The words to the hymns are subtitled along the bottom of the screen. This is for two reasons, firstly, so that the viewer may sing along to the hymn if they wish to do so and secondly, so the viewer knows what the words of the hymn are and can fully understand the message being conveyed by them.
Songs of praise is aimed at a higher age group than its rivals, this is because more and more of the younger generations are leaving Christianity and the ones who remain feel that the traditional tools of praise e.g. singing, are outdated and unfashionable.
I have not seen many religious programs that involve singing, infact; Songs of Praise is the only one. This is surprising because music and singing are widely associated with religion and in particular, Christianity. This is probably because other shows feel that to boost ratings they need to ‘modernise’ and become more attractive to everyone.
A2. Analyze the way in which a religious or moral issue of concern to Christians has been dealt with in a television soap opera.
In the popular television soap ‘Eastenders’ the character Ethel asks for her friend, Dot, to help her end her own life. This is an example of voluntary euthanasia, where the person concerned has asked someone else to help them to die.
Ethel and Dot had been life long friends. In Ethel’s final illness, Dot nursed her and looked after her. Ethel revealed she was suffering from cancer, in particular a brain tumor. She realized she did not have long to live and knew that before the end she would lose her mental powers, would not be able to recognize her relatives and friends. The thought frightened her.
Ethel was taking morphine tablets to ease the pain. However, one day Dot found the bag of morphine tablets Ethel had been saving to take all at once. Horrified, Dot took the bag away from Ethel and told her wrong she thought her intentions were. Dot is a very religious person and felt that suicide or assisted suicide would be punished by God.
After a party at ‘The Vic’, Ethel decided she wanted to ‘go’. She had enjoyed herself; she had had a drink with her friends and now she was getting physically worse. She pleaded with Dot who eventually gave in and gave her the morphine tablets. By the morning Ethel was dead.
There are two sides to the argument about euthanasia. There are those who are against it, this can be for religious reasons, Euthanasia is against the word and will of god, ethical reasons, euthanasia weakens peoples respect for the sanctity of life, or practical reasons, euthanasia exposes vulnerable people to pressure to end their lives.
There are also many arguments for euthanasia, such as, people deserve the respect that would allow them to die with dignity, if some one is in a lot of pain it should be their decision whether they wish to continue to live or not.
This program did not represent both sides of the argument as well as it could of, for instance Ethel was clearly for euthanasia because of her circumstances. It is easy to see from Ethel’s brilliant acting why so many people are for euthanasia. However, most characters were against euthanasia so this view was very well represented. For instance, Dot is clearly against it because at first she refuses to go along with it and later on she feels that she has committed murder, she even goes as far as to hand herself into the police.
When she tells Pauline, Pauline is very harsh with her. She tells Dot that she has lost people close to her and how to take away the last days is wrong because they are the most precious.
Although the program’s main aim is to entertain, which it does well, it also help to bring important issues such as euthanasia into the public eye. It deals with the issue in a sensible, realistic way that would help people to understand it and is also sensitive to people who have been through it. It is realistic because it takes on some of societies taboos.
Christian teachings regarding euthanasia say that euthanasia is a sin. “Whatever its motives and means, direct euthanasia consists in putting an end to the lives of handicapped, sick, or dying persons. It is morally unacceptable. …the use of painkillers to alleviate the suffering of the dying, even at the risk of shortening their days, can be morally in conformity with human dignity if death is not willed as an end.” Catechism of the Church
A3. Analyze and explain the way in which a religious theme of concern to Christians has been dealt with in a film or television drama.
In the Hollywood movie ‘Philadelphia’ Tom Hanks plays Andrew Beckett, a hotshot lawyer who has been keeping his homosexuality, and his aids, a secret from his conservative bosses. When he is suddenly fired he thinks aids might be the reason and is determined to fight in court, even as he is losing his other battle against the disease. Beckett hires attorney Joe Miller to represent him but the attorney must first over come his own homophobia and fears.
Homosexuality is a very controversial issue among religious groups. The attitude of many evangelical Protestants is that all forms of homosexuality are a sin. Therefore there should be no homosexual Christians as ‘the salvation of Christ’ removes all sins. They even run special prayer groups to help people over come the ‘problem’ of homosexuality . This view may of come from certain passages in the Bible such as;
“Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman that is detestable” Leviticus 18:22
Roman Catholics believe that homosexual orientation is not a sin but all forms of homosexual activity are. They believe all homosexuals should live celibate lives. At the same time the Roman Catholic Church condemns all homophobia.
When the film was released there was a lot more homophobia around than there is today. This film helped more people accepts homosexuals. Since this film, there have been many other films that touch on the subject of homosexuality but none tackle it quite as directly as this one.
The director, Jonathan Demme, decided to make this film after discovering that his close friend Juan Botas had HIV. Botas, after spending several months with a group of men who had full blown aids told Demme that it ‘was a compelling subject to make a documentary about’, Demme agreed and later made this film.
The subject of homosexuality is dealt with very directly in the film. It is talked about frankly and openly. This is not done to shock anybody but more just to get the facts across. It has been dealt with in a fair manner. It shows both side of the argument with out being critical.
The one criticism of the film is that the director chose to remove the love scenes between Andrew and his lover. He did this because he thought the public were not ready for them. I think he should have kept them in. It was slightly homophobic that he removed them if they were tastefully done when heterosexual films constantly show love scenes and this widely accepted.
B. “Television always presents religious people as out of touch with the modern world” Do you agree? Give reasons for your opinion, showing that you have considered another point of view. Your answer should refer to specific television programs.
I don’t agree with this statement. It is true that some television writers stereotype religious people as out of touch with the modern world but a lot of writers don’t. There are examples of both of these in all forms of television, be it drama, comedy or soaps.
A lot of people say that religious people are out of touch with the modern world with out really defining what the modern world is. I would say it means in touch with all that is going on. Someone in touch with the modern world would be someone who accepts all that is going on around them, like the ever increasing acceptance of homosexuality and the ever decreasing acceptance of racism. In this modern world religion isn’t such big thing as it was 100 or 50 years ago. Out of touch could mean a number of things, but the basic idea is that of being old fashioned and not being capable of understanding major issues of modern society such as relationships, crime and politics.
Father Ted is the perfect example of someone out of touch with the world. Father Ted is an Irish priest who lives in a parochial house on Craggy Island, just of Ireland. Living with him is Father Jack, an old priest with an alcohol problem that likes the words arse, drink, girls and feck a bit too much. Also living with him is Father Dougal, a young and very dim priest that some how got into the priesthood.
This program is a comedy. The three priests go around getting them selves into all sorts funny situations, none of which you could imagine a real priest getting themselves into. For instance, in one episode they enter the Eurovision song contest and win. Also, they are constantly coming out with totally irrelevant lines;
Dougal: I’m not the best at making decisions.
Ted: Look…..
Dougal: Or am I?
This, hopefully, is nothing like priests in real life.
In contrast, The Vicar of Dibley is very in touch with a modern world. For a start, the entire program is based around a female vicar, still something of a rarity. She arrives in a small village much to the shock of the residents there. She finds that the people there are old fashioned about most things and she wants to bring a touch of the modern world to the village, which she does with varying amounts of success.
You can’t really get more ‘in touch’ than this character. She personifies everything people expect a modern vicar to be. Also, at the end of each program there is a joke told by the vicar, usually rude. This may come as a surprise to some people to see a vicar telling rude, religious jokes.
I think that all in all most television show don’t portray religious people as out of touch with the modern world and most of those that do usually do it for comic value alone.
Sam Holloway Religion and the Media Coursework p.