Doomsday

I know we’re all about Glorious Awakening this week, but there’s something on my mind from last week that I don’t think we discussed. Apologies if everyone is already bored to death by Angels. Towards the end of the film Twelve Monkeys, Dr. Railly says to the older psychiatrist, “Psychiatry: it’s the latest religion. We […]

Most cultures possess some form of death tradition. By death tradition, I include all deathbed rituals, after death ceremonies, beliefs, and traditional practices. A prominent example is the Last Rites of the Catholics, a deathbed ritual in which the dying is absolved if hers sins, clearing their path to Heaven. Another is the ancient Egyptian […]

Before reading Angels in America, the apocalypses we read about and discussed in class seemed to have at least one thing in common – the whole world was affected. From nuclear destruction to environmental degradation, there was always a sense that come what may, we’re all in this together. (Except, of course, Fundamentalist Christians. And […]

In the introduction to Apocalyptic Transformation, Elizabeth Rosen says, “it is the intent of this study to examine only texts which are working with the traditional apocalyptic form…and to think about what each artist gains from choosing to work with the classic rather than the new paradigm” (Rosen xxv-xxvi). The “new paradigm” she’s referring to […]

We are all products of our generation. Our ideas, beliefs and basic tenets are imprinted in us from infancy; as we watch our parents go about their lives, their behavior is absorbed into our impressionable minds. That we should apply the culture of our time with a prophetic event is no great leap of logic. […]