"The Copper Dredil" and Commentary

Father John Trigilio recently sent us a post from his blog, The Black Biretta, "What Hollywood Will NEVER Produce." The post is a parody outlining a movie called The Copper Dredil, which insults Islam and Judaism in much the fashion The Golden Compass insults Christianity. I found Fr. Trigilio's story interesting at first, but it broke down toward the end when it became too transparently allegorical. I suppose that's appropriate, considering what it's parodying.

When Deej showed me this, I snatched it from him and said I'd like to make a comment. Normally, I only bother to show up for the blog when I've read a manga or watched an anime I feel like talking about, but this rather piqued my interest. Fr. Trigilio's complaint is that Hollywood (which probably doesn't deserve to be identified as a single-minded conglomerate) is willing to insult Christianity in a way it isn't willing to insult other religions.

This is to be expected. When I read manga, I sometimes see a similar irreverent treatment of Buddhism. When people want to attack a religion, and especially if they want to attack a religion for its moral strictures, they are naturally going to aim first for the religion that has most influenced and informed their own culture. So when Westerners choose Christianity as their religion-to-attack of choice, I have a hard time getting excited or surprised.

Incidentally, I will say one thing: Christian authors tempted to write sermons or blatant allegories into their fiction should probably read His Dark Materials. Pullman makes the same error that many Christian writers make, trying to preach a message rather than tell a story. What his novels look like to you is what your novels look like to a non-Christian.