Intro to Katie 101
You think you know, but you have no idea……..Archive for May, 2009
8 page projecto!
So I’m condensing my papers that I wrote these past few weeks. I have a bit more research that I want to do about the Bible “facts” to make sure I have them as accurate as possible even though the whole premise of my paper is that it is inaccurate…..confusing….it made sense in my head. My only concern is that it will sound like a thesis paper on religion instead of on Kevin Smith’s movie, but I guess that is the intended direction for our papers: To be more in depth than just a movie.
I’m finding that I want to include alot of some papers (mostly the latest ones we have written) and hardly any of other papers. I want to do some other research to fill in those pages. As of right now I have about 6 1/2 pages of stuff so I’m in good shape.
I’d like to get any feedback on how not to make it sound so religiousish and focus more on my question: Why he chose women to play the parts of God, and the last Scion. It may turn into an elongated thesis and include the prophets and the 13th black apostle too because they fall into the same category of changing ideas to create a twist in the religions. We’ll see. If you guys remember anything else of the movie or of religions that you think I should include, please let me know. Greatly appreciated! Good Luck writing!
Thesis Facts
Let’s make a list shall we?
Possible Thesis:
Kevin Smith portrayed the significant characters as women to inspire and show his own creativity and open-mindness toward the ideas of religion.
Dogma:
*God is a woman (Alanis Morisette)
*Doesn’t appear in the film until the end. She was trapped in a man’s body (ironic) due to a near fatal beating. She inhabited the body to take a vacation from Heaven to play skeeball at a boardwalk in Jersey.
*Does not speak because the voice of God can kill a mortal.
*Has a goofball personality and is shown doing cartwheels and headstands and giggles.
The Last Scion:
*Last decendant of Jesus Christ. Quote from 13th apostle says that she is the “great, great……….grand niece of Jesus.”
*She works at an abortion clinic and is unable to have children herself.
*Has been chosen because of her heritage to stop the renegade angels from getting back into heaven.
*Her name is Bethany….similar to Bethlahem.
*The Da Vinci Code makes reference to the last Scion.
The Muse:
*Created for the movie to have an origin for the inspiration of the story of the Bible.
*The Muse actually comes from Greek Mythology.
*Portrayed as a stripper with writers block.
The Bible:
*Depicts significant people as white males.
*Dogma is based on Catholocism which uses the New Testament alot because they are responsible for writing it.
*Many passages in the Bible are taken out of context or taken literally by many religions, not just Catholics, when many of those passages are metaphorical.
*The Bible has been translated more than 2, 000 times.
*(ooooh I just found a cool website with lots of stuff on it about interpreting scripture!!! Too many things to list…..)
And those are my facts.
Catholic Kevin
The articles that I came across while researching my topic were about women in the medical field, dogmatic ideas, or why they use women in porn……….so I went with a good old fashion interview with the director.
Michael Atkinson interviewed Kevin Smith, better known as Silent Bob, before the release of his film Dogma. The interview focuses mainly on the controversy that the film brings with it. They talk about how the movie is different and similar to other movies such as “The Song of Bernadette” and “Last Temptation of Christ.” They also discuss Smith’s own upbringing as a Catholic and how that fits into the film.
“Wasn’t the guy we based all this on pretty much a “love one another” guy? In fact, if Christ did anything, he ministered to the minorities, to the bungled and the botched. Christ didn’t hang out with the elite and the pious. He hung out with hookers and tax collectors and lepers.” – Kevin Smith
Good thinking. Especially since that is what the Bible story tells us, but many religions misconstrue what He did for us as more than just heroic. Religions put Him in a limelight that he never was or intended to be in. This explains the use of a black apostle, a stripper for a muse, and a woman as God.
“If the Vatican was smart, they’d endorse ‘Dogma’” – Michael Atkinson
I don’t think that this movie was meant to teach. i think it’s used for exactly what it projects: young adult humor. I think if the Vatcian used it for anything, it would be to ward its flock of the people seen in the movie.
How did Kevin Smith get the idea to make this type of movie in the first place? Did something happen to him to change his thinking or question his faith? Why did he choose the charcters he chose?
PS. This was a tough assignment!!
Inspiration of a Muse
To choose one scene to answer a focusing question is pretty tough when it comes to Dogma. Every scene has some sort of flip-flop (ha! a dash!) of what the majority of us have been taught to believe. My focusing question is why Kevin Smith used women to portray roles in the movie that are otherwise known as men? I think I’ll choose the scene when they meet the Muse because that particular scene really spells out what is going on up to that point.
Bethany and her entourage have arrived at a Strip Club, out of all places, to find a muse named Serendipity. She explains that she has come down to get credit for her inspirations, but finds out that she cannot use her inspiration for personal gain. So she finds herself a womanly host body and a job as a stripper because at least she can make a buck or two. When she meets her new found friends she gives an explaination as to why things the way they are. She starts talking and keeps using “She” in reference to God. She stops to explain that when she wrote the story of the Bible (remember she is the muse, so she didn’t physically write it) that she meant for God to be a woman. The men that she inspired to write the Bible were all men and took it upon themselves to change Her into a Him.
I think this will be a strong point to mention because not only was God meant to be a woman and is portrayed as a woman in this movie, but the last Scion is a woman, and the inspiration for all creation is portrayed as a woman, too! Alison made a good point as well. A muse is never mentioned in the Bible. It could be that Kevin Smith created one because society was taught that we were created from amebas, the Big Bang theory, or as the Bible begins in Genesis “God created Heven and Earth……” He may have wanted to create his own beginning to creation, but as with all projects, they have to comes from ideas. To keep with the theme of biblical anarchy, he made the inspiration of creation a woman.
P.S. I’ll try not to make this a super feminist paper……..
