PULP CATHOLICISM #027

STILL VOICES #023

PULP CATHOLICISM #026

SHORT FEATURE: THE WIZARD OF SPEED AND TIME

So, the number one movie at the box office this past weekend was The Conjuring, a fairly well-received haunted house movie with Catholic undertones. Oh yeah! Of course, I ended up seeing Turbo for Aleteia instead, a movie about a snail that goes really fast. Sigh. One of the hazards of having a ten year old, I suppose.

To be fair, I actually did appreciate the urban setting of Turbo and the attention paid to the details in the animation, but the story… meh. And even though I liked the visuals, sometimes old school non-CGI effects are just more enjoyable. For instance, if you really feel the need to watch something with speed, it’s hard to go wrong with this classic short.

The creator of the short, Mike Jittlov, eventually got around to turning The Wizard of Speed and Time into a pretty fun full length picture, but oddly enough given the subject matter, it took him nine years to do so. Who knows, while funding probably had a lot to do with the delay, maybe Jittlov just liked to take his time.

As someone who has been burning the candle at both ends recently due to work and family concerns, the idea of slowing down isn’t all that appealing right at the moment. But maybe it’s necessary. Contemplating the Year of Faith, Bishop Edward J. Weisenburger notes that ‘busyness’ is one of the chief obstacles in our spiritual life. “The truth is that God’s voice is vibrant and alive within us” his excellency writes, “but we silence it when we allow ourselves to be overwhelmed with the busyness of life. Abraham needed the silence of the desert to hear the voice of God. Scripture and sacred tradition reveal this consistently in the lives of the patriarchs, prophets, saints and indeed Jesus himself. There is no spiritual alternative to silence and simplicity of life if we are to nurture a relationship with the Father. We can heal the wound of busyness only when we rediscover the joy of simplicity — of doing less and discovering more, of quieting our lives to hear God’s voice. The wound is busyness. The healing balm is a simplicity of life and quiet stillness that allows the voice of God to begin a conversation with us.”

So it sounds like it might be a good idea to slow things down a bit, maybe even break out this old chestnut just to set the mood…

Not at mass, though. Anybody starts playing anything remotely similar to that at mass and I’m outta there as fast as my feet can carry me.

PULP CATHOLICISM #025

NOW SHOWING AT A BLOG NEAR YOU

I’ve had a few posting issues over at Aleteia, but I finally managed to get a couple of new reviews up. First there’s Despicable Me 2, an insidious piece of pro-traditional marriage propaganda if ever I’ve seen one. So, of course, I liked it. And then there’s Pacific Rim, probably the closest thing we’re ever going to get to seeing Spectreman or Space Giants on the big screen. So, of course, I loved it.

While you’re at Aleteia you might want to check out Jeremy Haynes’ continuing series on life as a faithful Catholic in the movie business. This time around, he discusses how to make TV shows in Hollywood without compromising your morality.

If you’d like a break from all the big summer releases I’ve been reviewing, then stop by The American Catholic where Donald R. McClarey has a review of the independent feature, Saving Lincoln. It probably won’t give Spielberg a run for his money, but the low budget production does feature the unique gimmick of using CGI to place the actors within actual Civil War photos.

If you prefer more traditional animation techniques, then be sure to read Lauren Meyers article at Ignitum Today in which she wonders if the classic Disney fairy tale movies are good for our children to watch, or not?

Speaking of cartoons, for those of you who may have gotten a smile or two from the Pulp Catholicism series we’ve been running here on Wednesdays, you might also enjoy some of the other (better) Catholic cartoonists out there right now. Brother Amadeus, a contemplative with the Maronite Monks of Adoration Petersham, MA, has produced a graphic novel that’s receiving some good reviews (my copy’s on the way). The Truth Is Out There tells the story of Brendan and Erc, two intergalactic mailmen who get involved in something bigger than they ever expected. However, if newspaper style strips are more up your alley, then why not check out Jason Bach’s website where he’s been having some fun with the Church’s rather unique situation of having two popes in residence at the Vatican at the same time.

And just because I brought up the Vatican, in case you missed it, The Vatican daily newspaper L'Osservatore Romano (which is NOT The Vatican itself), recently wondered if The Hulk and Batman are Catholic? (The original article is here for those of you who read Italian.)

Well, that should be enough to keep you busy reading for a bit. See you back here when you’re done.

PULP CATHOLICISM #024

SHORT FEATURE: I WANNA BE A COWBOY

So I went and saw The Lone Ranger for Aleteia and, for better or worse, came out of the theater with this song in my head.

Sorry about that. It won’t happen again.

Anyway, as I noted in my review, The Lone Ranger has got some problems, but in the end, my family found it entertaining. And I assure you, despite what some critics have suggested, when my ten old walked out of the theater, he didn’t hate America, white people, or capitalism. He just thought the guy with the bird on his head was nuts and that the horse was hilarious. The whole thing reminds me of last year’s John Carter. Critics savaged that film and it didn’t do very well at the box office, but once I got around to seeing it, it wasn’t really THAT bad. Same story here.

Maybe I just feel a little empathy with The Lone Ranger and all the undeserved bad press he’s getting because, when you think about the old west, we Catholics weren’t fairing too well in the public opinion back in those days either. In one of his many editorials for the United States Catholic Miscellany, the first Catholic newspaper published in the U.S., Bishop John England wrote:

I found what I was altogether unprepared for; that in many of our states, a Roman Catholic, though legally and politically upon a level with his fellow citizens, was however to be looked upon, by reason of his religion, as in some degree morally degraded. I found that it was by no means considered a want of liberality, on the part of Protestants, to vilify the Catholic religion, and to use the harshest and most offensive terms when designating its practices; but that if a Catholic used any phrase however modified, which even insinuated any thing derogatory to the Protestant religion, he was marked as a shocking bigot.

Bishop England wrote that in 1826. But if you trade out the word Protestants for something like Secularists or Atheists or Abortionists or a few other –ists, it sure seems like not that much has changed, huh? Oh well, Jesus saw it all coming from a long way off. “Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” he once said, “Rejoice and be glad.” Well, you heard the Lord everybody, don’t worry about all those verbal slings and arrows. Cowboy up and put a smile on your face.

FREEJACK

THE PLOT

“Geoff Murphy directed this time-travel chase movie. Emilio Estevez stars as Alex Furlong, a racecar driver from 1991, who is just about to experience a deadly crash in his Formula Atlantic. But at the last moment Alex finds himself transported to the streets of New York in 2009. He is saved from certain death and zapped into the future by 21st-century bounty hunter Vacendak (Mick Jagger), who wants to take over Alex's body. Alex escapes Vacendak's clutches and decides to look up an old girlfriend. When he locates Julie (Rene Russo), he enlists her support to help him from being captured by Vacendak. Much to Alex's surprise, he discovers that Julie now works as a top executive for a giant corporation presided over by McCandless (Anthony Hopkins). Julie, separated from Alex for almost twenty years, must decide whether to renew their relationship. But there is not much time for thought by either party, since Vacendak is still coming after Alex.” – Rovi’s AllMovie Guide

THE POINT

“The year 2009 will be recreated on Hollywood Boulevard in an extravaganza featuring eight futuristic vehicles… These will include a 75-foot people mover, a supersonic limousine along with 21st century taxis and motorcycles, which will parade down Hollywood Boulevard.” So exclaimed the press release for the 1992 world premier of Freejack. “Emerging from these will be some of the real-life characters from the film as well as a cast of 45 extras posing as the film's ‘bone-jackers’ (futuristic bounty hunters) and Peace Police. This will be followed by the star-studded arrivals of the film's stars as well as other top stars from all phases of film, television and the music industry… Stars expected include Sting, Madonna, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore, Paula Abdul, Andrew Dice Clay, Brian Wilson, Harry Shearer and Spinal Tap, Stevie Nicks, Poison, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Julian Lennon, David Byrne, Pat Benatar and many more.” So what did Freejack have that managed to attract such a luminous list of rock royalty (for 1992 anyway)? Why Mick Jagger and David Johansen in starring roles of course.

I guess it’s nice all those fine folks got to watch their forefathers on the big screen, but really, couldn’t somebody have warned the rest of us that the future was going to be populated almost entirely by haggard aging rock stars? At least then we would have had time to hide all the liquor. Of course, given the future depicted in Freejack it kind of makes sense that rock stars would survive. After all, besides the rats and cockroaches, who else besides rock stars would have an immune system already accustomed to the ravages of pollution and drug abuse which has left most of the rest of the population in Freejack in a constant state of deteriorating health. Oh wait, Rene Russo and Jerry Hall were once fashion models, weren’t they? Chances are they probably didn’t even notice when things changed.

Of course, since we’re only talking about the far flung future of 2009, I don’t suppose there was that many changes to begin with. I mean, sure they have the technology to kidnap somebody utilizing time travel, but they still have to use fax machines. And yes, everybody drives around in cute Skittle-colored tanks, but they haven’t quite got around to inventing palm sized cell phones or the Internet yet. And despite the fact that they can transfer a person’s soul into a computer (wait for it), people are still having to eat river rats to survive. What, you mean you’ve never had homemade rat jerky before?

Fine, if you’d prefer to avoid that dubious pleasure, then I suppose it’s a good thing not everybody in the future is required to be rundown, diseased, and living off vermin. All you have to do to avoid munching on mice is to be rich. Yes, as is often the case even today, the wealthy in the future get to eat well and maintain a healthy appearance. They get to wear clean clothes and live in spacious apartments within pristine towers. And when they start to near death, they can pay to have their “souls” stored in digital format until it’s able to be transferred into the body of someone who was kidnapped from the past at the moment of their own death. Oh wait, you mean the rich can’t do that yet? Well, don’t worry, they’re working on it.

An article in The Daily Mail notes that Ray Kurzweil, author, inventor, and director of engineering at Google, recently made the claim that in less than 40 years, humans actually will have the means to upload their entire minds to computers and effectively become digitally immortal. “We're going to become increasingly non-biological to the point where the non-biological part dominates and the biological part is not important any more.” Kurzwell predicts. Still, he believes humans won’t be willing to give up on corporal existence so quickly. “We do need a body.” he postulates, “Our intelligence is directed towards a body, but it doesn't have to be this frail, biological body that is subject to all kinds of failure modes… So we'll be routinely able to change our bodies very quickly as well as our environments. If we had radical life extension only, we would get profoundly bored and we would run out of thing to do and new ideas.” In other words, Kurzwell thinks that within a couple of generations, at least part of the future predicted in Freejack will come to pass. The primary difference is that in Kurzwell’s digital utopia, rather than using a spiritual switchboard to hop inside Emilio Estevez, we’ll be jumping in and out of various robotic containers instead. 

But just what is it exactly that we would be transferring back and forth? In Freejack they use the term ‘souls’, but Kurzwell refers instead to the ‘mind’. Are these terms interchangeable? The shotgun wielding, crotch kicking, potty mouthed nun Alex Furlong meets in the future sure thinks it’s the latter, claiming that what Vacendak and his bosses are up to is anything but spiritual. And as far as the Church is concerned, she would be right, because the mind and the soul are not the same thing in Christian philosophy. While it would probably take no more than five seconds on the Internet to find a different definition, the ‘mind’ is usually regarded by scientists these days as that informational part of the human thought process which can be separated from the bio-physical components of the brain. If that’s too technical (it was for me), Psychologist Gregg Henriques suggests thinking of a novel as an analogy, with the physical book representing the organic brain and the story it communicates as the non-physical mind.

In contrast, the old 1917 Catholic Encyclopedia explains, “The soul may be defined as the ultimate internal principle by which we think, feel, and will, and by which our bodies are animated. The term ‘mind’ usually denotes this principle as the subject of our conscious states, while ‘soul’ denotes the source of our vegetative activities as well… [so] if we define the soul as the principle within me, by which I feel, think, will, and by which my body is animated, we may provide a definition of mind of fairly wide acceptance by merely omitting the last clause.” In short, the mind is only a faculty of the soul, not the whole shebang. That’s why the Church has such an interest in things like the Terry Schiavo case from a few years back, because even if the mind is not functioning (as far as we can measure), the soul, the animating principle, is still present for as long as life remains in the body. The other catch is that the Church believes, as the glossary at the back of the U.S. Version of the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains, that the “soul and body together form one unique human nature. Each human soul is individual and immortal, immediately created by God. The soul does not die with the body, from which it is separated by death, and with which it will be reunited in the final resurrection.” Basically, the body and soul are a package deal, one unique set for each person, no trade-ins allowed.

Now if I’m interpreting all of this correctly (you should always check my math before relying on my conclusions), this has some interesting ramifications for the events depicted in Freejack. Based on how the characters describe the spiritual switchboard process, the implication is that McCandless’ mind will be moved into Alex’s body, thereby turning Alex into McCandless. But according to Catholic teaching, that’s not really what would occur because Alex’s soul, that which animates his body, would still be present. So, if Alex’s soul and Alex’s body are both still there after the mind transfer, then it’s still Alex, just with a bunch of false mental data gumming up the works. A technicality, perhaps, since the Alex his friends and loved ones knew probably wouldn’t act or think the same after the process, but an important technicality still. And even if the process did somehow involve the transference of souls, the result still wouldn’t be a new McCandless because Alex’s body would still have been uniquely created for Alex. At best (or worst, as the case may be), the result would be akin to a demonic possession, with McCandless’ soul cohabiting Alex’s body and exerting its will over that of its host.

But so what, right? After all, aren’t we just talking about a silly science fiction movie? Maybe, but folks like Kurzwell think there might be some fact mixed in there as well, and this presents some important ethical considerations for our real world future. If Kurzwell turns out to be correct and scientists somehow develop a process that allows them to make a digital copy of a person’s mind and download it into a synthetic container, just what the heck is it that they are creating? It won’t be a person, because it won’t have a soul, just a mind. Or to put it another way, it may walk and talk and act like your Aunt Gertie, but it won’t be your Aunt Gertie. Her soul would have moved on with the death of the organic body that was hers and hers alone.

Call me old fashioned, but I think that’s something which should be taken into consideration when you’re going around promising people the “immortality” of mind transference, because it won’t really be them continuing on at all, just some soulless simulation. Of course, none of this will matter to those who don’t believe in the existence of a soul to begin with, but it’s the truth, and we have an obligation to state the truth even when nobody will listen. "You don't need a new body, you need a new soul” claims Alex Furlong as they strap him to the spiritual switchboard, “and your machine can't give you that!” I wonder if he knew just how right he was.

THE STINGER

After Freejack crashed at the box office, you’d think Hollywood would have learned its lessons about mixing mind trips, music stars, and models. But no, just a few later the world was treated to Johnny Mnemonic featuring Ice-T, Henry Rollins, and Dina Meyer. It bombed too. Do we really want the minds of these kinds of decision makers sticking around for eternity?

COMING ATTRACTIONS: FREEJACK

Thanks to all the time I’ve been spending over at Aleteia watching stuff like The Heat we haven’t had a full-on movie review here for awhile. Well, something needs to be done about that. So sometime over the next couple of days, be sure to keep an eye out for our take on the Emilio Estevez/Mick Jagger sci-fi extravaganza… Freejack!

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PULP CATHOLICISM #023