In case you haven't seen it, there's a TV show called The Good Place. It's a comedy series with Ted Danson and Kristen Bell, amongst others. Why am I posting about a tv show in the philosophy group, you ask? Because this show touches on some philosophical issues and grapples with the meaning of life and our responsbility (or not...) to be good people. I found it to be very thoughtful and thought-provoking, while also being entertaining. Has anyone else seen it? Did anyone else find it to be a surprisingly enjoyable? Did you hate it?
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I saw it and made several postings/comments. I suspected the end so was not too surprised.
JackPedigo
Level 9
Sep 2, 2018
0
I watched a couple of episodes awhile back. I suspected part of me would like it, I sort of wanted to like it, but that a larger part of me would dislike it strongly, and in the end, that's what happened. Perhaps multiple reasons:
- What is the good? I don't buy that they know and I guess I'm tired of us "leaving the cannoli and taking the gun" by rejecting belief in God but buying into this or that to do with moral beliefs that come from this or that theistic book or system whose authority and soundness we have supposedly just questioned and (at least on the aspect of belief in God(s)) rejected.
- there's a strong supernatural aspect to the whole thing. I'm quite capable of suspending disbelief in that area and enjoying a movie or show, but I just wasn't buying into this one.
- the ridiculousness of it bothered me strongly. If there were such a place, a snafu like locating a supposedly bad person to the place for good people would get addressed (and it's just an ever present reminder of what supposedly awaits supposedly "bad" people, along with the obnoxiously affable happy-go-lucky attitude of "good" people to the fact that they do not have to endure such horrors?). Maybe they explained this further in, but I just didn't bother?
- I like Ted Danson for finding new challenges and trying new ideas, and sometimes I like his acting, but other times I'm not sure. In this role, I didn't get to the point of figuring it out.
Anyway, I'm not sure it struck me quite as negatively as all that, but, those are the thoughts that came to mind in answering, as to why I didn't watch further.
Another show loosely based on theological (a bit more Judeo-Christian) metaphysical and moral constructs has been "Lucifer". I sort of like aspects but not others. I watched probably more episodes than I really should have, but have mostly stopped - I check in once in awhile to see where they decide to go with the story, out of curiosity.
kmaz
Level 7
Sep 2, 2018
0
kmaz:
Yes, the grin on the Lucifer actor's face is a turnoff. I think this is coming as much from the creators, directors, and writers as the actor, though I could be wrong. The main turnoffs for me of Lucifer are the nonsense of taking multiple seasons for one character to tell the other character an essential point. Some misunderstanding or interruption always seemed to get in the way. Not cute or interesting to me, just annoying. I think to make the opposite case for a moment, a minor attractive point includes the question of whether the Judaeo Christian God had a spouse. I never thought about this, and so that's interesting, but at the very least, if it pisses off any Christians (and I don't know if it does) then maybe the show has some role to play.
(This reminds me of when Married With Children first came on, and the more it pissed off the Christians, the more I watched).
I was a bit harsh in my comments on the Good Place. It's possible that some of the reason I begged off was simply that it was too challenging and I wasn't in the mood.
I don't know. I didn't realize they were characterizing hell as bureaucracy. I think mythology involving the supernatural is harmful nonsense, but as metaphor maybe they are ok or perhaps even naturally helpful to us as humans.... I'm not sure where I stand on that. I may skip ahead and try to watch a bit more, thanks.
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