Theology of Pop Culture

Seeing the spiritual lessons hidden in pop culture

How My Grandpa Dan Ellsberg Taught Me to be a Film Fanatic

By Catherine Ellsberg

‘Shiny Happy People’ & Fundamentalism’s Toxic Certainty

By David French

Dark Cinema: Who Turned the Lights Off?

Upload: the afterlife for sale

A thin sci-fi plot that is really a platform for vulgar, soulless sex among the unmarried and unattached in their 20s and 30s at some time in the future.

The Mentalist: The charm of nihilism

The amusing detective work of a whimsical but charming nihilist.  Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) works as a “consultant” for the FBI, but is perfectly candid that his real mission is to seek revenge against the serial killer who murdered his family, legal procedures be damned.

The Morning Show: exploitation of the cubicles

Another take on the #MeToo movement. Well-written, deliberately nuanced perspective on male sexual exploitation of vulnerable women in high-pressure corporations. Identifies the victims in their own offices – at last! – but how about the the poor and powerless around the world, victims of American policies left out of  the “news”?

The Mule: At 88, Clint Eastwood is still… Clint Eastwood