Monday, May 1, 2017

The theme of American Gods is that belief and faith are all powerful and all consuming.

American Gods premiered last night on Starz. Of course, millions of people tuned in. I loved the premiere, but one of the things in it stuck out as being far more interesting than I originally got from the book. So what was it? The crazy vaping kid, i.e., the Technical Boy. The reason? Context due to age and Pokemon Go.

What is this Pokemon Go you might say? It's the super popular game that is so last year. However, I still see people playing it. They walk around parks aimlessly looking at smart phones, collecting in droves to find their pokemon, etc. It looks and feels like worshiping. And that's the one lesson you need to take away from the premiere of American Gods. It's the lesson that gods are created out of worship. It's why Bilquis needed the guy she met in the bar to worship her (prior to eating him with her vagina). It's why Wednesday said that faith is what's keeping the airplane in flight (and not the physics of air flowing over wings). It's why the vikings had to do all of those mutilations to attract the attention of their god (Odin) in the beginning montage so that they could secure a breath of wind.

In a world set on fire by "alternative facts," tweets, and the power of the internet, belief seems to be able to make a god of just about anything, whether or not that particular belief is true or not. I think American Gods is remarkably prescient television for the modern age.




6 comments:

  1. And throughout the ages, people have done just that and set up many false gods.

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  2. I liked the book so I'll have to watch it at some point.

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  3. This is the first I'm hearing of this, and I'm intrigued.

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  4. I'm sorry to be missing American Gods. The advertising looks great.

    I suppose I've worshipped my share of "things" but never people. Or Gods. I find the concept of Gods interesting though.

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  5. Come to think of it, people walk around with their heads bowed to the cell in their hands as if worshiping it.

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