Hollywood Atheist: Difference between revisions

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' gives us Edward Elric, a bitter young man who lost his faith in any kind of benevolent god when an attempt to resurrect his [[Dead Little Sister|dead mother]] goes [[Came Back Wrong|horribly awry]] and becomes very [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|grouchy and condescending]] when it comes to religion. While Ed actually ''does'' seem to believe in God (seeing how he basically got his arm and leg stolen by him), he [[Nay Theist|just doesn't like him]].

* ''[[Gundam Wing]]'' gives us a rather...odd example, in the form of Duo Maxwell. Duo wears a clerical collar and [[Creepy Cool Crosses]], but he states in Episode Zero that he doesn't actually believe in God because he "has never seen a miracle, but has sure seen lots of dead people!" He later appears to become a preacher, but {{spoiler|It's more of a front for his [[Bounty Hunter]] work than anything else.}}

* [[Batman]] is portrayed as an atheist by some authors, presumably as a side effect of having his parents killed and spending the last ten to fifteen years looking at the slimy underside of society. Of course, this being Batman, if he did believe in a God he probably has [[Crazy Prepared|a plan to take Him out, and could execute it, given enough prep time]].

** Given that Batman has seen demons, been teammates with angels, and in general encountered the mystic enough to know that ''some'' kind of supreme being exists, Batman's position is sometimes written not as "There is no God" but "When I finally meet God, He'd better have a ''really'' good explanation for all this crap."

** After much scrutiny, the folks at the [http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/comic_book_religion.html#heroes Adherents] website have concluded that [http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/Batman.html Batman is a lapsed Episcopalian or Catholic.] Neil Gaiman gives him a suitable atheistic afterlife. He gets to reincarnate as himself, in a different Earth, every time.

** At least in the [[The Bronze Age of Comic Books|Bronze Age]], he is definitely not a religions practitioner. When asked by Dr. Leslie Thompkins if he ever prayed, he replied "No. Not since ''that night''."

* Freddie Kruger-esque [[Eviler Than Thou|Mister Rictus]] from the comic book miniseries ''[[Wanted]]''. He was the most pious of Christians until he died on the table after an accident. After seeing what lay beyond, i.e. ''[[The Nothing After Death|nothing]]'', he went completely crazy and started doing whatever the hell he felt like with no restrictions or morality whatsoever. Of course the fact that the accident scarred him to a ridiculous degree may have contributed.

* Warren Ellis has used a similar approach a couple of times. In Stormwatch, there's a character called The Eidolon, who's died and returned to let everyone know that there's nothing beyond this life. Then there's an early issue of Planetary with a Hong Kong ghost cop (possibly cop ghost) who's come back with a similar message. ("There's just us." "Did he say justice?" "No. 'Just us.'")

== Films ==

* The protagonist of ''[[Contact (film)|Contact]]'', makes a decent example of the [[Dead Little Sister]] variety. With several [[Strawman Political|Fundie Strawmen]] on the other side, this movie goes for the [[Golden Mean Fallacy]].

* As mentioned, most characters [[Steve Buscemi]] gets [[Typecasting|typecast]] as. Notable examples include the character from ''[[The Island]]'':

** The movie was actually a subversion, once you go through it a couple of times. The atheist is bitter and angry, but a major theme of the movie is that [[War Is Hell]]. The Christian served a mission in Germany, so he knows that the Germans can be good people. (A major plot point was that a German soldier was also one of the Christian's personal friends from before the war.) All that happened was that the atheist picked up the little book offered to him by the Christian from the Christian's dead body, and it had a picture of the Christian's wife. The other characters aren't shown having a strong sense of religious faith, but are still portrayed as basically good, if flawed people. The Christian isn't exempt from this, as he has PTSD from [[War Is Hell|accidentally killing a room full of little of children and nuns]] and is falling apart at the seams. Considering the fact that Christian just died trying to save the group, wouldn't it make sense that the atheist (as one of two surviving characters, and the only surviving American) try to get the little book back to the Christian's wife so that she would have a little something more than a flag and letter? Or keep it as a reminder of someone who saved him when he wasn't obligated to? Especially since this sort of thing happened all the time during WWII?

* In ''[[Fight Club (film)|Fight Club]]'', although Tyler Durden's religious beliefs are not deeply explored, he at one point remarks that ''Our fathers were our models for God. If our fathers bailed on us, what does that tell you about God?'' It's possible this was from the book, but he also posits that if there is a God, it's better to be hated by him than ignored. Note that, here, "God" is a metaphor for absentee fathers. Durden's actual theological opinion is wide open.

* Fairly stereotypical example with [[Jack Nicholson]]'s character in ''[[The Bucket List]]''. He's bitter, cynical, extremely unpleasant to most people he interacts with, and claims to envy people with faith even if he doesn't understand what it's about.

* The "what sort of God allows this to happen" trope is used in ''[[Cube|Cube Zero]]'': {{spoiler|at the end of the titular [[Death Trap]] filled labyrinth, any survivors are asked if they believe in God. If they say "no", the Cube's operators press a button marked "No" which causes the survivor to be incinerated. When the new operator asks what the button marked "Yes" does, the other says ''he doesn't know'': ''no one'' has ever said "Yes".}}

{{quote|'''Vader''': [[You Have Failed Me...|I find your lack of faith disturbing.]]}}

** Han Solo is a good example, as he ridicules the Force at first and later comes to believe in it or at least respect it.

* Averted in ''[[Pitch Black (film)|Pitch Black]]''. The imam thinks that Riddick is one of these. Riddick is in fact a [[wikipedia:Misotheist|misotheist]], one who believes in God, and hates Him.

{{quote|'''Riddick:''' "Think someone could spend half their life in a slam with a horse bit in their mouth and not believe? Think he could start out in some liquor store trash bin with an umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and not believe? Got it all wrong, holy man. I absolutely believe in God...and I absolutely ''hate'' the fucker."}}

== Literature ==