BSG, 'Hand of God'
Apr. 7th, 2005 12:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eye_of_a_cat(don't spoil me, kind people)
Interesting prophecy. I suppose what it actually says will get discussed in more detail later on or in the next season(s), but right now I'm more interested in where it came from - this prophet that a few people have vaguely heard about, but nobody really considered that important up to now. Baltar got taught about her writings at school once, but couldn't remember what the prophecy said, and Laura Roslin hadn't heard about her at all. The priest describes them as 'part of the Sacred Scrolls', though, so presumably they're just a part that people didn't pay a huge amount of attention to before the Cylons. This isn't really surprising, since from what we know they're a collection of surreal-sounding visions about the end of the world, and people usually have more important things to pay attention to.
It makes sense for the priest to pay attention to them now - suddenly it is the end of the world, and it makes sense to start trying to match up what's happening with any prophecies that might help, no matter how crazy they always sounded beforehand. Besides, it's part of her job to know what her holy texts say. But Six knew about them, too, and that seems more interesting. Why would the Cylons put such importance on a prophecy that the humans had, but never considered important? Unless they think this is the way that the End Of The World will happen, and see themselves as instrumental in making sure it takes place.
Obviously there's a lot in the show anyway that can be mapped onto various ideas of religious fundamentalism. I don't think one-on-one allegories usually work, here or anywhere else (also, they're usually not very interesting when they do), but in this case - a collection of weird-sounding prophecies about the End Of The World contained in a part of the holy texts people don't usually pay all that much attention to, a bunch of people who not only give it a great deal of importance but think it's going to happen really soon, and a general agreement among those people that the End Of The World will feature a) huge amounts of bloodshed, b) the death/disappearance of a lot of people, and c) even more violence and bloodshed for the survivors, carried out by God's messengers and condoned by a God who still loves them but chooses this way of showing it. Hm. Substitute the prophecies of Pythia for the book of Revelation, put the word 'Rapture' in there somewhere, and I bet the Cylon equivalent of the Left Behind books were selling like hot cakes just before the invasion.
(As for the Earth version of Left Behind (in which Jesus really shows everyone what that 'Prince of Peace' thing was about),![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-syndicated.gif)
slacktivist's commentary is funny and informed and worth a read - he's working his way through a page at a time, and the post titled Welcome To The Hellmouth explains why he thinks it's worth doing.)
Interesting prophecy. I suppose what it actually says will get discussed in more detail later on or in the next season(s), but right now I'm more interested in where it came from - this prophet that a few people have vaguely heard about, but nobody really considered that important up to now. Baltar got taught about her writings at school once, but couldn't remember what the prophecy said, and Laura Roslin hadn't heard about her at all. The priest describes them as 'part of the Sacred Scrolls', though, so presumably they're just a part that people didn't pay a huge amount of attention to before the Cylons. This isn't really surprising, since from what we know they're a collection of surreal-sounding visions about the end of the world, and people usually have more important things to pay attention to.
It makes sense for the priest to pay attention to them now - suddenly it is the end of the world, and it makes sense to start trying to match up what's happening with any prophecies that might help, no matter how crazy they always sounded beforehand. Besides, it's part of her job to know what her holy texts say. But Six knew about them, too, and that seems more interesting. Why would the Cylons put such importance on a prophecy that the humans had, but never considered important? Unless they think this is the way that the End Of The World will happen, and see themselves as instrumental in making sure it takes place.
Obviously there's a lot in the show anyway that can be mapped onto various ideas of religious fundamentalism. I don't think one-on-one allegories usually work, here or anywhere else (also, they're usually not very interesting when they do), but in this case - a collection of weird-sounding prophecies about the End Of The World contained in a part of the holy texts people don't usually pay all that much attention to, a bunch of people who not only give it a great deal of importance but think it's going to happen really soon, and a general agreement among those people that the End Of The World will feature a) huge amounts of bloodshed, b) the death/disappearance of a lot of people, and c) even more violence and bloodshed for the survivors, carried out by God's messengers and condoned by a God who still loves them but chooses this way of showing it. Hm. Substitute the prophecies of Pythia for the book of Revelation, put the word 'Rapture' in there somewhere, and I bet the Cylon equivalent of the Left Behind books were selling like hot cakes just before the invasion.
(As for the Earth version of Left Behind (in which Jesus really shows everyone what that 'Prince of Peace' thing was about),
slacktivist's commentary is funny and informed and worth a read - he's working his way through a page at a time, and the post titled Welcome To The Hellmouth explains why he thinks it's worth doing.)
