Two series of films have come out recently that deal with Greek mythology.
They present views of the Gods as
- Needing human kind
- Being mortal (just more immortal than humans)
- Being powerful but not omnipotent
- unnecessary
- Being dependant on Human prayers and powered by them
- Being able to intervene but not necessarily doing it.
What is interesting is this reflects much of how contemporary culture view God. He isn’t all powerful, he is reliant on people for his power and he is unnecessary, the world could and would be better with out him.
The reason we can tell that this isn’t the view the Greeks had of the Gods is because when we look at the films based on Greek mythology 50 or even 10 years ago then the Gods are powerful, not dependant on people, and vital.
Now I’m not saying that this is everyone’s view of God, but it is clearly indicative of Some people’s views of God (and the fact that most Myth films have this view suggest it’s becoming the dominant or at least most marketable.
There is one last thing though, These views of God impact how other people view God as well. Films and books both reflect and influence society leading to a rise in ideas. Not all ideas continue to grow of course, sometimes they need to pass The Tipping Point: to really grow (usually around 10%). This means that these views both represent society and influence societies views on God.
The great news is that if only 10% is needed to have a little impact on how people think, then we really are in a mustard seed kingdom.
P.S. The films that I’ve reflected on are The clash/wrath of the Titans and The Immortals. They are quite graphic (the Immortals in particular has some very disturbing scenes and I wouldn’t recommend it for the faint hearted). Maybe you can think of some other films that show people’s views about God? Please leave some other suggestions bellow.
