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Movie portrayed atheist as unpleasant, immoral and self-gratifying guy.

posted 9 years ago by EuropeanMoviesFan
6 replies | jump to latest

I did enjoy this movie a lot. It put common believers' and unbelievers' questions on the table about religion. It was also thought provoking. I gave it a good rating.
The only problem I have is that the movie showed the atheist guy character as selfish, sex-addicted and unpleasant the same way as the woman before converting. It could be suggested that if you convert to believer, the only way to go to heaven, is by saying "I love God", eventhough there is the problem of evil or suffering in the world. If the man or the woman stays as an atheist, then either or both will go back to being selfish bastards. This movie doesn't do any favor for atheism or secular humanism. It portrays atheism as people who are selfish. The same questions could have been put on the table without portraying the atheists as negative or unpleasant. The guy, I believe, told the woman, something like "you cannot change the world ", as if history has never changed for the better.

[–] TopFrog 9 years ago

Yes, an atheist character was selfish, sex-addicted, and unpleasant. Such people do exist, and that shouldn't be taken as a reflection on all atheists. Of course those character traits aren't absolutely necessary to the story, but in context they aren't out of place either. While such a portrayal doesn't do any favors for atheism or secular humanism, it isn't meant to.

And a single person generally does not have the capacity to make any real impact in changing the world -- that's a realistic view of things, though on the cynical side.

[–] EuropeanMoviesFan 9 years ago

I agree with you. This movie shouldn't be taken as a reflection on all atheists, yet, many people will. I should've mentioned before, Hollywood makes sure that most, if not all movies, that depict atheists are made to look as unpleasant, obnoxious, intolerant, immoral, etc. Look at the movies "A Walk to Remember": Atheist guy=unplesant and the Christian girl makes him change in some ways toward the end of the movie; "The People vs. Larry Flynt": Atheist character and wife=unpleasant and the personifications of immorality; I haven't seen, not even the trailer, "God's not Dead", but I will. I can bet good money that the college professor is made out to be unpleasant, intolerant or obnoxious. I think that Hollywood does this on purpose to cater to the Christian majority and make good money. Religion sells. And it may be true that one person may not change the whole world alone. But a person can change the whole world for someone. And united, people can change the world. Hollywood needs to stop portraying all atheists, in their movies, as negative people. By the way, the only movie that I have seen with a very decent atheist character was the European movie To Verdener http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1065318/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1. I thought the guy was also going to be unpleasant, but turned out to be very decent and good, at least for my taste. I highly recommend it...based on a true story.

[–] TopFrog 9 years ago

Thanks for the link to To Verdener -- I'll have to give that one a watch.

And God's Not Dead? It's competently done, but manipulative in a way that is off the charts. It's worth a watch, if only in a so-bad-it's-good way.

[–] Duncan_Idaho02 9 years ago

Not all Atheists are portrayed in a negative way. That is simply not true. A Christian could make the claim that all Christians are portrayed in a negative light as well if they only looked at the movies that portrayed Christians negatively. There are both kinds of movies out there, you are just looking at the ones that portray atheists negatively. The reason the atheist was portrayed in a negative light in this movie was for the purpose of telling the story. There were a lot of contrasting elements in this film. We had to watch as the main characters went through different changes in their lives to fully appreciate her predicament and decision at the end of the film. As she was faced with the reality of what this "God" had her do and then expected her to do, her belief system came full circle.

I think the film did an extremely good job of showing that while religion does offer many positive aspects, in the end it can be very empty, and also have many negative aspects. Without the atheist to contrast the difference in the lives of the main characters once they became Christians, the story would not have been as profound.

[–] bucktoof1978 9 years ago

This movie is 25 years old. I doubt in today's Godless Hollywood you would have to worry about a poor atheist being made out to be the immoral self gratifying type. (As frequently)

If your a Christian you're automatically an intolerant bigot today.

[–] Hythlodaeus 8 years ago

The movie was full of retarded caricatures - on all sides. Truly a lame film.

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