Doctor Strange (movie)

I definitely identified the TBM as having a faith crisis. Also, if you stay through the credits, you’ll see that he passes through the angry ex-M phase to become an anti-M. Last year, I would have thought of that as being characiture-ish but given it a pass because comic books. I get it now.

Another thought I had: The Ancient One said that death gives life meaning, which is another thing I wouldn’t have understood, or at least thought was off-base. (Plus, the bad guys are the ones trying to get immortality, suggesting that it’s wrong.) Now I look back at what I used to believe – that life can only have meaning if I live forever – and wonder whether that wasn’t a little bit selfish.

A few more thoughts were teased out of me.

If we’re talking Fowler’s stages of faith, it seems like the Ancient One (TAO for short) has a conjunctive or universalizing faith. She preaches purity in adherence to the natural force but walks a path that is not restricted by those limits, and she does this in a manner that she feels is still righteous and just. She also teaches others to walk the path of becoming magicians, adhering to boundaries that she feels are too dangerous for people to cross before they are ready.

I found myself wondering why TAO didn’t try to instill that same vision with her initiates from day one. Why not preach that sometimes the rules have to be broken in order to achieve a more harmonious “good?” A higher law. For all we know TAO did have special lessons for people that she felt were prepared, as was the case with Dr. Strange on TAO’s deathbed. Mordo, one of the TBMagicians, apparently never received those lessons.

Why not start Mordo out on the vision on day one? Why not start everyone out on the vision on day one? Did TAO’s instructions set Mordo up for failure? I imagine TAO spending days on end reiterating the importance of staying away from the dark arts, creating Mordo’s stumbling block in the process… or is that a part of the lesson? Setting the stage for an inevitable crisis of convictions, all done with the purpose of facilitating continued spiritual growth and progress.

There’s an analogy to be drawn there. I won’t say that it’s specific to the LDS church, but maybe that’s a part of the path for many people. We live in a world of colors, perhaps some of us have to experience the extremities and limitations of a black and white world before we can truly appreciate the colors.

Side notes/tangents:

In the movie the magicians are led by someone that has “the vision” whereas with church I feel like the Mordos are running the show… with a few exceptions.

Dr. Strange was a bit of an anomaly, he appears to jump a few lessons and advance rather quickly. Well the movie is about him and the movie has to be short but in his case I see a person coming from outside of the culture. He was immediately thrust into a position where I had to fight for survival. He was also new, so he wasn’t as established in the proper rules of engagement. He had to do what came naturally and he had to rely on what little he knew. When he discovers the truth he reflects and in reference to TAO he says, “She’s complicated.”

There was a parody of teen dystopia movies that SNL did about a year or two ago. It was like a mash up of Harry Potter, Divergent, the Maze Runner, the Giver, and others. It was pretty funny, but there were a few tropes that it brought up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnTltDzqhzM

I’m a little bored of superhero films – is there enough here to differentiate it from the rest?

Strictly speaking, it’s not the institution doing it, or even its doctrine, but the culture.

I agree with this.

Even if every adult member were a nonliteral believer, the next generation would be predominantly literal because of our discourse. Children aren’t going to read between the lines.

I disagree with this. I believe our children are already beginning to see things differently than I did at their age, because stuff is out there to be learned about non-literal belief…and even at BYU they are teaching different views. The ship turns slowly. But the children are able to get different views than just orthodoxy, although that is still dominant and valued. I’m able to have hypothetical discussions with my married children. However, I try not to go too far. I let them lead the questions and thoughts and hypotheticals. But I see it in them.

My wife and I talked today about how the Church could possibly explicitly allow for nonliteral belief without destroying the faith of those who need literal belief. I suggested that the Catholics seem to have it worked out, but I really don’t know.

I work for a catholic organization, and they do have straight out and open talks about how the bible is riddled with historical inaccuracies, if that is how catholics want to view the bible…they tell me they will have a struggle when the bible was never written with that intention of such detail. Even still, the catholic leaders I talk to say that it is not their place to convince people to take it all literal or discard literal interpretation. They simply allow others to go down that path, but sympathize with those making claims of biblical or papal infallacy. Of course, I’m just talking about a small group I interract with..there is sure to be variation but the point is that many Catholics do work it out successfully and I admire them for it. When we can discard our prejudice that the catholic church was the “Churh of the Devil” interpretation from decades ago…and you look at how such a huge organization manages…we have a lot to learn from them. I have respect for them, from my point of view.

To the point…if they can figure it out…so can mormons. We are just a little slow. Laggards, it seems.

Token callback to the topic at hand: maybe The Ancient One did have this worked out, but Strange deduced too much before she could teach him that TBM needed more rigid rules than he did.

To this point…that is what the story is celebrating about the hero of the story…he is able to not be held to teachings that keep him bound by rigid rules, even if the leader thinks it is best. And that is what I like about it, as nibbler compares it to the church. We too, even though the leaders are trying to keep us safe in the fold, I think we can shine and show that it doesn’t have to be that way…even if culture makes it hard to be different.

I still support SSM. I see nothing about it that bothers me. There is nothing in our culture that will support me in my position. I do not know how to articulate it to others to have them affirm it is ok for me to believe what I believe. But it does not mean I cannot have my view. In time, I think truth will be made known on what is acceptable to God. That is one example. Although the current of the culture may not go that way…I also find I can navigate (to some extent) my way without having to paddle upstream.

Yes, I agree about the fights thing. In Man of Steel there is a fight that goes on far too long and kind of killed it for me. How many times can you watch someone being shoved through walls?

Now and then superhero films can be interesting – the Thor film had some interesting parallels to LDS theology (Loki wanted to override humans’ agency), and V for Vendetta despite its faults had an interesting scenario… but on the other hand Watchmen left me cold and I switched off Suicide Squad after twenty minutes and haven’t attempted to watch it since.

To the point…if they can figure it out…so can mormons. We are just a little slow. Laggards, it seems.

To be fair to Mormons… the Catholics do enjoy a 1500+ year head start.