Aii.) Analyse and explain the way in which a religious or moral issue has been dealt with in a television soap opera.
An episode of the television soap opera Eastenders has been chosen to be considered. The moral issue that is focused upon is Euthanasia. There could also be seen to be religious issues found in the episode such as The 10 commandments saying that you should not kill.
This moral issue is significant today because medical science has brought in better drugs and machines that can help prolong life, and stop pain. People would want to stop the pain that they’re going through, as suffering with it is hurting too much.
There are different views about this issue, some people believe that like animals we should be put down if we are suffering. Other people believe that there are many drugs that can control pain. There are a number of characters involved in this episode but the main two are Dot and Ethel. Dot is shown as a good loyal friend who is very religious, and Ethel is shown as a party goer who doesn’t really want to be fussed over, she is also very certain about what she wants.
Dot wanted the best for Ethel and instead of helping her to die she suggests that she goes into an hospice. Ethel didn’t want this though, and indicated the fact that she wants more pills then she should have. Dot then decides, against her religion, that she will help her friend.
Some Christians would disagree with the way that the issue is dealt with as killing someone before their time is wrong, as God should be the one to take away their lives as he was the one who gave us our lives.
They could have dealt with it differently by putting Ethel in a hospice, this may have then made things easier for the both of them, then they could have gone on with their lives as best as they could. Some other Christians may have agreed with the way that Ethel’s life ended as then she would not have had to suffer. The producer may have chose this issue because there are family’s everyday that have to deal with the issue of cancer, and some that may be related to a situation like Dot and Ethel. If it was left with me to decide the way that it was presented then I would have shown how pain and stress could be dealt with if Ethel had been put into an hospice.
Aiii.) Analyse and explain the way in which a religious theme has been dealt with in a film or television drama.
Film: Bruce Almighty
In the film Bruce Almighty with Jim Carey there are a number of religious themes shown. When Bruce meets God, which I’m sure a lot of Christians would want to do, this shows a miracle and means that he is privileged.
Bruce is also honoured when God gave him part of his powers. Bruce then hears peoples prayers going through his head. I have chosen to describe and explain the theme of prayer and problems of prayer. In Bruce Almighty we hear the prayers in Bruce’s head, this has been included in the film to show the amount of people that pray and ask God for things. Later in the film we hear that was just the prayers from the town that Bruce lives in and not the world like he thought. This shows that the world would have been a lot harder for Bruce had he had the world’s prayers to answer to. If we think of it like this, we can tell that God must have a lot of trouble at times.
After struggling for some time Bruce tries to sort out his prayer system. First he tries to put prayers into filing cabinets but this takes up too much room. He then asks for prayers to be on post its, but this plasters the walls, furniture and other things in the home including people, with them. So Bruce tries a third method, which is a good idea. He puts the prayers on the computer, but still can’t read and answer them all so sends ‘yes’ to all, which causes problems.
In my opinion this is unfair to religious people because Bruce could have answered wrongly to people and then they may not want to communicate with God any longer. During the film it also shows a man living on the street with a bible, not all religious people live the way shown, so this shows a false image as some people would believe this is how they live. On the other hand some parts of the film show the way that religious people are treated is fair. For example, we see Bruce’s wife in the school talking to the children about their prayers and putting their prayers into a jar, this show that some people do actually care.
B.) “Television always presents religious people as out of touch with the modern world” do you agree?
People who aren’t religious are more likely to agree with this statement as they see God and issues to do with God as being old and out of fashion, as their not as involved in God as in previous years and see previous years as being old, past news. However, people who are religious would see this statement as being wrong as they believe that they are modern and right and this is because they continue to believe.
I don’t agree that religious people are out of touch because on the television you see a lot of issues dealt with, by religious people and they deal with these issues in different ways, some show a modem approach to them, others show a old approach. This is because every human being is different and religious or not they have different ways to deal with things.
A programme on the television called The Vicar Of Dibley shows a modern and old approach to the way religious people are presented. In the episode ‘The Window And The Weather’ the church window is broken and they discuses getting a new one with a more modern design. The vicar talks about something such as dinosaurs and states that the Noah Ark design was old. However, they couldn’t decide what they were going to do and had trouble raising money to do either. They called a meeting to discuss ways to raise money.
The vicar had a modern approach, she ‘wheeled and deal’ to get the money, but the rest of the committee who wanted to keep the old original design, didn’t really help. People may say that they wanted to keep the original design as it was more to do with God, others may say that they should keep the old design as there was more truth in it. Eventually they came to an arrangement and put in a clear window so that they could look out and see the world that God had created. I think that this shows a modern approach and is a very nice idea, because it showed they had a mutual agreement that was pleasant and thoughtful.
When there was a disaster able they only raised £11 to help. This shows that they are out of touch and more concerned in themselves then reaching in there pockets to help others.
