Atheist themes in popular culture

Schuhart

Spoilers ahead for anyone who hasn’t seen Blade Runner, plus a general anorak alert as I hold this film in similar esteem to texts purported to have been delivered on tablets of stone.

I think Blade Runner is a film with a theme that, while in some ways could be seen as an exploration of the relationship of humans and their god, is almost an atheist reflection on that. The replicants seeking out their creator to lengthen their lives strikes me as a clear parallel for the human experience. I’ve a great fondness for this film, particularly since discovering (as is widely known) that the original release had a brainless ‘happy ending’ nailed on, dropped in the much superior Director’s Cut. I don’t know if love of this film is generally shared among the godless. My regard for it might just reflect how confronting finite human existence was an issue for me.

I’ve found the final scene on youtube. Obviously people who haven’t seen the movie shouldn’t click here. I recognise the beauty in Rutger Hauer’s well known lines

all those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain

. I know this scene has been well picked over by others, but for me it represents the replicant’s final acceptance that the moment of death simply reflects what it is to have lived. He smiles as he finally gives up his desperate search for more life while saying

Time to die

, as if satisfied at last that he can do no more and that's all a living creature can do. Something that obtains life also obtains an inescapable end to that life. So what are you going to do in the meantime to face that end without disappointment?

I’ve sometimes felt the theme to be capped by the matter-of-fact final lines delivered by Edward James Olmos to Harrison Ford

You’ve done a man’s job, sir. ….. It’s too bad she won’t live. But, then again, who does?

. I think its all there in that scene, this is the human condition, get over it.

Does anyone else have a film or work of fiction that expressed something to them of what might be called an atheist outlook ?

Alternatively, people are welcome to open a poll on "What exact flavour of nut is Schuhart?"

Dades

Like the Philip K Dick story that Blade Runner is based on an awful lot of science fiction is very clear on the absence of religion in society. Religion is rarely more than a personal affectation.

My favourite of his books is "The World Jones Made" with a story about a post-nuclear messiah and the dangers of a need to believe.

But for grand anti-organised-religion messages within fiction, you can't beat the astounding His Dark Materials trilogy.

Love that Rutger Hauer line BTW!

Schuhart

The Atheist wrote:

an awful lot of science fiction is very clear on the absence of religion in society. Religion is rarely more than a personal affectation.

Which just reminded me of Dune, where the use of religion as a tool of statecraft was a strong theme. Unfortunate that they made a bit of hames out of the film version.

you can't beat the astounding His Dark Materials trilogy.

I felt they were a good read - I feel they are more books where the central character is a child rather than books for children. My daughter, who reads plenty, just didn't find the narrative interesting enough to finish it. Narnia, on the other hand, did grip her. Whatever anyone might say about CS Lewis, he did have that ability to reach his target audience.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

loved his dark materials.. no idea how they are going to keep the anti-god mesage when they make the movies

Dades

Mordeth wrote:

loved his dark materials.. no idea how they are going to keep the anti-god mesage when they make the movies

The message is really against organised religion, with god being just an unwilling pawn in a battle for power. A very pertinent theme in today's world.

But, yeah, I fear for the Hollywood treatment too.

Asiaprod

A very good read, dealing with a debased Church and its intregalactic efforts to colonize the entire known world would be Dan Simmons Endymion trilogy.

Endasaurus

Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy possibly?

Scofflaw

A Wizard of Earthsea, for my money:

"Only in silence the word, only in dark the light, only in dying life: bright the hawk's flight on the empty sky."

I'm also very fond of Jack Vance (SF, but not tech-focused), who has a tendency to set up reason versus religion. "Blue World" has a religion on a water planet which worships a local sea-beast - the portraits of the local Intercessors (priests) is particularly amusing.

And, not least - James Branch Cabell. Cabell was, apparently, nearly banned in the US for the irreligion and "immorality" of his books.

cordially,
Scofflaw