Look, we can talk about whether anything Flanagan does is "good" or not, but Aja wrote like a thousand words about how this show was too sympathetic to organized religion and largely failed in its critiques of Christianity.
For context, the plot of the TV show in question (this is a literal synopsis, I'm not joking, Flanagan isn't subtle, bless him): Christianity Twists Good People Into Homicidal Monsters, Everyone Dies.
(I know that traditionally, this is where you're supposed to go through an article and explain why it's wrong line by line, but there's almost no point? Aja needed a clickbait Take, so she went with "hmmm. lot of religious imagery in this tv show. don't like that*," when the show in question spent seven hours arguing that religious communities are all about three bad weeks away from going Full Jonestown.)
*yes I know I'm being uncharitable, this is my grudge and I'm allowed!
I get that not every writer gets to pick their own titles, and titles are going to be as clickbaity as possible, but yes, that was also very irritating.
(Sorry, I'm beating the dead horse: this is one of Flanagan's nastier and more depressing shows, so ehhhh, are there "heroes"? Arguably not, but one of the more moral and clear headed protagonists is an atheist. There *is* "representation", she just didn't notice it or like it. That's not the same as being "erased," oh my god, I cannot stand the current wave of criticism where, when something doesn't work *for you*, you reverse engineer an acceptable Social Justicy reason for why it's Bad.
What's the offending article? Please link!
https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/21509362/netflix-midnight-mass-mike-flanagan-horror-religion
Look, we can talk about whether anything Flanagan does is "good" or not, but Aja wrote like a thousand words about how this show was too sympathetic to organized religion and largely failed in its critiques of Christianity.
For context, the plot of the TV show in question (this is a literal synopsis, I'm not joking, Flanagan isn't subtle, bless him): Christianity Twists Good People Into Homicidal Monsters, Everyone Dies.
(I know that traditionally, this is where you're supposed to go through an article and explain why it's wrong line by line, but there's almost no point? Aja needed a clickbait Take, so she went with "hmmm. lot of religious imagery in this tv show. don't like that*," when the show in question spent seven hours arguing that religious communities are all about three bad weeks away from going Full Jonestown.)
*yes I know I'm being uncharitable, this is my grudge and I'm allowed!
тАЬFelt erasedтАЭ in the title
ItтАЩs not legit criticism when your take boils down to тАЬthis sow didnтАЩt represent me specifically!тАЭ
I get that not every writer gets to pick their own titles, and titles are going to be as clickbaity as possible, but yes, that was also very irritating.
(Sorry, I'm beating the dead horse: this is one of Flanagan's nastier and more depressing shows, so ehhhh, are there "heroes"? Arguably not, but one of the more moral and clear headed protagonists is an atheist. There *is* "representation", she just didn't notice it or like it. That's not the same as being "erased," oh my god, I cannot stand the current wave of criticism where, when something doesn't work *for you*, you reverse engineer an acceptable Social Justicy reason for why it's Bad.
Okay! Sorry! I'm done! :D )