Religulous

[McCulloch]

At the Toronto International Film Festival this year the movie Religulous premiered. Religulous is a documentary directed by Larry Charles and starring American political comedian Bill Maher, host of Real Time With Bill Maher on HBO. According to Maher, the title of the film is a portmanteau derived from the words "religion" and "ridiculous," implying the satirical nature of the documentary that is meant to mock the concept of organized religion and the problems it brings about.

Reaction from the religious right has been somewhat predictable.

Questions for debate:

1. Does this go too far? Is this kind of satire effective?
2. Are the calls for censorship and boycotts justified?
3. Is the timing of the release at all relevant?

[Vladd44]

Sounds interesting.

Grabbed a torrent, hopefully will get a chance to watch it tonight.

[realthinker]

At the Toronto International Film Festival this year the movie Religulous premiered. Religulous is a documentary directed by Larry Charles and starring American political comedian Bill Maher, host of Real Time With Bill Maher on HBO. According to Maher, the title of the film is a portmanteau derived from the words "religion" and "ridiculous," implying the satirical nature of the documentary that is meant to mock the concept of organized religion and the problems it brings about.

Reaction from the religious right has been somewhat predictable.

Questions for debate:

1. Does this go too far?

Of course, that's a matter of perspective. From my perspective, no.

Is this kind of satire effective? [*]

Effective at what? What do you propose to be the purpose he's trying to affect?

Are the calls for censorship and boycotts justified? [*]

Again, a matter of perspective. How would they be effective? Those who would honor a call for the boycott wouldn't be likely be in the audience anyway. It's like calling for a Democratic boycott of the Republican convention.

Those calling for the boycott are exercising the general religious social coercion. They're showing one another who's more holy by being more offended at this than the others in the next church bench. It's a badge, another piece of bling on the sash they'll wear through the pearly gates.

Is the timing of the release at all relevant? [/list]

From a marketing perspective, sure. This kind of movie wouldn't compete with the summer blockbusters.

[McCulloch]

Is this kind of satire effective?

Effective at what? What do you propose to be the purpose he's trying to affect?

Good question. I suppose that I should have ask that in the OP.
What do you suppose that they are trying to achieve with this movie?

Is the timing of the release at all relevant?

From a marketing perspective, sure. This kind of movie wouldn't compete with the summer blockbusters.

I was thinking more in terms of the scheduled event four days after Halloween and the current wing-nut candidate for VP.

[realthinker]

Is this kind of satire effective?

Effective at what? What do you propose to be the purpose he's trying to affect?

Good question. I suppose that I should have ask that in the OP.
What do you suppose that they are trying to achieve with this movie?

I'd say ticket sales is the primary achievement they're looking for. Beyond that, I think they're trying to break down the notion that religious ideas are unassailable. Break that taboo. You can bet they don't expect any real answers to the seemingly flippant and seemingly outrageous things they'll ask, based on what I saw of the trailer. They won't get a meaningful conversation once, I'd bet. They want to expose that when religious ideas are questioned in a context that does not acknowledge the cultural boundary that religion has enjoyed for centuries the religious ideas actually sound pretty silly. They want to show that religious leaders look silly, and that will perhaps influence others who spew the same. When acknowledging your basis of truth makes you look silly many won't expose themselves with it, and some of them may even start thinking of changing that basis of truth.

Is the timing of the release at all relevant?

From a marketing perspective, sure. This kind of movie wouldn't compete with the summer blockbusters.

I was thinking more in terms of the scheduled event four days after Halloween and the current wing-nut candidate for VP.

I was thinking more that it's going to be showing for a couple of months before Christmas, when people are gearing up for supposedly one of the biggest religious events of the year. Perhaps having these provocative ideas in the minds of the public as they move into the Christmas season will make it a different experience. If that were the case, though, I'd think they'd shoot for the time before Easter, since the resurrection involves a great deal more ridiculous notion than Christmas.