Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Modern Allusions to Noah and the Ark

One quick remark: since we talked about him today in class, I'd like to take a moment to mention the passing of Ray Bradbury. He was 91.

Today in class the assignment was to find pieces of art that were influenced by the Bible and more specifically in my group, Noah and the great flood. Everyone knows there is some things out there, but I was surprised as to how much there actually was until I started looking.

The first thing that I came across were paintings. There is a vast amount of oils out there painted in the Baroque period about God and with biblical themes. Schönfeld's The Flood is one example. The painting refers to Genesis 7:20 after it had been raining for quite some time. "Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered." In the foreground is chaos. Terror is off the scale as the people realize what is happening to them. Things are falling from the sky as they drown in midair, and there are already bodies on the ground. In the background, the ark floats peacefully.
Johann Heinrich Schönfeld-- The Flood
1634/35 oil on canvas
(137 x 2058 cm)

Firefly is one of the greatest television shows ever made, but it was cancelled in its prime because Fox can't recognize a good thing when it sees it. The company wastes time and money on trash like American Idol. In this clip, River Tam--Super Genius, is "fixing" Shepherd Book's Bible because it's broken. She's using math, her way of disproving everything in the Bible.

Fox (the jerks) took the video off of YouTube. I don't know if it was because I insulted them (probably not), but I'm going to give my ego a boost and think that anyway. I did find the same video at another link.

This clip from Family Guy just gives me the giggles.


A whole word has been created to descibe a time period.

Antedeluvian: Antedeluvian is Latin for “before the flood,” referring to the flood Noah rode out in Genesis. Something very old or outdated is sometimes exaggeratedly called antedeluvian. The professor's antedeluvian beliefs made him ill-suited for classroom teaching.

Read more: Biblical Allusions — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0934954.html#ixzz1x2lwXwJh


Bill Cosby has cashed in with his comic routine, "Noah."
We listened to some of it in class. Here is the whole joke.


There is a whole class on the subject of how film and television has been influenced by the Bible. If there wasn't such a drive from here to there, I might consider taking the course. --- that and the fact that the out of state tuition would put me further into the poor house.  The University of South Carolina Syllabus for REG491

 According to our wonderful professor, Atlantis by Donovan has some allusions. This is the first time I heard this little story. It's somewhat laughable to me, but you judge for yourself.


In 1866, Doré was asked to illustrate the English Bible. This was his drawing of the great flood and those who were trying to save themselves any way they could. 
Gustave Doré-- The Great Deluge

Apparently, there are some Biblical references in Beowulf. For those of us who haven't read it yet, we have a preview. Grendel is referred to be a descendant of Cain.

In addition, there is a reference to the Great Flood that took place in Genesis: "the origin of ancient strife, when the flood, rushing water, slew the race of giants they suffered terribly: that was a people alien to the Everlasting Lord. The Ruler made them a last payment through waters welling" (3.2). In this reference to the biblical flood, the author of Beowulf is suggesting that the sword's creators were descendants of those that caused God to bring on the flood perhaps even suggesting that they were descendants of Cain. However, earlier in the passage these same giants are referred to with reverence: "There came into the possession of the prince of the Danes, after the fall of devils, the work of wonder-smiths" (2.2). Once again there is a contrast between the pagan and Christian cultures, as the same "giants" are referred to with honor and contempt in succeeding paragraphs.



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