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Sci Fi Film with Religious Allegories

D

DIY

So I'm working on the screenplay for my feature film which is a sci-fi space thriller in the survival genre. It involves a religious character who is partially responsible for the end of the world but she doesn't know it has ended nor her role. Her rescuer is an atheist but is spiritual in the sense he is trying to make sense of the end, especially the loss of his family. (End of world is brought on by a fusion research project.)

I mentioned to friends it would be interesting to have the religious person explore her beliefs about the end of the world. Namely, that since it was prophesized that God intended her to play her part and she isn't evil for doing so. The rescuer will actually use his knowledge of religion to convince her of this and specifically through the Revelation of John's interpretation -- that a new world would arise after, therefore since she survived she is meant to continue to the new world (an alien world).

She also faces death many times including a long period of clinical death where she doesn't experience any bright lights or comforting images that cause her to fear and doubt the afterlife. Ironically, the atheist (as a decent human being) consoles her and even prays for her.

The idea was to attempt some bridge between religious and secular values, and the end message was that humanity has matured enough to go on without God in the new world, that they could remain moral and spiritual. It's sort of inspired by Pope Francis who I admire.

Some of my friend's responses were odd to me. Some expressed just never mix religion and sci fi. They aren't really religious themselves. Personally, I feel comfortable talking about religion.

Love to hear people's thoughts on this for a sci fi film. Thanks!
 
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I'm an atheist, and while I don't like being preached too, I enjoy stories that have elements of religion in them. Yours seems to be fairly ambiguous and even-handed, and I think there is an interesting story in there.

As has been said, religion is in lots of pieces of sci-fi (and other genres). Gravity, whilst not explicitly about religion, is full of religious imagery and allusions - which I found a bit heavy handed and annoying, but the point is that Gravity is an incredibly successful film.

It can be hard to pull off, though - as Aronofsky found with The Fountain. I really wanted to like that film, and there was some cool ideas in it, but it was executed quite poorly unfortunately.
 
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I wouldn't necessarily say you can't mix scifi and religion. Sometimes, it's actually fun for the writer to employ both to purposefully conflict or coincide as an interesting plot device. Off the top of my head, look at Prometheus from a couple years back. Fantastic film, I thought. The film had a lot of fun with the writing by having religion and science conflict the entire film. So much that the two main characters had opposite beliefs on the matter, which continued to spiral as they discovered more on the planet. ("Are you going to stop wearing that cross now?" "No, because we only evolved from them - who created them?")

I think you can take it as far as you'd like to, or at least, as far as your target audience would want it to go. Hell, look at Narnia. That's more fantasy than sci fi, but they went pretty deep into incredibly direct religious allegories. This may have dismayed viewers who, like cheese said, don't like to be preached to, but I still enjoyed them.
 
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Thank you for all your replies. I remember the writer of Narnia books specifically was rehashing Christian themes in them. But I Googled Matrix and Gravity and read some articles on religious allegories.

I have a feeling that any successful movie with character development and saving the world seems to get picked up as a religious allegory no matter the intent. This dismays me a little as I think many concepts of morality, sacrifice and good are universal among Christians, non-Christians and atheists.

For dialogue, I think an even handed discussion/debate between the characters could add some conflict and reveal the circumstances of the universe I am creating.

I think it begins with a not so religious person (she is a bright scientist) and atheist rescuer who likes to explore spirituality will hopefully be viewed as two people in the middle just opposites sides of a line. The rescuer doesn't want to reveal the world has ended (and her role in that) until she is rescued and can tell her in person. So some tension/deception is had. His reason for bringing up end of world themes is to assess her and hopefully lessen the final shock.

I figured I could have some humorous and interesting dialogue, i.e.:

RESCUEE
Why did God let all those people die?
RESCUER
Well, at least he isn't judgmental. He let divorcee's, atheists and homosexuals survive.
 
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I myself am not a religious person at all. But the topic of faith greatly interests me and I think it can be thought provoking, intriguing, and entertaining in film (or any type of art for that matter) if done well. Like Steve mentioned, religion and fictional genres have been mixed, and some fantastic results have been conjured up.

I like the idea you have of bridging religious and secular morals and values. That's an interesting idea that I'd like to see more of. But if you're looking to appeal to both audiences, make it subtle. It should fit into the story, not interrupt it or draw too much attention to itself. Explore the themes and have it within your story, but let your audience find meaning in it. I don't want to tell you what to do, but you're going to appeal to people more if the themes within the film fit in smoothly. For example, look at the films Life of Pi and God's Not Dead. Both films dealt with faith and spirituality. Although one was subtle and appealed to both those of religious and atheistic persuasion. The other one had unsubtle and pronounced themes and only appealed to some religious people.

It really depends on which direction you want to go. If you push one theme idea too far and make it so pronounced and present, your film is going to appeal to less people and probably not bridge the gap between both of the ideas of the groups. But if you do it skillfully, you could appeal to more people and pull something off that would be respected and entertaining to both. It depends on what kind of movie you are looking to make. But best of luck, whichever direction you decide to go!
 
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Yarp. It doesn't necessarily mean that you should or shouldn't do it. That's a matter of opinion, or perhaps box office, if that's your primary concern. I have a feeling someone like Blake Snyder would say not to do it. Just speculation though. But for sure they've been mixed plenty and for decades.

Just think of the "that's what you get for 'playing God,' you naughty scientists" trope. Talk about a much (over) used trope in science fiction.

Another example is Contact. I don't think I'm the only person on here who loves that film. I'm guessing that it did at least 'okay' in the box office?

Just out of curiosity, if it's not a secret spice in your story that you can't reveal, how does John's Revelation prophesize your lady fusion scientist? Or, how do you work her into it? (When I used to be able to tune into two or three televangelical TV stations, before the transition to digital, I used to get off on listening to them interpret Revelation, which they loooove to talk about.)

By the way, I just tried to watch SyFy's Dominion pilot last night. I'm pretty geeky/fanboy about this sort of subject matter (though don't quiz me on it). But I didn't get very far. Maybe I didn't give it a fair chance. But I don't know if I can bear to give it more. But hey, there's another, current example of mixing the two.
 
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Chimp, I agree. Fortunately, I think I have enough storyline and other tensions/thrills to make this religious thing a supporting story arc.

richy said:
Just think of the "that's what you get for 'playing God,' you naughty scientists" trope. Talk about a much (over) used trope in science fiction.

Another example is Contact. I don't think I'm the only person on here who loves that film. I'm guessing that it did at least 'okay' in the box office?
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I agree, I always hated the playing God trope (really what's wrong with improving the human condition?!) I liked how Contact's main character had to play out the tension in dealing with religious folks in an even handed manner.

I think the most underlooked part of the Revelation of John is that God does save some people and they go to a new world. The key part is they don't die and just arrive in heaven (which you would think would be a simple solution to an apocalypse). So if you're religious, God intended for the world to end and therefore the end of the world isn't evil, and survivors go to a new world. (BTW Norse mythology has a similar theme to Ragnarok, a new world arises.)

I think audiences tend to expect 2 themes in apocalypses, the good people work to prevent it and you have crazy religious nuts trying to do it. So this is different, I have a good person unintentionally contribute and the movie explores how you would feel about that. Especially when you discover you killed the family of your rescuer.

So I think I have some good conflict and themes to explore. Note, my audience is mass audiences leaning sci-fi not religious folks but I have no intention of pissing them or anyone else off. Also, not trying to make this a twist movie though some audiences may not see it coming.

P.S. I guess I should be OK since I'm not pushing either a religious perspective nor an atheist perspective. I do think it will be fun to put in some interesting clues. I plan on naming the bad guy, General Grunferd (Grun Pferd is German for green horse, a reference to the pale rider Death of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse) and the computer AI on the rescue ship "Morning Star.")
 
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DIY said:
I think audiences tend to expect 2 themes in apocalypses, the good people work to prevent it and you have crazy religious nuts trying to do it. So this is different, I have a good person unintentionally contribute and the movie explores how you would feel about that. Especially when you discover you killed the family of your rescuer.
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So it is about remorse and 'dharma' (fate/purpose).
 
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It depends. Just make sure you don't offend anyone's beliefs! Don't make(covert) propaganda for or against a particular religion. Off-topic: Sometimes people make forced associations and find religious themes where the writer/ content creator never intended to have... Just read an article a few days ago which stated the Bible wrote about Skyrim...:
http://videogamesandthebible.com/2012/07/02/biblical-case-1-skyrim/
Make sure you read the first comment to that article..:))
 
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You can definitely mix religion and sci-fi! What, how is that even a question?!

Just one example -- I saw Prometheus with a friend who is a devout Christian. I am solidly atheist. Though we saw it from opposite perspectives, we both loved the movie for the exact same reasons. It asks questions, but doesn't answer any.

I think normal human existence isn't really sure of itself (so far as religion/secularism is concerned). Most religious people occasionally have their doubts, and most atheists sometimes wonder if there's something more. For most people, this isn't a black/white issue. You can tap into that emotional experience by showing both sides of the spectrum.
 
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Sci Fi is littered with religion.
Scientific advancement causes us to question the ethical & moral hazards of humanity as only religion can rival.

Define "right."
Define "wrong."
Define "good."
Define "evil."


Regarding the proposed screenplay, it's classic Judas Iscariot self-naveling: Am I a fool or a tool?
Is the future known or does uncertainty rule?
Fortune or fate?
Furthermore, as one kingdom falls another rises. Shall your antagonist be their savior?

Rudimentary homework: http://www.gracecentered.com/judas_iscariot.htm
 
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WalterB said:
So it is about remorse and 'dharma' (fate/purpose).
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You bring up a good point. I don't want predestiny to be an individual theme but perhaps a world theme. i.e. The end of the world may be the fate of many alien civilizations (due to the quest for fusion) but it wasn't my character's fate to be the one (someone was going to do it and it just turned out to be her).

And great responses all. I think there is general agreement not to push any one belief and I think if I can make the themes thought provoking it will appeal to both sides.
 
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Keep in mind what the word science means. It's pretty much the opposite to religion. Science
fiction is a world more advanced than ours. When the characters in it, aren't on the same level it
breaks the illusion. If you ask me, you can't mention god when talking about death, because
people associate god with religion, and religion hasn't enough credibility. Next you'll have people
questioning your damn space ship technology.
 
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