Reflections on the Terminator

Well, next book in my DMin reading is called “God in the Details” and its a collection of essays focusing on the relationship between religion and popular culture in the United States. The first section of essays focuses on “myth” and how “myth” plays itself out in daily life. One of the essays was on the presence of the “apocalyptic” in current American movies. One of the reflections in the section focused on the first two Terminator movies and how the Terminator machines represented both the fears of the future (Ah-nold in T1 and the T-1000 in T2), but also a hopeful future (Ah-nold in T2), but also how, as is typical of American films in this genre, humanity has the power to change things and bring about a different future. I am assuming that this essay was written before Terminator 3 came out because the story of T3 dramatically changes how one looks at the first two films. In the endings of the first two, it is said that the course of the future has been changed by the events that took place (the pregnancy of Sarah Connor in T1 and the descruction of Cyberdyne in T2) and that, by the end of T2, the assumption is that humanity has been saved from its own self-wrought destruction. However, (spoiler to follow), by the end of T3, we discover that the only thing that changes is the date that the nuclear armageddon takes place. T3 ends with a different computer system (based on the original cyberdyne systems) launching a nuclear attack on its “enemies” (humanity), leading inevitably to future T movies to follow.

In essence, the message in this is that, while humanity can effect the future, the overall course is still set and unchanging. In the case of these films, humans managed to delay the date, but not the overall course of action. Raises the question of free will, deteminism, etc – how much of our lives is just set to happen no matter what we seek to do? Do we have freedom to effect change in the world or are things just going to happen no matter what?

A question debated by theologians for centuries and not necessarily going to be solved by a lone blogger on a Saturday morning.

Crash

Just got finished watching the movie Crash. Gonna have to take some serious time to process the movie, but I am just stunned after watching the movie. Nearly impossible to summarize the plotline, but basically the movie deals with racism in its most insidious senses. While there are parts of overt racism in the movie, the side of racism dealt more with here is the much-more-subtle form. The little comments here and there. The ways that people give glances towards others. The deeply held stereotypes that come out in various ways. And it even has some aspects that explain where people develop racist attitudes and brings that to play in several areas. It was a movie that captivated me from pretty much the first moment. The movie begins with two lines that, by the end of the movie, encapsulate really everything about the movie…It begins with Don Cheadle saying, “We are always surrounded by steel and glass, and so, we crash into each other just to have some human contact.” and then his partner in the car seeks to correct him by saying that they got rear-ended, spun around twice, and somewhere in there “one of us lost our frame of reference.”

However, the irony is, that she speaks that as if it were a bad thing. If I could encapsulate the movie, I think the director is trying to tell us that “We do need to lose our frames of reference” because our frames of reference keep leading us down the same dark, muddled, messed up roads where we mistrust others becuase of what they look like, how they talk, how many tatoos they have, what we suspect they have in their pockets, and more.

The spiritual side of this film hits me as well. A blog review that I read of the film (click for review) sums it up well when the writer (Maurice Broaddus) says, “Who did this? We did. Graham’s drug-addicted mother echoes the words of Christ when she says “I asked you to find your brother, but you were too busy.” We have to have some hard conversations and build what may be some uncomfortable bridges…We all are victims of racism and guilty of racism, but we don’t have to be defined by it.”

We are our brothers’ and sisters’ keeper. We are all interconnected in this life and how we treat one affects how we treat all and all treat others. In our disconnected world, we do need to touch one another so that we don’t just end up crashing into one another when we are so out of touch. The little touches of love, grace, and hope can keep at bay the times when we have gone so long without being touched that we wake up every day angry (like Jean in the movie) and unable to understand why.

What a film. 10 out of 10 for me on imdb.com…

Making sense of things in life

Just listening to the latest wiredjesus.com podcast (click here for the site and click here for the podcast itself) about Rev. Tom Lyberg’s reflections on the death of a high school girl in his town and, in general a reflection on why crap happens in life.

As I reflect upon what he said, I deeply appreciated the honesty with which he approached the subject. He didn’t beat around the bush and try to “make sense” of tragedy in life. As he said at one point, “accidents happen.” That’s not the word of hope that is offered, but he just blasted the pastor at the funeral who talked of how we can learn from this tragedy and get our lives with Jesus right before this kind of thing happens to us. I’ve heard similar crap spewed when talking about Hurricane Katrina hitting the Gulf Coast (especially New Orleans) as if God was trying to wipe New Orleans off the face of the earth because of homosexuality or abortion. Tom has it right – there really isn’t an explanation for it all as much as we wish we could discern one.

The one thing that I would add to his reflections is the allowance to really be angry at God for things in life. I think we don’t give ourselves the freedom to do that. If we do believe in an omnipotent (all-powerful) God, then no matter what direction we go, the reality is is that God has the power to stop things from happening and for some reason chooses not to. I know all the arguments about human sin, free will, etc. Regardless of these, the reality is that God has the power to do it. God has the power to heal the 36 year old single mother of 2 who is diagnosed with cervical cancer, or to eliminate a hurricane that is going to shatter the lives of thousands, or to protect the 30,000+ who lost their lives in the earthquake this week, etc etc etc. But for some reason, God chooses not to. That’s the struggle of faith – believing in a God who has the power to do these things but for some reason does not, but at the same time who does so much and does so much good in the world. An answer would be nice, but I don’t think its coming soon…