Separation of Church and Spaceship III
I have been wondering if either fantasy or “mainstream fantasy” shows the same disinterest in religion that SF usually does. My conclusion is that it does not. A muggle will read a book or watch a movie in it that has a fantastic or unearthly element in the tale without wincing provided the fantasy element is treated in an unsurprising, and frankly unfantastic fashion.
Let me define my terms. By a “mainstream fantasy” I mean a story that contains some magical or unearthly element, but which does not require a magical or unearthly frame of reference for the story. A poor definition, I confess: so let me use examples instead. HARVEY is a mainstream fantasy: the Pooka Harvey is a magical element in the tale, and may well exist, but the main point of the tale is the benevolence of the man who can see the giant rabbit, played by Jimmy Stewart. The magical town of Brigadoon in BRIGADOON, where the people sleep one hundred years each night, is likewise as mainstream fantasy; the Storefront Santa in MIRACLE ON 34th STREET is another example. Say what you will, none of these stories would appear on the Fantasy shelf at the bookstore next to LEGENDS or CONAN or LORD OF THE RINGS. Those three tales require, in order for the audience to enjoy them, that the audience depart from the normal “frame of reference” of mundane earth and accept a mythical frame.
Now, a mainstream story with a fantastic gimmick in it stays in the mainstream as long as the gimmick is one already in the mind of the common man, and will no cause any particular unfamiliarity. This is true for any fantasy gimmick like an invisible rabbit, a town of sleeping Rip Van Winkles, or a Santa Clause. POLAR EXPRESS is a fantasy, but not in the same way that NARNIA is: everyone already knows who Santa is; people have to be introduced to the White Witch.
Mainstream stories simply are more willing and able to take Christian elements literally than Science Fiction books. Here is a list simply from the top of my head, of books that treat Christian supernaturalism literally: God or His Angels are characters in the tale, and they act must as mainstream theology says they should:
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
ANGEL ON MY SHOULDER
MEET MR. JORDAN (aka HEAVEN CAN WAIT)
ANGELS IN THE OUTFIELD
MICHAEL
BEDAZZLED
BEN HUR
Le MORTE D’ARTHUR
The thing that is funny about two or three of these tales is how much in the background the supernatural elements are. Clarence the angel in IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE is just like the Ghost of Christmas Present in A CHRISTMAS CAROL, a “frame” meant to escort the main character to see what he would otherwise not see. I did not list A CHRISTMAS CAROL as a Christian fantasy, simply because, as far as I can tell, there are no Christian elements present. Nothing of the nativity is mentioned anywhere in the tale, and the three Ghosts seem to represent kindness and humanity, of the kind found in any religion, or in the hearts of men of good will who are not religious at all.
Perhaps these last two belong in a category of their own.
BEN HUR ends with two lepers being healed during the rainstorm that darkens the world at the crucifixion, but the event is treated as an historical event, merely an awe-inspiring one. I am not sure if we can call this a ‘gimmick’ in the sense that Harvey the Rabbit or Brigadoon the Sleeping Town is a gimmick.
The Most Holy Grail in Arthur is a sacrosanct Christian relic, but it is treated as a pagan magic artifact, that is, as if the magic power is in the cup itself, not in the God who drank from the cup. Arthur is a Christian king, but his Christianity is so inessential to the story, that versions can and have been done where this element is left aside entirely, without changing the basic story (whether these are good versions or bad, let each reader decide. Religion plays no role in the Steinbeck or Tennyson or White versions of the story, and certainly not in FIRST KNIGHT, which was terrible on many levels.)
There are any number of Horror tales where half of Christian myth is present, only the dark half. Satan and His Devils are characters in the tale, but God is either remote, or insane, or has been replaced by an unhelpful bureaucracy:
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER
ANGEL
HELLRAISER
SANDMAN
There are also stories like THE EXCORCIST or any number of vampire stories where Catholic sacraments are effective against the supernatural baddies, but not really effective enough to be final. These tend to cluster around the horror end of the spectrum. I also note that in HIGHLANDER the immortals do not fight on Holy Ground, albeit the holy ground of any religion serves as a sanctuary against their endless duels. They may or may not be a supernatural sanction to enforce this taboo: Mount Vesuvius may have erupted because two immortals fought on Holy Ground. I would put all such stories into their own category, the same one INDIANA JONES belongs in: the Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant are clearly actual and effective in this background, but only as spooky supernatural gimmicks.
Now, I can think of at least two SFF books where God or His Angels are characters in the tale, and they are either senile or outright frauds:
HIS DARK MATERIALS by Phillip Pullman
TO REIGN IN HELL by S Brust
DOGMA
Oddly, I cannot think of a single science fiction story that treats the Christian mythology in the same respectful way, even when lighthearted, as HERE COMES MR. JORDON. Maybe God makes a cameo appearance in Heinlein’s JOB or in James Branch Cabell. There may be a few fantasy or Urban fantasy stories that have angels in them—I haven’t read that much by Charles de Lint or Megan Lindholm. Usually these days even the good supernatural beings are fairly new-age, neutral, or culturally relative. There is, for instance, a Power of Light in A WRINKLE IN TIME, that seems like a nondenominational sort of goodness.
So Christianity seem more well represented in the mainstream than it does in SF.
See Also
- Separation of Church and Spaceship I
- Separation of Church and Spaceship II
- Separation of Church and Spaceship III
- Separation of Church and Spaceship IV
- Separation of Church and Spaceship V
- Separation of Church and Spaceship VI
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
