Apocalypse & myth 
Battlestar Galactica at the UN(0)
I am just catching up on this one thanks to a post at The Seemless Web (a great blog on law and popular culture I’ve just discovered), but a few weeks ago the UN hosted a forum to celebrate the finale of Battlestar Galactica. Apparently the seats of the general assembly were decked out with [...]
Full Story»The continuing politics of torture
In his latest New York Review of Books article Mark Danner makes the key point: “When it comes to torture, it is not what we did but what we are doing.” Which is not to say that he believes that torture is still occurring but that the politics of torture is still at the heart of US [...]
Myth and possible stories
Great quote from a William Doty essay: Myths die when they are no longer retold and revised. Mackey-Kallis proposes that myths “must change in culturally specific fashions if they are to speak to the changing conditions and concerns of the culture. Myths that do not evolve are no longer useful and often fade away. A [...]
Dark Knight Returns
Batman begins today and all the reviews have been glowing. Manohla Dargis in the New York Times hones in on the characterisation in a way that mirrors much of the discussion on the human/superhero duality that was explored at last weekend’s conference: What Mr. Nolan gets, and gets better than any other previous director, is [...]
Superheroes
I have just finished up at the Just Men In Tights: Superheroes Conference. It’s been a very stimulating weekend and just what I needed to get my head back into myth, popular culture and the apocalypse. Lots of interesting talks on everything from traditional superheroes such as Superman and Batman to readings of Queer as [...]
Images of the papal passion
Similar to the images of Terri Schiavo, the circulation of images of Pope John Paul, who has been described as “increasingly frail” for years now, are stimulating a range of mythic possibilities from conspiratorial narratives of the propped-up puppet to sanctifying stories of the ecstatic martyr. This extraordinary set of images from his appearance at [...]
Cataclysm and moral sentiment
Excellent reflection from Susan Neiman in the NYT Magazine on the response to the Tsunami. Neiman begins by comparing our reaction to that of Europeans in the 18th century to the earthquake and Tsunami that destroyed Lisbon 250 years ago. But Enlightenment thinkers took broader perspectives. Though many denied the existence of a personal Creator, [...]
Conspiracy and the apocalyptic
My current reading has largely been in search of some explanatory theories that can drive my overall understanding of the apocalyptic. Three theoretical constructs that may prove useful come from studies of conspiracy theory. Improvisational Millenialism. Michael Barkun (2003) points out that many contemporary millennial or apocalyptic movements do not fit the standard typology of [...]
Memories reminders ghosts and myths
I have been reading some stuff on “community of memory” (Paige Baty on Marylin and Barbie Zelizer on Kennedy) and then recently came across these two quotes from quite different sources. Firstly Derrida’s notion of ghosts from an this essay on the cultural history of the highway: Jacques Derrida has suggested that ghosts come to [...]
Liberal Christians Challenge ‘Values Vote’
The Washington Post reports the results of a poll commissioned by a group of Liberal Christians which challenges the notion that "values" equal abortion and same-sex marriage. Battling the notion that "values voters" swept President Bush to victory because of opposition to gay marriage and abortion, three liberal groups released a post-election poll in which [...]
Cold War Presidential narratives
Two articles in the latest edition of Foreign Policy make essentially the same point: in spite of the rhetoric of the post-September 11 brave new world, the Bush administration is essentially driven by a cold war agenda and more importantly, cold war strategy. This is obviously a point that has been made before but it [...]
Typology of Revelation
Finished off a first close reading of Revelation this weekend. I wanted to get a feel for it before I go off and look at the commentaries. First impressions: Sense of Time The prologue clear states that “the Time is close” (1:3) an assertion that bookends the narrative and is repeated again in the final [...]
Defining the apocalyptic
Anastasia asked in a recent comment whether I have a definition of the apocalyptic. Well I suppose the answer is yes and no. Essential to my approach is the notion of myth as a broad, living, fluid cluster of ideas and emotional colors. So to “define” the apocalyptic myth is to tie it down in [...]
When prophecy fails
Interesting discussion over at Crooked Timber on apocalyptic christianity and the response to failed prophecy. John Quiggin got the ball rolling with this question: Revelations-based prophecies have similarly failed time after time, but they seem to be more popular than ever. What is about apocalyptic Christianity as a belief system that protects it from empirical [...]
Apocalypse and myth
This is a great quote from Lois Parkinson Zamora’s, Writing the Apocalypse that I found while reading Mike Broderick’s excellent essay “The Rupture of Rapture: Recent Film Narratives of Apocalypse”: Revelation is … as much about the capacity of language to conceal as to reveal… The apocalyptist’s strategies of concealment attest to the sanctified status [...]
Apocalypse and Empire
Another great article and setr of links from The Revealer. This time about metaphors of Empire in political and religious rhetoric. I have been thinking that Empire has to be a key part of my apocalyptic typology. What does a list of dropped clichés like this mean, besides that “The Fall (Decay, Decline) of the [...]