If most people don’t get the biblical references, why do the creators of popular tv, movies, music and lit still use them so much? Pondering this question over iced tea with a novelist, Ph.D.-candidate friend, we decided: it’s tough to say. Here are a couple of ideas that we bounced around:
1) Audiences do recognize the biblical language, themes or characters and that’s enough because the Bible continues to resonate or at least suggest something greater than what immediatley meets the eye.
2) The creators know that only a few people are going to know the reference but think, “Who cares? We know it’s in there. It’s cool and adds levels of meaning that are super-rich. The minority who pick up on it are going to love it.”
3) It keeps people like me in business. Ok, no. That’s definitely not their reason… and it’s hardly a business for me. But I do love catching those biblical references, contemplating how the creators integrated and interpreted them, and what that means for the greater story or art.
What do you think is the explanation?
