MovieChat Forums > The Messengers (2015) Discussion > Christian mythology can be interesting, ...

Christian mythology can be interesting, but...

posted 10 years ago by heghofo
3 replies | jump to latest

...I'm half-hoping the supernatural element in The Messengers is a giant red herring for a sci-fi show about an alien invasion. Because it has precious little of interest to say or show about God, angels or the Devil.

Christian myths transplanted into modern day can make for great stories, but if you're building an occult mystery show around them, you absolutely need to nail the "mystery" part! They need to evoke wonder, curiosity, preferably even a bit of fear. Shows like Supernatural, Sleepy Hollow and Constantine have tried to integrate Christianity into a larger setting, full of hidden supernatural influences and different factions fighting a secret war in which humanity is just a pawn. The key to this entire thing not feeling like hokey proselytizing is to retain the mystery and ambiguity, while inserting a few original spins. "Simple" is good for biblical parables, but mystery shows need complications and twists. Even unveiling a few supernatural mechanics ("angels can be banished with enochian runes," "demons cannot cross salt," "the horsemen of the apocalypse are sensitive to UV light") can evoke the feeling of exploring a hidden reality, perhaps beyond science but not (entirely) beyond understanding.

The Messengers, on the other hand, just states plainly, "God is angry." An inscrutable cosmic entity is reduced to a petty human emotion. There's angels (regular humans with superpowers) and there's a Devil (regular human defined primarily by being bad and conveniently vanishing), and that's pretty much it - the "how" and "why" is swept aside. The flair is nonexistent. No effort is put into believably integrating these elements into the world, or at least obfuscating them behind occult mystery.

I think the reason why people "buy" shows like Supernatural, but then say the Messengers feels like Sunday school, is that the latter has nothing to hide. It doesn't ask you to understand the motivations and job descriptions of specific demons, the intricacies of why angels cannot help Constantine, or why Purgatory houses God's primordial experiments. It asks to be taken at face value, like it's in a hurry to get the whole supernatural thing over with so it can focus on its characters (pffft, sure). All we get is an info-dump from a convenient character whose power is literally "exposition," who relegates us to another convenient character to have plot-driving visions. That's why it feels like a lecture; it fits the biblical mold of, "God contrives a problematic situation and asks humans to try and fix it, so he could teach them a lesson." That's fine for a bare-bones morality play, but it is hardly entertainment.

[–] prydain17 10 years ago

I'm loving the show, but I do agree with your points. There needs to be more mystery and an actual mythology to the show, but either they're taking their sweet-ass time to delve into it, or they're just trying a different approach. I'm thinking maybe they're wanting it to be more of a simple "quest", and it seems all the horsemen, for instance, are utterly normal people, not even cool like on Sleepy Hollow where they have occult powers.

Although now that I just said that I do recall them stating on The Messengers (episode 2 or 3) that if they break the seal (the horsemen, that is) that they become non-human entities. That will be cool to see, hopefully it doesn't disappoint.

I definitely wish there were more obvious occult elements to the show though and I wish they'd expand their canvas a little bit, being angels they could run into all sorts of demonic beings, or witches who are working for the devil, or fallen angels. I don't find it preachy, though, just not occult-y enough.

Still, it's already one of my favorite CW series since The Secret Circle.

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"Betty's voice brought darkness to the land." - Amanda Tanen

[–] heghofo 10 years ago

That's a good comparison. The Secret Circle also made the mistake of reducing magic to a simple "stare intently and make anything happen"-kind of affair, but at least it added the twist of "binding the circle," and later episodes added other circles, demonic entities and witch-hunters.

Now, Supernatural also had a canon-breaking episode where magic did whatever the writers wanted (the one with the shapeshifting dog-woman familiar), but they have since backpedaled on that - even Rowena, an ancient and powerful witch, needs special items to work magic and hexbags to affect someone, and mostly relies on guile to get her way.

Maybe The Messengers could have expanded a bit on its mythology, had it lasted, but that's a moot point now that it's cancelled.

[–] shadowmas3 10 years ago

The secret circle was cancelled due too a high budget it had better ratings then supernatural. Beauty and the beast was renewed for another season and this one hasn't aired yet and that's cause it's so cheap too make they'll make a profit no matter what so they won't cancel it.