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Post by sis on Mar 18, 2016 4:02:15 GMT
I've just realized that there have been a few instances within the last few episodes in which "pastors", Catholic beliefs, and other religious thinking has been used in the story in a negative way. Is this something that is throughout the whole series and I'm just now noticing?
Julia, in particular, has shown contempt for religious beliefs and yet Murdoch, a seemingly devout Catholic, states a very contemporary concept in order to allow his conscience to justify his courtship of a married woman.
This seems like a blatant inconsistency with the turn of the century thinking. |
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Post by lovemondays on Mar 18, 2016 4:54:19 GMT
Welcome Sis!
Religious beliefs both positive and negative appear regularly in the series. There was significant Catholic prejudice in the very Protestant Toronto of the time. Chief Constable Stockton was the first to make that point in "The Glass Ceiling" and Brackenreid is often the voice of 'Protestant superiority' or the one poking at Catholic beliefs or practices. (Fortunately, he does not agree that William's religious beliefs should limit is ability to rise within the ranks of the constabulary.) Then you have Julia's frustration with William's more rigidly held beliefs a la "Till Death Do Us Part" and "Shades of Grey". Throughout the series we have seen William struggle to reconcile his beliefs and Church doctrine with what he has to deal with in the real world.
William has always struck me as a modern thinking man who sometimes bumps into the rather rigid teachings of his faith, which he never questioned as he was growing up. Julia in particular pushes, pokes and questions his blind faith but still respects the fact that William's faith is an integral part of the man she loves.
Catholics and Protestants have a long history of negative or suspicious feelings about one another. I think the writers do a good job of framing those differences, as they affected the social/political climate, without really "going there" and landing in an all out religious debate. Turn of the century thinking is very prevalent but not everyone has to think that way. It seems to me that both William and Julia began the series as polar opposites on the religious scale but have each moved somewhat closer to a middle ground as their relationship has developed.
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Post by Hodge on Mar 18, 2016 5:42:35 GMT
I've just realized that there have been a few instances within the last few episodes in which "pastors", Catholic beliefs, and other religious thinking has been used in the story in a negative way. Is this something that is throughout the whole series and I'm just now noticing?
Julia, in particular, has shown contempt for religious beliefs and yet Murdoch, a seemingly devout Catholic, states a very contemporary concept in order to allow his conscience to justify his courtship of a married woman.
This seems like a blatant inconsistency with the turn of the century thinking. Welcome sis! William has made great strides in coalescing his former black and white religious beliefs and the more secular grey areas he comes across in his life and work. He has also shown on many occasions that if it comes to his religion or Julia then Julia will win out every time. He has experienced many things that have tested his faith and he's found the dogma lacking, especially when it comes to compassion. Julia, on the other hand, has softened her disdain of religious dogma over the years especially when it comes to William's beliefs as those beliefs go towards making him who he is. There has always been an underlying nod to the conflict between protestants and catholics and how it affects William in particular and the show has shown how he has risen above it. Not everyone in those times lived their religion despite what society expected. |
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