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Religious Themes

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« on: August 15, 2011, 02:08:18 pm »

It has been debated by many whether or not there were some strong religious themes running throughout this story, to the point where on the commentaries they make a point of denying there are any. Do you think it is coincidence or do you think they were trying to make the Doctor Christ-like. Some of the stuff I picked up on (though there was probably a lot more) includes:

 - The Master being in the form of a serpent
 - Half human on his 'mothers side'
 - When the Master traps the Doctor it looks like a crucifixion and the thing on his head looks like a crown of thorns
 - It's all set at the turning of the Millennium, thought by many Christians to be when the Second Coming would occur
 - After he regenerates and kicks through the morgue door wearing what looks like a shroud, it seemed like a metaphor for the rolling of the stone (though that one is a bit of a leap)

There are probably a load of others in there too. Perhaps it is a coincidence or perhaps they were trying to genuinly make the Doctor a metaphor for Christ. What do you think?
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« Reply #1 on: August 16, 2011, 10:26:07 am »

I can honestly say that I had never spotted any of those things. I like the theory though and the more I think on it the more it seems they were trying to make the Doctor comparible to Jesus. There can't be that may references without it being intentional, but I don't think that was a road they particularly should have been going down
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« Reply #2 on: August 17, 2011, 10:29:14 am »

This is something I have seen discussed before and as said in the OP it was obviously raised as such an issue that they felt the need to address it on the DVD commentary and say that there were no intentional religious themes. However, I don't honestly believe that that many blatent references could slip through the net unintentionally without anyone noticing how it comes off on screen. My thought on it is that it was done purposely with the intention for them to be a lot more subtle than they ended up being and as such they decided to play it coy as though they didn't realise they were in there in the first place. With that in mind though, I don't think that any harm was done and it doesn't seem like it was some sort of propaganda style message so either way I don't think offence was intended or really even caused for that matter
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« Reply #3 on: August 18, 2011, 10:19:59 pm »

The only place I found it really noticeable was when he was kneeling in the shroud with his arms outstretched, which I found pretty corny.  I can see that the rest may have drawn on biblical themes, but that doesn't mean they were trying to push religion.  Certain things from the bible are so embedded in our culture, they can be used as shorthand.
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« Reply #4 on: August 19, 2011, 11:26:25 am »

I think some parts were a very obvious reference, and I think others are just easy to interpret that way whether they were intentional or not. It may have been heavy on the visual references, but it didn't seem to be forcing any type of message on the viewer so it was probably just someone trying to stick in some iconic style imagery
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« Reply #5 on: August 20, 2011, 10:54:35 am »

I don't think they were trying to push religion or say anything specific about Christianity or anything else. I think what they were trying to do was make the Doctor seem like Jesus, which in itself is potentially very insulting to many people, not just those with a religious inclination, but those who are fans of the show and not looking for the second coming in it
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« Reply #6 on: August 20, 2011, 12:13:22 pm »

I don't think they were trying to push religion or say anything specific about Christianity or anything else. I think what they were trying to do was make the Doctor seem like Jesus, which in itself is potentially very insulting to many people, not just those with a religious inclination, but those who are fans of the show and not looking for the second coming in it

I agree with this. I don't mind the imagery, but to imply that the Doctor is Jesus-like just seems totally absurd to me
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« Reply #7 on: August 23, 2011, 12:09:13 pm »

I agree that there were religious themes in there, some of them rather heavy handed.  The fact that the worker in the morgue specifically says 'he was wearing a shroud' and not a sheet and the fact that he emerges with the light behind him (I think) etc, it was really over the top.  Not really sure what they were going for but it could have been done without.
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