Agora - Follow Up
I think I talked more about my personal feelings toward Hypatia and Alexandria in my last post than actually about the film itself, so... here's my impression of the film itself.
It's beautiful.
The story may revolve around religious conflicts, but it doesn't villainize any single religion in particular. I think Christians will be prone to view this film as anti-Christian because they do appear as the antagonist, but the film really isn't about the Christian religion at all; it is about religion as a force to divide rather than unite. Hypatia, the protagonist of the film, constantly repeats the words "We are all brothers" and "If two things are equal to a third, then all three must be alike" to describe humanity. There're dozens upon dozens of wide-angle shots panning across the heavens, looking at the stars or the Earth from the enormous emptiness of Space (another factor that reminded me of Carl Sagan), all serve as metaphors that we are one and the same; all we have is one another in this otherwise lonesome existence.
Every religion seeks to glorify itself, give itself the "rightful place" in history. The religion that rises to power claims it was able to do so because of divine will, and the religion that falls suffered from divine punishment. But the truth is everything came down to social factors. Christianity was able to rise to prominence because it happened to be around at a time when humanity was divided, when the classical civilization was sapped of its vitality by centuries of slavery and the separation of the rich and the poor. It was a time when people's faith was not determined by spiritual calling but by very real, very desperate human needs. The virtue of charity and sympathy for the poor preached by Christianity worked in its favor - in the same way Communism was able to sweep the world during the industrial revolution by appealing to the poor and the oppressed. But like Communism, Christianity rose to prominence through a long history of violence and injustice. We have a very different image of Christianity today as a benign, kind, and loving religion. You go to church and everyone is smiling and being nice to one another. But it is not Christianity that changed; it is the people that changed. We are blessed to live in a time when the world is relatively peaceful and prosperous, where social injustices such as slavery, discrimination by sex and ethnicity have recently been wiped out, challenged or continue to be challenged. All too often we give credit for these social changes to religion - for example the leader of many civil rights groups may have been religious, and when they say they are inspired by their religion, we give due credit to said religion.
But truly, social changes always have seeds in secular thinking. Religion cannot be a cause for social change, because religious scriptures NEVER change. If the world doesn't evolve, if knowledge doesn't advance, we would be contained in the same cage by traditions and religion, forever. But the world does evolve, and it is able to do so because of new discoveries, new knowledge that challenges our long-held beliefs, new ideas brought on by people who think outside of the box, ahead of their time; this influences the rest of us, even religious people, who THEN have a different, new interpretation of their religious scriptures, which then serve as inspiration for them to do good, to carry out social changes (and then in turn, give due credit to their religion, even though they never realized that religion has nothing to do with it)
Agora also talked about this, in a somewhat roundabout way. We see Christian, Jewish, and Pagan characters in this film - all of them demonstrate some sense of honour and virtue, but at the same time, human weakness and ugliness. I like the scenes of confrontation between Christians and Pagans, when they shout at one another "Where is your god(s) now?" and of course, god(s) never, ever, answers... because they don't exist, only we do. We who love and give, but also hate and kill in the name of our beliefs. If only we can see ourselves, how alike we are, how insignificant and lonely but also beautiful and precious our existence is... perhaps we will appreciate one another more.
It's beautiful.
The story may revolve around religious conflicts, but it doesn't villainize any single religion in particular. I think Christians will be prone to view this film as anti-Christian because they do appear as the antagonist, but the film really isn't about the Christian religion at all; it is about religion as a force to divide rather than unite. Hypatia, the protagonist of the film, constantly repeats the words "We are all brothers" and "If two things are equal to a third, then all three must be alike" to describe humanity. There're dozens upon dozens of wide-angle shots panning across the heavens, looking at the stars or the Earth from the enormous emptiness of Space (another factor that reminded me of Carl Sagan), all serve as metaphors that we are one and the same; all we have is one another in this otherwise lonesome existence.
Every religion seeks to glorify itself, give itself the "rightful place" in history. The religion that rises to power claims it was able to do so because of divine will, and the religion that falls suffered from divine punishment. But the truth is everything came down to social factors. Christianity was able to rise to prominence because it happened to be around at a time when humanity was divided, when the classical civilization was sapped of its vitality by centuries of slavery and the separation of the rich and the poor. It was a time when people's faith was not determined by spiritual calling but by very real, very desperate human needs. The virtue of charity and sympathy for the poor preached by Christianity worked in its favor - in the same way Communism was able to sweep the world during the industrial revolution by appealing to the poor and the oppressed. But like Communism, Christianity rose to prominence through a long history of violence and injustice. We have a very different image of Christianity today as a benign, kind, and loving religion. You go to church and everyone is smiling and being nice to one another. But it is not Christianity that changed; it is the people that changed. We are blessed to live in a time when the world is relatively peaceful and prosperous, where social injustices such as slavery, discrimination by sex and ethnicity have recently been wiped out, challenged or continue to be challenged. All too often we give credit for these social changes to religion - for example the leader of many civil rights groups may have been religious, and when they say they are inspired by their religion, we give due credit to said religion.
But truly, social changes always have seeds in secular thinking. Religion cannot be a cause for social change, because religious scriptures NEVER change. If the world doesn't evolve, if knowledge doesn't advance, we would be contained in the same cage by traditions and religion, forever. But the world does evolve, and it is able to do so because of new discoveries, new knowledge that challenges our long-held beliefs, new ideas brought on by people who think outside of the box, ahead of their time; this influences the rest of us, even religious people, who THEN have a different, new interpretation of their religious scriptures, which then serve as inspiration for them to do good, to carry out social changes (and then in turn, give due credit to their religion, even though they never realized that religion has nothing to do with it)
Agora also talked about this, in a somewhat roundabout way. We see Christian, Jewish, and Pagan characters in this film - all of them demonstrate some sense of honour and virtue, but at the same time, human weakness and ugliness. I like the scenes of confrontation between Christians and Pagans, when they shout at one another "Where is your god(s) now?" and of course, god(s) never, ever, answers... because they don't exist, only we do. We who love and give, but also hate and kill in the name of our beliefs. If only we can see ourselves, how alike we are, how insignificant and lonely but also beautiful and precious our existence is... perhaps we will appreciate one another more.