[friendly]

Hollywood claiming a live-action cartoon has religious significance?

The only true religious movie in production is Mel Gibson's "Passion," the last 12 hours of Christ shot exclusively in the dead languages of Aramaic and Latin, with no subtitles. THAT is hardcore!

[Destro]

Aramaic I can see--but Latin? Mel made a historical and biased error on his part. Latin was almost never used by the Romans in the eastern provinces and most Romans spoke Greek better than they did Latin. When Pilot talked to Jesus he talked to him in Greek (or to his Aramaic translator in Greek).

[lurky]

Hollywood claiming a live-action cartoon has religious significance?

did you read the article?

[glory]

I'm on your side of it. I found the movie a fun distraction for a couple of hours, but religious overtones--pfft...some people have too much time on their hands. Sorry to all the sci-fi fans who endlessly speculate, just that I learned early on that movies were just pretend.

[punster]

Since one of my hobbies has been science fiction, I wanted to comment on science fiction as religious commentary. It has been quite common for science fiction to deal with religion.

Science fiction is also known as speculative fiction, speculating about the future. Sometimes, it is speculation about the interaction of man and technology. Sometimes, it also has elements of speculation about man and his destiny, including what lies on the other side of the grave.

A good example of science fiction having a religious theme is Robert Heinlein's 'Stranger in a Strange Land'. The book was a satire on present day society, but there was an abundance of religious references. The title had its origin in the Bible, the characters have names tying to biblical characters. The story hints the principal character Valentine Michael Smith is actually the archangel Michael. Furthermore, there is a quote from the Koran about people mingling their lives with others.

Frank Herbert's 'Dune' is another good example. Paul Atreides is another messianic character. The story hints there is something beyond the mundane experience of life.

I do believe that religion is a valid subject for examination in science fiction, simply because we must ask questions in order to better understand our own feelings on the subject. We do have very strong feelings, an intuitive knowledge, there is something on the other side. We also have the accounts related by people who have had 'near death' experiences.

[demosthenes the elder]

in aramaic and latin???
no subtitles????
are you serious?

[jocon307]

"shot exclusively in the dead languages of Aramaic and Latin, with no subtitles. THAT is hardcore!"

That is indeed hardcore, this I haven't heard. Is this true, how can anyone, other than a professor of ancient language watch this movie?