Sanctuary - Jacqueline Lichtenburg: Religion In Science Fiction Romance
[NOTE: The older Trek fans may recognize Jacqueline Lichtenburg's name from Trek fandom (Star Trek: Welcommitte, fanzine stories, and Star Trek pro novels]
At Jacqueline Lichtenburg's blog:
(Please follow the link for the complete article.)
Religion In Science Fiction Romance
...SANCTUARY The TV Show on the syfy channel does not take place in a zero-sum-game universe because Magnus (Amanda Tapping from Stargate: SG-1 ) flat refuses to allow that premise (I win means you lose) to invade the Sanctuary.
The premise of Sanctuary blends Science with Magic into a seamless whole, where magic is just another natural occurrence of our everyday world, treated something like ESP. The world of Sanctuary includes shapeshifters who can change mass during a shift, telepathy, empathy, levitation, and much more.
But all the magical looking effects are based in genetics. Magnus is a geneticist with a tiny bit of Vampire blood (and a titch of immortality).
...The interesting part of this show is the half-vampire in love with a Vampire who (we learn only this season) is possessed by an energy-being that is "Jack The Ripper."
That's right, they borrowed Jack The Ripper from Star Trek where Jack was a disembodied spirit that could possess the main computer A.I. of the Enterprise. And this season, that entity possessed the computer system retrofitted in the Sanctuary building itself. If you know, love and appreciate cliche, and know how to use it in writing, you can tap into the root power of all symbolism with it.
...So, now you see the Vampire Romance hidden in Sanctuary, where's the "religion" in the show?
It's in the worldbuilding, deeply buried inside the world that Magnus lives in and defends with her life.
None of the characters are especially "religious" and they don't talk about God or any transcendent Power that controls their lives. When they're in deep trouble, they don't even pray (so you would notice, anyway).
Nothing that happens is attributed to God. They haven't done a bunch of Star Trek like stories where they meet "God" and it turns out to be a powerful alien entity.
One can easily see why parents who want to impart their religion to their children would object to Star Trek which shrugs off God as an insane alien entity, a childish alien entity, a power-mad alien entity. Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, was a Humanist as were many who worked on the show, and the show embodied that philosophy about the nature of divinity.
So, again where's the religion in Sanctuary?
And again, in the premise, in the worldbuilding and in the theme, where it belongs in a good story. Out of sight.
Sanctuary depicts all the demonic forms and demonic forces you could ever ask for (they aren't kidding about the unique appearance of the visuals) but takes a Star Trek attitude toward them.
The "abnormals" that Magnus collects from the wild and brings to her Sanctuary often become friends and allies, but in any case she tries to provide them a secure home while preventing the mayhem they would visit upon our world (or our world would visit upon them).
These "abnormals" are genetic oddities, like her, not "supernatural" in origin.
But the things they can do are things we ordinarily attribute to the supernatural.
The Vampire John Druit can teleport and do most all the usual vampire things. And he admits, in front of others, (when the Ripper entity is not inside him) that he loves Magnus.
From their various encounters in different episodes, we can see that they are soul mates. They never use that term, of course. Too religious. Too "on the nose." But if you know anything about Romance, you know what you're looking at with the Vampire and part-Vampire in this desperate alliance (that has produced a child between them, too).
Yet Magnus has had to kill John to prevent him from killing her (and revive him in an act of desperation).
When the Ripper entity was not inside him, John chose to take that horror back inside himself and exile himself from the Sanctuary to protect Magnus (and the world).
This energy-being is not (apparently) genetic, and it's more "horrible" (and Magical) than anything else they've dealt with. It's not a misunderstood but well meaning freak of nature, as far as we can tell. And they couldn't destroy it.
It's the force of destruction and death - it is the essence of pure glee feeding on human pain, blood and most of all suffering. It torments and tortures.
It's a game-changer in understanding this TV Show's universe and a revelation about the nature of this world built out of a philosophy that says "It's all good."
Magnus's universe simply has nothing EVIL in it -- even the Ripper-entity, somehow, will have to turn out not to be Evil. This is a universe where there is no such thing as supernatural evil.
Sanctuary depicts a universe in which the seething genetic soup of Earth's biosphere (the science element) has produced a completely integrated, harmonious whole composed of thesis, antithesis and synthesis. That is GOOD and EVIL and the synthesis or half-way blend of the two in dynamic equilibrium have combined into ONE.
That's the Religion element embedded in the worldbuilding.
Early in the 20th century we held that Good could and should win.
Today it seems the argument is that Good can and should hold back Evil, but never, ever actually win so that Evil disappears forever.
But Sanctuary shows us a world where it's all GOOD. Not one conquering the other or one vanquishing the other or the two in tension. No. It is ALL good.
I can think of one religion that looks at it that way. Can you?
As I said above, it's possible that Friday Jan 29, 2010, #scifichat will be about Religion in SF/F.
You can attend the #scifichat (and contribute or just follow the moderator's questions and writer's answers) by going to http://twitter.com and filling out the signup (it's free). You don't have to "follow" anyone or even complete your "profile" telling the world who you are. You can just look on the right side of your home page, type #scifichat in the box labeled SEARCH, click the magnifying glass SYMBOL, and at the top of the page it shows you, click to save the search for the future.
Refresh your screen to watch comments scroll by. If you see someone interesting, click on their name to see the screen with their profile displaying usually their personal website and a list of recent tweets. You can "follow" that person by clicking "follow" in the upper left part of the screen.
Twitter is simple, but many use "clients" (free or paid downloads) that display the data differently, sometimes more handily. I use hootsuite.com sometimes.
The #scifichat happens at 2-4 Eastern time on Fridays.
At Jacqueline Lichtenburg's blog:
(Please follow the link for the complete article.)
Religion In Science Fiction Romance
...SANCTUARY The TV Show on the syfy channel does not take place in a zero-sum-game universe because Magnus (Amanda Tapping from Stargate: SG-1 ) flat refuses to allow that premise (I win means you lose) to invade the Sanctuary.
The premise of Sanctuary blends Science with Magic into a seamless whole, where magic is just another natural occurrence of our everyday world, treated something like ESP. The world of Sanctuary includes shapeshifters who can change mass during a shift, telepathy, empathy, levitation, and much more.
But all the magical looking effects are based in genetics. Magnus is a geneticist with a tiny bit of Vampire blood (and a titch of immortality).
...The interesting part of this show is the half-vampire in love with a Vampire who (we learn only this season) is possessed by an energy-being that is "Jack The Ripper."
That's right, they borrowed Jack The Ripper from Star Trek where Jack was a disembodied spirit that could possess the main computer A.I. of the Enterprise. And this season, that entity possessed the computer system retrofitted in the Sanctuary building itself. If you know, love and appreciate cliche, and know how to use it in writing, you can tap into the root power of all symbolism with it.
...So, now you see the Vampire Romance hidden in Sanctuary, where's the "religion" in the show?
It's in the worldbuilding, deeply buried inside the world that Magnus lives in and defends with her life.
None of the characters are especially "religious" and they don't talk about God or any transcendent Power that controls their lives. When they're in deep trouble, they don't even pray (so you would notice, anyway).
Nothing that happens is attributed to God. They haven't done a bunch of Star Trek like stories where they meet "God" and it turns out to be a powerful alien entity.
One can easily see why parents who want to impart their religion to their children would object to Star Trek which shrugs off God as an insane alien entity, a childish alien entity, a power-mad alien entity. Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek, was a Humanist as were many who worked on the show, and the show embodied that philosophy about the nature of divinity.
So, again where's the religion in Sanctuary?
And again, in the premise, in the worldbuilding and in the theme, where it belongs in a good story. Out of sight.
Sanctuary depicts all the demonic forms and demonic forces you could ever ask for (they aren't kidding about the unique appearance of the visuals) but takes a Star Trek attitude toward them.
The "abnormals" that Magnus collects from the wild and brings to her Sanctuary often become friends and allies, but in any case she tries to provide them a secure home while preventing the mayhem they would visit upon our world (or our world would visit upon them).
These "abnormals" are genetic oddities, like her, not "supernatural" in origin.
But the things they can do are things we ordinarily attribute to the supernatural.
The Vampire John Druit can teleport and do most all the usual vampire things. And he admits, in front of others, (when the Ripper entity is not inside him) that he loves Magnus.
From their various encounters in different episodes, we can see that they are soul mates. They never use that term, of course. Too religious. Too "on the nose." But if you know anything about Romance, you know what you're looking at with the Vampire and part-Vampire in this desperate alliance (that has produced a child between them, too).
Yet Magnus has had to kill John to prevent him from killing her (and revive him in an act of desperation).
When the Ripper entity was not inside him, John chose to take that horror back inside himself and exile himself from the Sanctuary to protect Magnus (and the world).
This energy-being is not (apparently) genetic, and it's more "horrible" (and Magical) than anything else they've dealt with. It's not a misunderstood but well meaning freak of nature, as far as we can tell. And they couldn't destroy it.
It's the force of destruction and death - it is the essence of pure glee feeding on human pain, blood and most of all suffering. It torments and tortures.
It's a game-changer in understanding this TV Show's universe and a revelation about the nature of this world built out of a philosophy that says "It's all good."
Magnus's universe simply has nothing EVIL in it -- even the Ripper-entity, somehow, will have to turn out not to be Evil. This is a universe where there is no such thing as supernatural evil.
Sanctuary depicts a universe in which the seething genetic soup of Earth's biosphere (the science element) has produced a completely integrated, harmonious whole composed of thesis, antithesis and synthesis. That is GOOD and EVIL and the synthesis or half-way blend of the two in dynamic equilibrium have combined into ONE.
That's the Religion element embedded in the worldbuilding.
Early in the 20th century we held that Good could and should win.
Today it seems the argument is that Good can and should hold back Evil, but never, ever actually win so that Evil disappears forever.
But Sanctuary shows us a world where it's all GOOD. Not one conquering the other or one vanquishing the other or the two in tension. No. It is ALL good.
I can think of one religion that looks at it that way. Can you?
As I said above, it's possible that Friday Jan 29, 2010, #scifichat will be about Religion in SF/F.
You can attend the #scifichat (and contribute or just follow the moderator's questions and writer's answers) by going to http://twitter.com and filling out the signup (it's free). You don't have to "follow" anyone or even complete your "profile" telling the world who you are. You can just look on the right side of your home page, type #scifichat in the box labeled SEARCH, click the magnifying glass SYMBOL, and at the top of the page it shows you, click to save the search for the future.
Refresh your screen to watch comments scroll by. If you see someone interesting, click on their name to see the screen with their profile displaying usually their personal website and a list of recent tweets. You can "follow" that person by clicking "follow" in the upper left part of the screen.
Twitter is simple, but many use "clients" (free or paid downloads) that display the data differently, sometimes more handily. I use hootsuite.com sometimes.
The #scifichat happens at 2-4 Eastern time on Fridays.
Comment