“The Bible’s” devil looks like Obama
About Caroline TaylorMs. Taylor has an MA in English from a prestigious university. She enjoys writing and has been a long time fan of MMA.
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Let’s face it, if you’re making a Jesus movie you might have a hard time not casting your mother-in-law, or that high school bully, as the devil. Knowing that at least the mother-in-law idea wasn’t a good one, and the bully, well you blocked his face out of your mind the day of graduation. But what about a politician you don’t like, you know…a president…President Barack Obama perhaps.
The History Channel has gotten away from airing actual history shows, those about Nazis, and Russians, and war and things, to airing biblical nonsense. You see Survivor executive producer Mark Burnett is a Jesus Jumper of the worst kind, as is his wife. Because of their fast held religious beliefs and his billions of dollars they are pretty much able to do anything they want, including buying the History Channel if need be, so when they approached History executives they were met not with shaking, but nodding heads, and the 10 part miniseries “The Bible” was born.
While actually casting the “father of lies,” Lucifer, Mammon, or the “Great Deceiver” they stumbled about until they found a guy named Mohamen Mehdi Ouazani. He was the perfect fit for the evil one, except, well, he looked like someone uncomfortably familiar. Or maybe not…check out the picture and let us know what you think.
What do you think? Was the devil cast to look like Barack Obama or is this just a coincidence?
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James Smith
March 18, 2013 at 1:34 pm
As usual, there is nothing too untrue, to despicable, to absurd for the religious reich not to use it and insist it is the objective truth.
It’s no wonder that rational people view these “bible believers” with derision and contempt.
Jim Moore
March 18, 2013 at 1:51 pm
I find the series as compelling as Cecil B. DeMille’s fantasy view of Moses. A bunch of very white Brits playing Middle Eastern Bedouins and herders and slaves and, in particular, very aggressive warriors. The caricatures are stark, and what could be more stark that a bunch of white good guys and black bad guys? And…how ironic that an African American man is the principal narrator?
What surprised and disappointed me most was the children’s catechism level of the portrayals…as literal as they come. But in so doing, Burnett has painted an oddly damaging portrait of the Chosen People. I see a warlike band of nomads wandering the earth in a desperate search for real estate to conquer and call their own. And they used whatever force they could muster to take it from others. And this beat goes on today.
The series also reveals enormous gaps in Biblical history. From Noah, how exactly did God’s Chosen People end up as slaves to the Egyptians? And last night, after Daniel’s trick in the lion’s den and the release of the Jews to return to Jerusalem, Burnett covered another half a millennium with little more than a sentence…and suddenly the Jews were under Roman rule awaiting the arrival of the Messiah. 500 years in a sentence?
Last night, they introduced Jesus, Mary and Joseph – who managed to make the trek to Bethlehem during Mary’s pregnancy. But the return trip took so long that Jesus was at least 5 years old before they got home. ???
This oh so literal depiction does not hold up well to scrutiny. While the faithful may accept the rendition without question, it leaves the rest of us with a very explicit illustration of just how much faith it must take to believe these stories…and accept what they are alleged to mean.
While Christians may rejoice in this series, I expect the series has done a lot of harm to Christianity’s credibility among other faiths and non-believers.
P.S. What is also revealed is the massive editing of history achieved by the Counsels of Nicaea. The creation of religious mythology from a patchwork of stories — all massaged and forced together into a less-than-coherent “history” by the force of Emperor Constantine and his successors.
It was a mistake to string it all together in one continuous story, because that very effort is what exposes how fragmented and unrelated these stories are…even after massage by the Counsels of Nicaea and other “Ecumenical Counsels” that consolidated political, economic and religious power in Rome.
Bill Formby
March 18, 2013 at 2:04 pm
I had flipped to this for a few moments to get the gist of it hoping that there were some actual information available and, as usual, there wasn’t. As Jim points out the scenes were so literal that they were absurd. It is just this kind of propaganda that turns people away from their religion. One thing I have always felt in reading the Bible is that the God they are worshiping is one mean SOB. Supposedly Joshua marched his army around the walls of the city of Jerico and had his people blow on their horns and God broke down the walls. The next command, “Kill everything.” WOW! A loving caring God?
Michael John Scott
March 18, 2013 at 2:09 pm
I refuse to watch it, but did hear that even the most hardened secularist would be amused by the wooden acting and stilted dialogue.
Carol Maietta
March 18, 2013 at 2:29 pm
I have tried a few times to get into it…it’s pretty awful. I must admit, seeing the photo of the devil, there is no coincidence there regarding looking like Obama. Rediculous.
Rachael
March 18, 2013 at 2:32 pm
This is the biggest piece of trash I’ve seen in years. Watched one episode just out of curiosity, and laughed through most of it. As to the photo: that was no accident.
Jess
March 18, 2013 at 3:05 pm
I was busy picking lint out of my navel and toes, so sorry I missed this.
Jim Moore
March 18, 2013 at 3:21 pm
Propaganda is a good word for this series. And I think it’s unwise to slough it off and junk. Billions of people believe these myths, and as a propaganda tool, each believer has been reinforced in that belief.
Fence-sitters, on the other hand, make this a tough call. Propaganda has two purposes: 1) Conversion or persuasion; 2) Reinforcement.
As reinforcement, I think this is a powerful too…as is the enthronement of another pope. But as a tool for conversion or persuasion, I think it is, at best, a pointless exercise. For every fence-sitter who is convinced, another person of shaky faith will be driven from the fold.
A scholarly effort…with exploration into some of the history behind Biblical passages…would not have shaken any loyal believer’s faith, and yet it would have been a more powerful tool for persuasion.
So what we appear to have is an illustration of Burnett’s penchant for highly simplified, contrived situation “drama.” What we are seeing most is his utter lack of creativity and his formula for mass entertainment.
But, and this is very important, the program was the most watched television show on the air last night. That, in itself, is an enormous accomplishment. His message was delivered to more households than any other on the air. Moreover, his advertisers’ messages were also delivered to all those homes. Christian Mingle and other Christian business messages received a huge audience…and a receptive audience. To make matters worse, “secular” media fawned all over the program…treating it as an audience phenomenon and providing Burnett and his wife the opportunity to further cement the delivery of “God’s word.”
Critique it. Denigrate it if you must. But don’t discount it. We are about 1600 years +/- downstream of the first Counsel of Nicaea. It would be very shortsighted for critics to dismiss this as a fool’s effort. It IS a phenomenon, and it is a unifying message to all Christians – a group that has been severely divided since the rise of the Protestants. “The Bible” is another reactionary blow against secularism and humanism. It IS reinforcing of the faith in believers, and critical thinkers must recognize it for the powerful rhetorical tool that it is.
P.S. We all owe it to ourselves to watch it – like it or not – because it IS such a powerful influence on our society. Ignoring this is similar to ignoring the propaganda of any zealot, because that is precisely what this is.
RickRay
March 18, 2013 at 3:25 pm
Another 100,000 ex-Christians have come out because of this series called “The BUYBULL.”
Norman Rampart
March 18, 2013 at 5:23 pm
I’d like to think the resemblence to Obama is coincidental but that’s stretching it a wee bit.
Seeing as the Devil is usually portrayed as a rather large cloven hoofed red chap with large horns – or in B-movies mainly horny, or possibly Robert De Niro, since when has he been a black chap?
I know it’s meant to be hotter than hell in…er..hell but I can’t see the Devil letting himself get burned black in his own turf.
Not a show I’d want to see personally.
Jim’s comment is worryingly true mind. Billions of people do believe this garbage. Poor humanity eh?
Besides, Jesus is usually protrayed as being as white as they come. Not impossible I suppose but given his birth place I’d have thought at the very least ‘olive’ skinned would be more likely – unless he was an alien implanted into Mary of course which is….well???? You never know!!!
…I feel a B-movie coming on here…