MovieChat Forums > Solomon Kane (2012) Discussion > Religious propaganda?

Religious propaganda?

posted 15 years ago by amtico1
163 replies | jump to latest

So we have a new heroe who wants to fight evil because (as he says) in the 1600´s nobody cared to fight it. Evil pagans ruled the world. But thanks to God and Solomon,the good guys, they'll get rid of evil (still waiting).

Mmmm, a little problem here. In the 1600's there were a lot of wars among Christians, they were killing each other because they thought the others were evil. Chrisitians ruled Europe and Christians were killing innoncent people. Not only that, we had the Inquisition killing more innocent people. We had a lot of saviours helped by God (or so they thought).

You may say "it's an alternative world". Yes, an alternative world created by someone very religious who wants to make us think that religion solves everything. Well, he must look back at history.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] jseger9000 15 years ago

"If I kill you, I am bound for hell. It is a price I shall gladly pay!" - Solomon Kane

Quit all that preaching Solomon! What do you think you are? A Puritan or something? Maybe they should have 'modernized' the character and made him a Wiccan so as not to insult our tender sensibilities. Perhaps he and those he fought could have set down to three cups of tea and discussed how their ignorance of each others world view caused so much strife. What a movie that would have been!

Seriously, I'm an atheist living in Texas who has to put up with Christian a*holes all the time, and even I can see that Solomon Kane is about as 'propagandistic' as Constantine.

[–] alanreyj 15 years ago

Hi,
Been reading R E Howards books for over 30 years, great stuff, timeless, Solomon Kane was always one of my favourites, uncompromising but at heart a good man. He was a puritan with a strict moral outlook but with the ability to see true evil from the weak minded etc. I've not seen the film but people have to remember that it is a fantasy based upon the slightly skewed view of the world held by Howard. It is not an exact copy of our history although the idea of paganism still horrified the christians of the period, just look at the witch burnings, drownings, inquistions and religous wars. They still believed in the existence of demons and angels etc. It was not a christian only problem and wars, mass murder and ethnic cleansings were perpetrated by the peoples of Asia and the middle east also.
The film is a very basic good versus evil tale based loosely on Robert E Howard with clearly good and evil characters.
I think our original poster just has a slight bias against christianity as a whole.

[–] shotgunfringe 15 years ago

it's just a movie people.
enjoy it and quit hating on others for their beleifs christian or other.

[–] AhearnePaul 15 years ago

Solomon Kane is NOT remotely a Christian Propaganda film.

Firstly, the film is set 400+ years ago, when basically everyone was religious and every conquest and decision made was done so in the name of one god or another. The fact that Kane is religious in an extremely religious time, adds credibility to the character.

Yes, there is a certain amount of redemption that is afforded to him through his beliefs but that idea is not exclusive to Christianity.

Would you make a Second World War film and pretend Hitler and the Nazi’s didn’t exist? (No)
Are all various incarnations of Dracula propaganda films, because vampires don't like crosses? (No!)

It's just another case of things from the real world being merged with things from the fantasy world and artistic licence being taken with both. If anything this film is likely to offend real Christians; who will clearly see it as bastardisation of their faith, rather than a tool to glorify their god and promote their religion to the masses.

I credit most people with enough intelect to decipher the fact from the fiction (on screen and in religion).

I’m an atheist and the film isn't that good.

I picked a hell of a day to give up sniffing glue.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Dain120475 15 years ago

For a work to be any kind of propaganda, it would assume that the creator is trying to communicate a message to the audience.

What is the messages of the movie that is the supposed propaganda? Is the creator of the movie (not Howard, but the movie's creator), saying that Puritan's are hypocrites for preaching good, but in actuallity doing evil? Is the movie suggesting that Christians are excused from murder? Does the movie suggest that if you are a killer that is wrong, unless you are a Christian?

None of those messages seem to elevate the status of Christians, in fact, they seem to be messages made by people who want to portray Christians as hypocrites.

How can the movie be propaganda for Chrisitans? I think everyone agrees that Solomon Kane is far from "Christ-like" (the literal definition of "Christian" is "Christ-like", despite the dogmatic issues preached from pulpits).

I myself am a Chrisitan, and do honor God in my heart and deeds as best as I can. But I do not see Solomon Kane as a hero for that cause. I do not see Kane as a rallying point for other Christians. I do not see the movie and say "Ah ha! "Pagans" are evil, but Christians are a little less evil, so I will go out and preach the message that Christians are not AS evil as pagans."

I wonder, when a post like this comes up, why and how it manages to worm its way into IMDB. I have seen them before; when religion and politics make its way into a commentary on movies, but I had to take note of this specific post, because I am serioulsy curious to know how you feel this could be any kind of propaganda piece for Chrisitans. If anything, it is a propaganda piece AGAINST Christians, as it does not potray Christians as Christ-like, but cold blooded killers who are prepared for hell.

Why would you suggest it? Why would you ask that question? You have four pages of feedback, I wonder if you are a troll, but I hope not, as they are contemptable. Please, and I'm not being sarcastic, tell me why you think, or may have thought, that a group of Chrisitans, or Christian sympathisers, used the concept of this movie as propaganda for their cause.

peace
joe

ps, I have read and do love Howard's work, who (by the way) inspired much of Lovecraft with his OWN Cthuhulu tales (Personally I feel Howard's work to be far superior to Lovecraft... recommend reading them if you get a chance. And, FYI, they aren't comic books).

[–] Snakeprophet 15 years ago

Oh snap, I guess I just got ticketed by the grammar police! I think someone mentions Nazi later in this thread, so all we need now to complete a good list of internet memes is for someone to shout "PWNED!" and another to post something about cats.

btw, not to prolonged this into a battle of the dictionary, but dribble the verb happens to be a synonym of drivel, not that it matters in the manner in which I used it.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Snakeprophet 15 years ago

:facepalm:

driv·el verb,-eled, -el·ing or (especially British) -elled, -el·ling.
–noun
1.saliva flowing from the mouth, or mucus from the nose; slaver.
2.childish, silly, or meaningless talk or thinking; nonsense; twaddle.
–verb (used without object)
3.to let saliva flow from the mouth or mucus from the nose; slaver.

drib·ble verb,-bled, -bling, noun
–verb (used without object)
1.to fall or flow in drops or small quantities; trickle.
2.to drivel; slaver.
–noun
6.a small trickling stream or a drop.
7.a small quantity of anything: a dribble of revenue.

[–] 15 years ago

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[–] Snakeprophet 15 years ago

touche, good sir, touche.

[–] changing-u 15 years ago

Who *beep* cares? It's a movie meant to entertain.

If you go into a movie and take everything it says to heart and try to make serious sense of it then you'll almost always end up here ranting about how it was "controversial" or "religious propaganda".

I'm far from any religion and I enjoyed the Book of Eli immensely.

[–] Bethrothenbach 15 years ago

It's a damned movie people. Like it or don't like it but quit bitching back and forth about it.