MovieChat Forums > Noah (2014) Discussion > An Atheist's Perspective

An Atheist's Perspective

posted 10 years ago by the-estranged
114 replies | jump to latest

To be up front, Aronofsky is probably my favorite director. His movies always strike an intimate chord with me and never cease to leave me awe-struck, especially The Fountain. So I am slightly biased. I'm not saying this movie is perfect, I hated the way the villain was portrayed and the angels were a little cheesy, but I still think this movie is pretty incredible.

I should also say, I am an atheist, so the Noah story to me is nothing more than a children's story. I think the heart of this movie, which I attribute to Aronofsky, is intelligent and poignant. It sheds a unique light on God and the Christian faith, it brings to life an incredibly conflicted character.

I think this film received so much flak because A) It was marketed terribly, this is an Aronofsky film, not a CBN documentary, it should have been marketed appropriately. B) This film is not for the religious. God, Noah, and the Christian faith are made out to be psychopathic. It was as if Noah were afflicted with mental illness. I'm still trying to wrap my head around what Aronofsky was trying to say exactly with this story. Any thoughts on this?

And I don't think anyone can deny there were truly some beautiful sequences, that Creation montage still leaves me with my mouth open.

I just feel this film is a truly underrated work of art from a respected filmmaker. I'm interested in hearing other thoughts from people who can see this as a work of art and not a Biblical docudrama

[–] timbob-478-937623 8 years ago

Answer: Aronofsky was trying to earn a paycheck. He failed. It lost money. Oh well.

I'm always amused when atheists walk around day stating who they are, the same way with people who proclaim they are "liberal socially but fiscally conservative whatever that means. I take it to mean they wait for a BOGO before going to Planned Parenthood.
Nonetheless, I always answer atheists the same way, by axing a question: How many people are on a jury? Why twelve. Answer: Because there were twelve Apostles who witnessed miracles and set out about the Holy Lands telling people what they had witnessed. Does anyone think a conspiracy existed between twelve persons, and the miracles were merely a bedtime story. Christians believe the Apostles and its called Faith. And then of course there are the agnostics sitting on the fence who say, "I'll believe it when I see a miracle", as if The Almighty 'owes them an explanation'. You want to see a miracle, go to Youtube, there's hundreds of videos of accidents about to happen but miraculously (see what I did there?) a car swerves, or someone misses being smashed to Smithereens (in Texas, near Waco) by a speeding locomotive, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Wait, where was I. Oh yeah, the miracles.
And when the atheists really get their dander up I axe them to look at ALL the coins and currency in their pockets and axe them if the word G-d offends them so much that they wouldn't mind turning over all their money to me which I would then give to charity because I have Faith that The Almighty will provide for me. Cheers!

[–] kurt-2000 8 years ago

I should also say, I am an atheist, so the Noah story to me is nothing more than a children's story.

And so you thought the rest of us couldn't guess how atheists would react to the Biblical account of Noah?



So...tell me....

what was your atheistic reaction to the account that Jesus walked on water?

...parting of the Red Sea?

...world created in seven days?

[–] Laserseightoclockdayone 8 years ago

I think there's a bit of smoke and mirrors with this film in that it's not a tale about Noah & the flood. It's not a tale about the Abrahamic religions.

It's a tale about overcoming adversity and the struggle to retain one's humanity through their darkest moments.

It's only SET to the backdrop of the old familiar tale. The people who vehemently oppose it for what it is are the kind of people desperately seeking out 'agendas' that feel like any film released through the Hollywood system is somehow undermining their traditional values. They clearly aren't judging the film on its message and the only way to make them happy is if they feel like 'liberal Hollywood' capitulates to their conservatism.