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The movie Pleasantville is a clear parable to the Bible's description of the Garden of Eden. Pleasantville portrays complete innocence amongst its population. Complete innocence that is, until David Wagner betrays the TV repairman (God) and begins to change the world of Pleasantville along with his sister Jennifer. Like the film, the Bible portrays humans as sinners by consequence. The movie also brings out the question of whether or not there is one true "garden of Eden" for everyone, or if we must learn to create our own paradise in order to truly be happy. Does God have our destiny created for us or must we create our own?
When it comes to reconciliation and forgiveness, the movie does not seem to be a parable to the passages of the Bible. The Hebrew god brings chaos when he is betrayed by the sinners of the earth, like the flood. The movie has a much unrealistic view of how forgiving God is. The story of Cain and Abel can be paralleled to the movie Fargo. Jerry Lundenguard sacrifices his family for his own gain in much of the movie. The kidnapping of his wife depicts his total lack of clarity towards the safety of his wife.
Even his own son seems unimportant to him, he is asked how his son is holding up and he has a moment of realization that he has not even thought about his son's well being. Even the betrayal of the two killers at the end of the movie can be paralleled towards Jerry betraying his wife. Backstabbing is an essential part of this movie when compared to the Bible whether the betrayal involves evil vs. evil, or evil vs.
good. When Cain slain Abel, god banished him forever, like Grimsrud will most likely spend the rest of his life in prison. This film doesn't really have forgiveness in it, only closure. Although, even in the end, Jerry Lundenguard is not sorry of the actions he has caused because he changes his name and tries to escape the police once more. This is important because it shows that although he did not commit any murders, he is just as heartless and cold as the killers themselves. Throughout these movies we see characters constantly betraying one another, looking for "cheap grace. " In Magnolia particularly, almost every relationship we see involves some sort of untrustworthy action towards another.
There is one man however, that seems to be following the doctrine of "true discipleship. " This is man is Officer Jim Kurring. His job is the first sign of how self sacrificing he is. As a police officer, he places himself in the hands of danger each and every day in order to make the world a better place. Although his faith is very subtly shown, one can see that his belief in a higher deity is a part of every aspect of his life. He lives his life compassionately, as shown in his relationship with Claudia, who ironically is using cocaine as her "security. " Jim's motives seem to stem from simple passion to make the world a better place. He fits Bonhoeffer's description of true discipleship because if this.
Although, structurally he is not a very good cop, he is an excellent example of how powerful compassion and faith can be in this crazy world. The first parts of the bible view humans as complete sinners. Humans are in constant betrayal of God. Parallel to the view of humans in these movies is much like the Bible. Officer Kurring can in some ways be described as Noah; a man who in the middle of constant sin never loses his faith. The face of evil is in the form of Grimsrud.
As the wood chipper shows, he has complete disregard for human life. So two complete opposite of characters can both be found in the Bible. One can be found in the form of a snake, and the other in the form of God's wingman, the only one with "costly grace. "
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Research essay sample on World A Better Place Garden Of Eden
