in the open space: God & culture

In “Nebraska,” Rick has followed Hershel to a bar in town, where Hershel confesses his world has been turned upside down.   Hershel: I didn’t want to believe you. You told me there was no cure, that these people were dead, not sick. I chose not to believe that. But when Shane shot Lou in the chest and she just kept coming, that’s when I knew what an ass I’d been, that Annette had been dead long ago and I was feeding a rotten corpse! That’s when I knew there was no hope. And when that little girl came out of the barn, the look on your face—I knew you knew it too. Right? There is no hope. And you know it now, like I do, don’t you.   He pauses.   Hershel: There is no hope for any of us.   Rick: Look, I’m done. I’m not doing this anymore, cleaning up after you. You know what the truth is? Nothing has changed . Death is death, it’s always been there, whether it’s from a heart attack, cancer, or a walker—what’s the difference?! You didn’t think it was hopeless before, ...

AMC “The genre is not about making you feel good, it is about making you face your fears…. To me, the horror genre is the genre of non-denial. It's about admitting that there is evil in the world, and recognizing that there is evil within   us , and that we're not in control, and that the things that we are afraid of must be confronted in order for us to relinquish that fear. And I think that the horror genre serves a great purpose in bolstering our understanding of what is evil and therefore better defining what is good. And of course I'm talking about, really, the   potential   of the horror genre, because there are a lot of horror films that don't do these things. It is a genre that's full of exploitation, but the better films in the genre certainly accomplish, I think, very noble things.”   ~ Director Scott Derrickson (Hellraiser: Inferno, The Exorcism of Emily Rose) discussing the value of horror with film critic and interviewer Peter Chattaway in a 2005 ...

AMC Last night, AMC’s zombie-graphic-novel-adapted-to-the-small-screen version of The Walking Dead premiered. The series was preceded by a ton of press regarding its graphic nature but also its attention to and exploration of deeper themes and thought-provoking human drama—and, at least in its first installment, it lived up to the hype. The series is definitely not for everyone (and most definitely not for children) and I’m not sure I’ll be able to make it through the entire series myself (it really is very graphic in its gore and violence), but I’d be willing to bet this series will be scoring a few Emmys next year. AMC The series follows police officer Rick Grimes, who’s wounded in shoot out with some bad guys and wakes from the resulting coma to find the world as he knew it is gone. Dead bodies litter the streets and those bodies with their brains still intact stagger through those streets looking for fresh flesh. Grimes manages to get home only to find that his wife and so...