Jerry Springer: The Opera

[jack]

Jerry Springer: The Opera is freaking hilarious. The first half is a little slow, as it depicts a typical Springer show. It's an exaggerated parody, with singing, but it seems to me, just verisimilitudinous. But the second, ah, the descent into hell! That went really, really, really well.

It was funny, and not too nasty. And oddly enough, though I can't say how: I like J. Springer more now. He was portrayed really nicely too.

You don't need to have seed the show. It'll make sense if you haven't at all, thirty seconds once and I knew it all[1]. Now all I need is a rhyme for "micely"[2].

Footnotes

[1] The show also warns you need a working background knowledge of Judeo-Christian mythos to get the religious references. Living in a Judeo-Christian culture or country is plenty, but that's a bit misleading; it really won't make much sense to you unless you know who Jesus is[3].

And for that matter, I'm not sure how much of the modern concept of Satan as a punisher and God's current rival on earth is rooted in the commandments in the old testament. But that's just a theoretical exception: I don't imagine I know any culturally Judeo-Christian people who haven't studied the gospels more than I have :)

[2] Do you see what I did there? :) I wasn't going to even attempt to rhyme (let alone scan) a review, but the second sentence just got written so, I felt I had to try, even if it meant rhyming "too" and "[2]"... The footnotes don't necessarily rhyme, though I keep breaking my brain trying to read them in rhythm, after trying to read the post so.

[3] The religious characters are also played with character. (All of the characters are not traditionally beautiful, but very wonderfully expressive.) In fact, I'm sure some of the pre-existing conceptions (eg. Satan as rival to God's will) are more blasphemous than the ones the opera comes up with (eg. Jesus displaying anger). (Although I won't go so far as to try and claim it could never be offensive to people who like God (or Jerry Springer).)

Comments

[robhu.livejournal.com]

Satan is portrayed as a real character (a fallen angel) who is a rival to God in the sense that he is opposed to all of God's plans and purposes, that he is in active rebellion against God, but not in the sense that he is equal in power (which rival sometimes implies).

Whether God 'uses' Satan to punish people is debateable. It's more accurate to say that Satan attacks people on earth because of his opposition to God, and that God uses those attacks to refine people. It's certainly true that God (particularly in the OT) is portrayed as punishing people on earth himself (albeit through other people in some cases). I don't think the general picture is one of God intentionally using Satan as a tool for punishment, look at Job for instance - it is Satan who wants to break Job, and while God allows this to happen (he increasingly gives Satan permission to do worse things) God is not the initial cause of what happens to him.

[curig.livejournal.com]

Biblically speaking, images of Satan/the Devil are actually quite diverse. I'd agree that I don't think the God's rival on earth view is in the Old Testament (and I think the NT is rather subtler than that).

If the idea of Jesus displaying anger is blasphemous, then the Gospels are blasphemous... :)

[redaloud.livejournal.com]

Lol! I though Jerry Springer the Opera was frickin' hilarious, too.

I don't think the Scarey Christian contingent were getting their knickers in a twist about the bit with the devil, though.I don't think that one got up to any worse stuff than in the various Miracle plays and books that have been written in the past 2 millenia. I think the scarey Christians may have been bit more worried about the bit where Mary came on the show to talk about being an unmarried mother who'd been raped by God, and Jesus rushed round in nappies asking to spanked for kicks.I'm sure that was the offensive part.