The piece on Christian unity is really good. Being queer and ex-christian myself I'm sick to death of people (mainly Christians) pouring their hearts and souls out to do LITERALLY ANYTHING but address the fact that their Christianity has bigotry and imperialism baked right into its DNA.
On a very related note, I'm also completely out of patience with “liberal” or “progressive” Christianity.
If there's anything that the past two millennia have shown it's that Christianity is fundamentally incompatible with liberty, pluralism, or even basic humanity for that matter. There are plenty of self-deluded Christians assuming otherwise, but even a brief glance at Christianity's history makes things abundantly clear. There just isn't an excuse anymore.
I understand people trapped in situations where leaving the church is impossible because their parents force them to go (that was me for many years) or because openly dissenting is a death sentence in disguise, but if anyone who can leave the church but chooses to stay in, they're just as evil as evangelicals but don't even have the guts to own up to it.
I really love the poems Quit I and answers to Mary Oliver, for different reasons. Quit I feels like an incantation, it begs to be read aloud. Thank you and Happy New Year!
Responding to the NOSFERATU review on Splice Today:
::The creeping invasion of evil, the distorted non-Christian defilement of the upright Christian home, can still sink its teeth into you. At the same time, the refusal to grapple with the uglier implications at this particular moment, as our leaders promise massive violence against immigrants and members of the incoming US administration cheer on the neo-fascist party in Germany—it can’t help but feel a bit cowardly.::
Not for the first time, Noah, I think you're stretching matters out of shape to make a point, and one which I vehemently disagree with.
I saw NOSFERATU the other day with my BFF/moviegoing companion, and what I got off of it wasn't "Furriners Go Home!" or antisemitism (as my Spanish/Italian friend, who has a prominent nose herself points out, it's not just Jews who have Big Noses), but a powerful critique of "Old Blood", inherited wealth, and tradition (it's easy to imagine Herr Knock babbling "Make Wisborg Great Again!"). By inviting the corrupt aristocracy of Orlock to their city, Knock (and to a less conscious extent, Friedrich Harding) hope to profit by it, and in so doing destroy everything.
It's the outsiders (the crazy cat-loving alchemist Dr. Eberhart, the neurasthenic and queer-coded Ellen Hutter) who have the knowledge and power to stop a plague that can't be bought off, walled-off, or chased out of your house. Friedrich Harding, the wealthy "modern" shipbuilder, tries all of these with increasing hostility—and only succeeds in destroying his entire family through his initially-jovial selfishness and inherent privilege.
Thomas Hutter is the weak link in all of this—torn between seeing the danger but needing to "pull himself up" by making a deal with the devil, he strives heroically to escape Orlock and get home to protect Ellen...and in the end, accomplishes nothing.
Because I was thinking of the Decaying Family Tree of Old Wealth (like Trump himself, or Elon Musk—both Nepo Babies of Privilege), something Jewish people were denied through most of the Christian Era because Jews Couldn't Own Property. Even wealthy Jewish families had to be ready to pick up their belongings and move out on a pogrom's notice, which is why Jewish families became such prominent moneylenders and ultimately bankers.
It wasn't until Oliver Cromwell, out of a mix of religious belief and economic foresight, allowed Jews back into England that they could, at least theoretically, have similar rights and privileges to those of (Protestant) Christians.
I’m thinking of stoker’s very well documented antisemitism, which is very visible in the original nosferatu, and which has not been substantially addressed or altered in the new one.
Maybe it's because I'm a lapsed Protestant, but what I took from it was more anti-aristocratic (including de facto "aristocrats" of scions of wealthy families) than anti-semitic.
I mean, you can take various things from it, but Stoker was very antisemitic, Nosferatu's vampire is an antisemitic caricature, and the critique of decadent outsiders is intertwined with fear of immigrants, Jews, and queer people.
one question to ask yourself is, why is the icon of old aristocracy a foreigner? like, there are no local aristocrats to criticize? what's up with that?
also worth thinking about whether it's possible to really criticize a christofascist patriarchy while labeling the evil one as sinful/an abomination while buttressing normative ideals of Christian bourgeois virtue.
The piece on Christian unity is really good. Being queer and ex-christian myself I'm sick to death of people (mainly Christians) pouring their hearts and souls out to do LITERALLY ANYTHING but address the fact that their Christianity has bigotry and imperialism baked right into its DNA.
thanks!
the current christofascist moment is bleak...
Yeah. Yeah it really is.
On a very related note, I'm also completely out of patience with “liberal” or “progressive” Christianity.
If there's anything that the past two millennia have shown it's that Christianity is fundamentally incompatible with liberty, pluralism, or even basic humanity for that matter. There are plenty of self-deluded Christians assuming otherwise, but even a brief glance at Christianity's history makes things abundantly clear. There just isn't an excuse anymore.
I understand people trapped in situations where leaving the church is impossible because their parents force them to go (that was me for many years) or because openly dissenting is a death sentence in disguise, but if anyone who can leave the church but chooses to stay in, they're just as evil as evangelicals but don't even have the guts to own up to it.
I really love the poems Quit I and answers to Mary Oliver, for different reasons. Quit I feels like an incantation, it begs to be read aloud. Thank you and Happy New Year!
thanks!
The year-end poem!! Excellent!
thanks!
Kitty is giving you really good "I'm going to smother you in your sleep" looks.
The reviews of "Christmas movies" and index were favorites for me! Happy (I guess) New Year 🎉🥂🎉🥂🎉🥂
Responding to the NOSFERATU review on Splice Today:
::The creeping invasion of evil, the distorted non-Christian defilement of the upright Christian home, can still sink its teeth into you. At the same time, the refusal to grapple with the uglier implications at this particular moment, as our leaders promise massive violence against immigrants and members of the incoming US administration cheer on the neo-fascist party in Germany—it can’t help but feel a bit cowardly.::
Not for the first time, Noah, I think you're stretching matters out of shape to make a point, and one which I vehemently disagree with.
I saw NOSFERATU the other day with my BFF/moviegoing companion, and what I got off of it wasn't "Furriners Go Home!" or antisemitism (as my Spanish/Italian friend, who has a prominent nose herself points out, it's not just Jews who have Big Noses), but a powerful critique of "Old Blood", inherited wealth, and tradition (it's easy to imagine Herr Knock babbling "Make Wisborg Great Again!"). By inviting the corrupt aristocracy of Orlock to their city, Knock (and to a less conscious extent, Friedrich Harding) hope to profit by it, and in so doing destroy everything.
It's the outsiders (the crazy cat-loving alchemist Dr. Eberhart, the neurasthenic and queer-coded Ellen Hutter) who have the knowledge and power to stop a plague that can't be bought off, walled-off, or chased out of your house. Friedrich Harding, the wealthy "modern" shipbuilder, tries all of these with increasing hostility—and only succeeds in destroying his entire family through his initially-jovial selfishness and inherent privilege.
Thomas Hutter is the weak link in all of this—torn between seeing the danger but needing to "pull himself up" by making a deal with the devil, he strives heroically to escape Orlock and get home to protect Ellen...and in the end, accomplishes nothing.
I have bad news for you about the links between critiques of old blood and antisemitism in vampire films.
Are you thinking of Blood Libel?
Because I was thinking of the Decaying Family Tree of Old Wealth (like Trump himself, or Elon Musk—both Nepo Babies of Privilege), something Jewish people were denied through most of the Christian Era because Jews Couldn't Own Property. Even wealthy Jewish families had to be ready to pick up their belongings and move out on a pogrom's notice, which is why Jewish families became such prominent moneylenders and ultimately bankers.
It wasn't until Oliver Cromwell, out of a mix of religious belief and economic foresight, allowed Jews back into England that they could, at least theoretically, have similar rights and privileges to those of (Protestant) Christians.
I’m thinking of stoker’s very well documented antisemitism, which is very visible in the original nosferatu, and which has not been substantially addressed or altered in the new one.
I didn't interpret it that way at all, Noah.
Maybe it's because I'm a lapsed Protestant, but what I took from it was more anti-aristocratic (including de facto "aristocrats" of scions of wealthy families) than anti-semitic.
I mean, you can take various things from it, but Stoker was very antisemitic, Nosferatu's vampire is an antisemitic caricature, and the critique of decadent outsiders is intertwined with fear of immigrants, Jews, and queer people.
This isn't especially controversial. I talk about the history of vampires and antisemitism at length here, if you're interested. https://thequietus.com/culture/film/film-nosferatu-bram-stoker-jewish-vampires/
one question to ask yourself is, why is the icon of old aristocracy a foreigner? like, there are no local aristocrats to criticize? what's up with that?
also worth thinking about whether it's possible to really criticize a christofascist patriarchy while labeling the evil one as sinful/an abomination while buttressing normative ideals of Christian bourgeois virtue.