I think everyone knows where this is going. I hadn't heard about it until today but the backlash is so amazeballs I just have to talk about it now. Having recently seen the first episode, I think that this series is pretty harmless. It's not as good as actually reading the text itself. But then again, how many picture adaptations of books are actually better than the books themselves?
Except for this gem, that is:
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| This one made me want to punch walls. |
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| This one made me want to punch walls slightly less. |
There are people on one side saying that this is not history and holy crap, the History Channel has gone downhill and since when did the Bible become relevant and so on and so forth. Then there are other people complaining about how this series is completely inaccurate, bastardized, and spun into some kind of lame Hollywood epic that has nothing against Jesus Christ Superstar (not that anything much out there could beat Jesus Christ Superstar. Like good lord. Such a good musical). I have to admit, I am not an avid watcher of the History Channel, but I never really took it all that seriously in the first place. I mean, I'd watch it occasionally now and then when they broadcast their Ancient Aliens series. Because let's face it, who can resist aliens?
William Shatner's Weird Or What is also amusing, as it discusses conspiracy theories as if they actually had any legitimacy to them. Also, who wouldn't watch William Shatner in just about, well, anything? And sometimes I tune into Secret Life Of..., mostly because I like the animated sequences and the acting is hilarious and sometimes the historians featured on that show are really attractive and sometimes a lot of gay stuff happens. Not between the historians, but the historical figures. Anyway, that being said, I never really took the History Channel all that seriously. It's history for people who don't have anything else to watch on a Monday evening.
So quite frankly, I don't really know how people thought the mini-series The Bible was going to be different from anything else. It's produced by the same guy who brought us Survivor and who said that he wanted to bring a new kind of Bible education to public schools everywhere.
The Bible debuted with 13.1 million viewers, making it a massive hit. It consists of 10 scripted episodes, each of which dramatize important plot points and themes of the Bible. The forewarning before the first episode reads, "The program is an adaptation of Bible stories. It endeavors to stay true to the spirit of the book. Some scenes contain violence. Viewer discretion is advised." No one here is claiming that this series is based on a true story but the Bible can be read as many different things to different people. Upon watching the first episode, it seems like that discretion is quite accurate. The series is a literal translation of the events as they are described in the book. It's like the quickest summary of the Bible I have ever seen. I could get more detail out of a children's version of the Bible, to be quite honest. The series is well done from a technical standpoint though. I'm sure the budget for this was quite hefty as the set design is quite good as is the CGI.
I'll be frank right now, after watching the first episode, it seems like a fairly unthreatening series, and it definitely isn't something people should take personally, whether they are of the Christian faith or not. This is just an adaptation of fables from a religious book. And like any live action adaptation, it has its clichés. There are a lot of white people and a lot of racial stereotypes (as in that, Asian angel ninja) and there is little to no comic relief (which it could have surely benefitted from) and the acting sucks at times but hey, isn't everything we see on television like that to a certain degree? If you find that it isn't true to the spirit of the book or whatever it promises you, then you still always have the book itself. If you find that it isn't true to anything, then it's your choice whether or not to watch it. And if you say that it isn't history, then remind yourself that this is being aired on a television channel that also airs Outlaw Bikers, Counting Cars and M*A*S*H. The stories may not be considered truth to everybody, but it does belong to a culture that has had an impact on history itself. I would have preferred a series on the history of Christianity itself, or how the Bible was written and is now interpreted, as I feel that that would have perhaps been more relevant to a history network than a 10 episode dramatization of Bible stories.
Anyhow, this should be an interesting television series to follow. I'll probably end up watching it in between re-runs of Ancient Aliens.
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