Alan: My follow-up commentary after watching all 7 episodes of "Midnight Mass."
Dear Fred
I just watched the last two episodes of “Midnight Mass” and was extremely disappointed.
There were a handful of “moments” in episodes 6 and 7. but they were mostly excursions into “living-dead-zombie-land,” a “literary” motif that never interested me at all.
Nada. Niente. Nihil. Zilch.
There was a certain bitter satisfaction insofar as the dénouement of "Midnight Mass" confirmed my long-standing conviction that The Human Enterprise is coming down to a choice between The Enlightenment Values of Reason, science and Deism, or the apocalyptic-Armageddon vision which I consider a self-fulfilling prophecy whereby countless humans — existentially threatened by Reason, science and Deism — think they can save their irrational illusions by destroying rationality and plunging into a new Dark Age ruled by superstition, gossip and dumbfuck benightedness.
Or...
At least destroy every vestige of modernity so that we return to an earlier epoch when men were men (who ruled by upper body strength); when women knew their place... barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen; and The Lord ruled autocratically over his fiefdom.
I think “Midnight Mass” is well worth watching to the end of episode five.
From there on, I think you’d be better off creating your own ending, while spending the time you save reading (or re-reading) “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”
Pax et amor
Alan
PS Blessedly, the ball is still in play. And the light may yet illuminate the darkness.
PPS Of course, the fact that I, personally, wince at the zombie motif does nothing to explain its extraordinary popularity as (arguably) the post-modern world’s “psycho-spiritual” “archetype” of choice. Maybe young people experience some chthonic sense that “Christianity” has become a zombie project. After all, it is no secret that white “Christian” “conservatives” elected Donald Trump and may very well elect him again.
I just watched the last two episodes of “Midnight Mass” and was extremely disappointed.
There were a handful of “moments” in episodes 6 and 7. but they were mostly excursions into “living-dead-zombie-land,” a “literary” motif that never interested me at all.
Nada. Niente. Nihil. Zilch.
There was a certain bitter satisfaction insofar as the dénouement of "Midnight Mass" confirmed my long-standing conviction that The Human Enterprise is coming down to a choice between The Enlightenment Values of Reason, science and Deism, or the apocalyptic-Armageddon vision which I consider a self-fulfilling prophecy whereby countless humans — existentially threatened by Reason, science and Deism — think they can save their irrational illusions by destroying rationality and plunging into a new Dark Age ruled by superstition, gossip and dumbfuck benightedness.
Or...
At least destroy every vestige of modernity so that we return to an earlier epoch when men were men (who ruled by upper body strength); when women knew their place... barefoot, pregnant, and in the kitchen; and The Lord ruled autocratically over his fiefdom.
I think “Midnight Mass” is well worth watching to the end of episode five.
From there on, I think you’d be better off creating your own ending, while spending the time you save reading (or re-reading) “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”
Pax et amor
Alan
PS Blessedly, the ball is still in play. And the light may yet illuminate the darkness.
PPS Of course, the fact that I, personally, wince at the zombie motif does nothing to explain its extraordinary popularity as (arguably) the post-modern world’s “psycho-spiritual” “archetype” of choice. Maybe young people experience some chthonic sense that “Christianity” has become a zombie project. After all, it is no secret that white “Christian” “conservatives” elected Donald Trump and may very well elect him again.
*****
Dear F,
Thanks for the heads up on "Midnight Mass." https://www.
I just finished watching the first episode, and plan to watch the second before turning in.
Recently, I've been researching aspects of "Revelations" - the last book of the bible (which we called "Apocalypse" growing up).
"Midnight Mass" may be considered "apocalyptic horror" but it doesn't come close to John of Patmos.
Did you ever hear the Bruce Cockburn song that refers to Patmos? I quite like it, and hope to interest 19 Miles from Davis (or at least bass player Dan, drummer John or Gary, and one of our guitarists, Mark, Alger or John) in accompanying me. https://www.youtube.com/
Love
A
PS Speaking of horror-and-apocalypse... Did you see the movie, "Take Shelter"? It came up in a recent conversation we had with Jimbo. It stars Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon (whom we all agree is a great actor). I don't know how other people see this film, but I was struck by how I could not tell -- until the end, and arguably not even then -- if Shannon was a prophetic visionary... or lapsing into psychosis. I was VERY impressed. https://www.imdb.
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