Songs of Praise on Sunday Night was presented by Anne Kirkbride who was travelling on the newly restored Huddersfield Canal. The Prince of Wales reopened the canal. The programme included interviews with various people for example David Sumner who was responsible for getting the canal restored and Terry Waite who is the president of Emmaus UK – a society that helps the homeless.
Anne and her husband visited many places and spoke to various Christians, went into the church where they got married and talked to an Anglican organist and his sister. There were at least eight hymns sung during the programme and brass bands played. The programme ended with a man in a wheelchair saying how strong his belief in God is and a prayer.
The programme is aimed at Christians, probably the older ones, who enjoy the hymns and perhaps sing along. Also Christians who are interested in finding out about Christian groups and helping other people.
Christians will enjoy the programme because it is quite religious and see and hear from many people who believe in God. Songs of Praise is a worship programme and it brings religion into everyday life. Lots of hymns are sung during this half hour programme, this makes it really enjoyable.
Other people won’t enjoy this programme including teenagers, atheists and people from other faiths. This programme will not appeal to atheists because they do not worship God. Even though some people might be interested in the canal journey and the scenery they would be bored by the hymns and the religious talk.
Son of God
Son of God was a one off documentary about what Jesus would have really looked like.
In the programme we were shown pictures and stained glass windows of how many people believe Jesus looked. During the programme there were lots of scientists explaining that Jesus did not look at all how people imagine.
The scientists got a Jewish skull from around the time Jesus lived and built a face around the skull. This showed that Jesus had a rather large nose and face and probably had slightly darker skin than the stereotypical view.
I think that lots of people would like to watch this programme because it was interesting. These people might include religious people and scientists.
These people would watch the programme not only because of how the information was presented, but also to find a more accurate vision of the Son of God.
Other people might not enjoy this programme because it could be too religious for them. Also this sort of thing may not interest certain people.
I found the programme very interesting due to the scientific part of it. I like Science and so I found this technology fascinating. It was very smart how the scientists built the face up around the skull.
I may watch other programmes like this in the future.
EastEnders
EastEnders is a soap opera that is on every weekday. I do not watch soaps so I do not know much about EastEnders, it’s characters, it’s issues or it’s story line. I watched one episode and this seemed to be dealing with ongoing domestic violence.
This episode was set in a small house, where a man and a woman were talking and arguing. The man had just arrived back after being away for a long time. It looked as if the woman had suffered from a long period of physical abuse. He wanted her back. She did not want to be beaten anymore and at first seemed frightened of him. Then he threatened to burn the house down with them in it and she stood up to him.
The woman dealt with the issue of abuse by standing up to the man. She said she wasn’t scared any more. They dealt with the issue in this way so that women in this situation would know how to react.
Another way of dealing with the issue would be to let it continue for a bit longer. The woman may not have been strong enough to stand up to the man at that time.
I would have dealt with the issue by informing the police what he was doing, so they could handle it by arresting him. This is because it is wrong and the man should be punished for what he has done. Also he should be treated by psychiatrists to make him understand it is wrong and so he wouldn’t do it again.
Sister Act
Sister Act is a film about a woman called Dolorus who went and hid out in a convent.
At the beginning of the film Dolorus accidentally saw her boyfriend shoot a man in the head. The boyfriend realised she saw what he did and so tried to kill her so she wouldn’t tell anyone. After she got away she went straight to the police and told them what happened. As she needed to testify in court, the boyfriend was free until the date of the trial. During this time he wanted to try and kill Dolours so that she could not testify against him.
To avoid the problem of her getting herself murdered she went to hide out in a convent dressed as a nun. At first she hated it there, but as time went on she started to enjoy herself. (She was now the director of the choir, her previous profession was singing). As choir manager, she chose to sing new songs and that attracted lots of people to the church. In the end she was able to come out of the convent, but she chose to stay to help the choir sing for the Pope. She had really enjoyed her time in the convent acting as a nun.
The religious issue here was that someone had killed another man and Dolorus had seen the murder.
Dolorus telling the police dealt with the issue of murder in the film. This was a good way of dealing with the issue as the bad person went to jail. The boyfriend who committed the murder just wanted Dolorus to forget that it ever happened.
This is an important issue to deal with in a film so that people know how to deal with such issues in real life.
On the whole I think that it was a good film and it addressed the issue well. Telling people how to deal with it, while approaching it in a subtle way. The idea of nuns singing is not how people would have pictured them and certainly not singing modern songs. This is probably not actually how nuns act, but it is certainly comical.
Vicar Of Dibley
The vicar of Dibley is about a woman who is the new vicar in a little town called Dibley. I happened to see the first ever episode. It was about when the new Vicar came to Dibley since the old one had died. At first everyone was really surprised to see a female vicar, but eventually most of them accepted it and gave her a chance.
At the first meeting one person read out that they did not want a woman vicar and they demanded a replacement straight away. Although someone said this was true, they had not actually voted in the matter. After they had voted they saw that only one person was against the new vicar. This person was being sexist. In the end the vicar stayed.
People who would watch a programme like this could be anyone, from religious adults to young children. It really doesn’t matter. It appeals to everyone because it is not very religious and it is comical.
The main reason people would watch this is because it is funny. Also it deals with some issues like sexism, which could be interesting. Female vicars are a very recent thing. There are very few female vicars and some arguments are still going on in the Church of England about whether women should be allowed to take up the position of a religious leader.
I found this programme very funny and it had got some serious points in it as well. I did enjoy it and am very likely to watch it again, mainly for the humour. It gives a more realistic view on what vicars are actually like. They try to enjoy themselves and don’t spend all their time worshipping.
Television and Religious People
“Television always presents religious people as out of touch with the modern world.”
Many programmes present religious people as out of touch with the modern world. These may include programmes such as the Simpsons with Reverend Lovejoy. He may not be the classic stereotype image, but he is still out of touch with the world. He is normally seen in church preaching or giving a sermon, which do not relate with the modern way of life. He is not normally seen in the town or the street chatting to anyone about everyday worries, suggesting that he is only guided by the good book.
In Father Ted, it seems that all the characters are in a different world to the rest of us. They live in a remote house on a little island far away from the rest of the community. One of them is the stereotypical image of a priest as an old man who drinks too much, another is both very stupid and naïve. Father Ted himself appears normal but has a strange way of looking at things.
Ballykissangel, set in Ireland in a small village, has two priests, one of whom is elderly and set in his ways. He doesn’t really understand that times have changed and the young people in the community have different views and way of life to their parents. However the younger priest is more ordinary. He seems to what’s going on and has a grip on reality. He lives in the village, chats to locals and visits the local pub. He is actually friendly to the people and understands how to deal with everyday problems.
A comedy series that has aired recently is called the Vicar of Dibley. In this programme Geraldine, the vicar is a young unmarried woman with a liking for chocolate. She lives in a small community in the countryside. Geraldine is sensitive, has a sense of humour and gets involved in local issues. Also she really likes modern music such as Take That and other groups. Geraldine is very much in touch with the modern world.
In the Simpsons, there is a character called Ned Flanders who lives next door to the main character Homer Simpson. Ned is always trying to give Homer advice from his religion, but Homer normally ignores him.
Ned is a good person, he obeys his religion, and brings up his children well to do the same. Although Ned is very religious, I think that he is in touch with the modern world. This is because he still has a social life and invites others round to drink beer and play pool. Ned has also done some wild things such as go to Las Vegas and lose lots of money gambling. These are tings that only people in touch with the modern world would do.
In conclusion it seems that most religious people on television are not presented as out of touch with the modern world. I think this could be because television is made mainly for entertainment. Programmes that include people completely out of this world, eg Father Ted, are still appealing because the characters are just surreal and over the top. It is very funny because it’s so well written. People enjoy watching characters that are funny and interesting or larger than life. Producers want us to watch the programme regularly. For us to do this, the programme must include characters that we like, can relate to or are funny. If the programme included people that we didn’t understand we wouldn’t watch them. The people who watch the television live in the real world, so in order for us to relate to the characters they must also be based in the modern world.
Conclusion
Religious programmes on the television over one week (Channels 1-5 only):
I looked at The Radio Times week commencing 30th November and found many programmes are Christian based. This is probably because it is coming up to Christmas. All of the programmes seem to be aimed at adults. There are few religious programmes on during the week because the schedulers create a plan for this time and normally show series.
The only programmes during this week that are non-Christian, are, one concerning the Jewish faith (how a rabbi sees her departure) and one talking about Islamic design in fashion, which is not highly religious. This suggests that the other main religions are not going to attract many viewers and so are not given much airtime. Showing only Christian programmes and so implying that other religions don’t really count is not a good thing
Most religious programmes are shown on Sunday because this is the religious day in Christianity.
Bibliography
Internet
BBC
Radio Times
