say is that a couple demon spawns and level 2 warlocks, and the supposed
good guy is toast.
No offense, Jeff W.
>I probably overstepped the scope of the original e-mail here. My
>apologies, Paul.
Oops. I know I did. Reply off the list, anyone who has comments.
>PS - I'll pre-emptively address the Star Wars/Christianity comparison here
>by pointing out that Lucas's oft-stated original intention was to create a
>composite of *all* our myths/religions. 'The Matrix' has as much in common
>with the Christian life as 'Star Wars.' I wouldn't show either one in
>church.
I'd show 'The Matrix', but only because of the kick-ass scene in the
federal building. ;-)
--
NP: Roger Waters - _Radio KAOS_
http://mygod.usuck.com - Updated, but still no real content!
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