The Fundamentalist: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

The most common Fundamentalists you'll meet in the West are Christian, but there are also breeds of Jewish, Muslim and around the world Shinto and Hindu fundamentalism. Even Buddhism has had its "holy wars," exchanging campaigns of political repression, burning of scriptures, and outright murder with Taoists in [[Romance of the Three Kingdoms|ancient China]].

 

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* In the English [[Gag Dub]] of ''[[Ghost Stories]]'', Momoko is a fundamentalist Christian. At times she objects to the magic used to defeat the ghosts, but most of the time she mentally translates "ghost" to "demon" so it's okay, and she insists that her own channeling powers were a gift from God as a result of her conversion.

* [[Knight Templar|Alexander Anderson]] from [[Hellsing]] is a good example. He is a Vatican priest who works for the Iscariot branch; his job is to kill vampires and other unholy creatures. Alexander compulsively quotes lines from the Holy Bible when he speaks, especially when facing whom he believes to be a heretic or monster that must be slain. He also has an extreme dislike for Protestants (no surprises there), going so far as to call Sir Integra "Babylon" in reference to "The Whore of Babylon". As bad as he is, he has honor which transcends it. [[Sinister Minister|Father Enrico Maxwell]], however, is WORSE.

* Bishop Mozgus from the "Tower of Conviction" arc in ''[[Berserk]]'' takes this trope to the most nightmarishly horrifying logical conclusion imaginable, having tortured to death uncounted thousands of "heretics" (which, to him, includes such miscreants as peasants desperately begging for food for their starving children when that food was supposed to go to churchmen and church-affiliated knights, who most definitely are ''not'' starving).

 

* Certain recurring characters of [[Jack Chick]]'s various tracts combine the Fundamentalist with [[Easy Evangelism]]. Results are awkward, especially considering that ''you're supposed to be on their side''.

* The Surgeon General from ''[[Give Me Liberty]]''.

** J. Jonah Jameson cannot admit that [[Spider-Man]] is anything other than a menace even though he has saved Jameson's life dozens of times. Various reasons have been given over the years as to why this belief is stuck in an otherwise good journalist's head (who caught flak several times in-universe for being in favor of [[X-Men|mutant rights]], among other things).

*** The anti-Spiderman rant sells papers. If Spiderman were to be captured, tried, and imprisoned, the ''Daily Bugle'' would fold as soon as the judge sentenced him. Jameson is a muckraker; he's only doing it to boost circulation.

 

* Nute Gunray from the prequel trilogy era of ''[[Star Wars]]'', though he is a political ([[Corrupt Corporate Executive|and economical]]) example of this. Not religious.

* Marianne Bryant in ''[[Easy A]]'', who is the head of a group of religious conservative students. Before setting her sights on Olive, who she (and everyone else) believes has had premarital sex, Marianne petitioned to have the school football team to be renamed to Woodchucks from Devils. Apparently, she picked up the trait from her father, a priest. Interestingly, both Marianne's boyfriend Micah and her father end up being hypocrites. Micah ends up with an STD he picked up from the guidance counselor, a married woman. Marianne's father is watching Olive's webcast, expecting her to have live sex on camera, and is disappointed when she doesn't.

** Marianne's father is adamant about his own beliefs and doesn't recognize others, as evidenced by his constant corrections of Olive's hypothetical question about Hell. As far as he's concerned, Hell is a real place, and there's nothing hypothetical about it.

 

* The Christians from the ''[[Left Behind]]'' series. Not only do they engage in selfishness, pettiness, and condescension to anyone who doesn't agree with them, but we're supposed to be on ''their'' side, to top it off. We expect that sort of behavior from the bad guys, the followers of [[The Antichrist]], but these are [[Designated Hero|supposed]] [[What the Hell, Hero?|to be the heroes]].

** Then again the [[Target Audience]] pretty much agrees with them, so a little [[Values Dissonance]] might be in play. Then again, [[Insane Troll Logic]] abounds.

* For a series with a lot of religious beliefs on display, [[Babylon 5]] largely averts this trope. Political zealots are fairly common, however, and the conflict between the {{spoiler|Vorlons and the Shadows}} boils down to diametrically opposed doctrine.

 

* The Proclaimers song "The Light" is a scathing condemnation of the real-life examples of this trope from a moderate Christian perspective, with lyrics such as "I believe in God alright/It's folk like you I just can't stand."

 

* When he's a [[Heel]], CM Punk is a [[Straight Edge Evil|Straight Edge]] fundamentalist: Have you ever taken drugs? Smoked a cigarette? Drunk alcohol? ''Doubled-up on a prescription medication''? If so, then he's '''[[Catch Phrase|Better Than You]]'''. Given his feud with Jeff Hardy this leads to a [[Funny Aneurysm Moment]].

 

* In [[In Nomine]], Khalid, the Archangel of Faith, goes through this for a few centuries, becoming increasingly devoted to a xenophobic, fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. He was very nearly setting himself up for a [[Fallen Hero|Fall]] when a near-miss with [[The End of the World as We Know It|Armageddon]] shocked him back into [[Heel Face Turn|a more open, accepting mode.]]

 

* Sister Miriam Godwinson from ''[[Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri]]'' is a fundamentalist when it comes to religion and saving souls, and a ''subversion'' when it comes to technology. She appears to be an anti-tech fanatic, but she's actually calling for restraint, reason and ethics in a scientific field dominated by the [[For Science!|amoral]] University. This is somewhat [[Flanderization|flanderized]] in the novel ''Twilight of the Mind'' by Michael Ely: Miriam thinks that all technology is evil, unless, of course, the "righteous" use the same technology to enact God's will.

* Japanese RPGs in general tend to do this a lot, some notable examples being:

* Swat4 gives up the ''Children of Taronne'', do they ever count. Your SWAT team has to bring in this cult who have bombs that will blow up half the city, and cultists have no regard whether their gunfire will set them off. There's insane writing everywhere, cultist material, children's rooms but no children. Even your teammates get freaked out at the religious babbling. Then you get to the basement. The cult had dug up the basement ''and buried their murdered children in graves,'' in preparation for the holocaust the cult believes in. [http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4kb9x_swat-4-children-of-taronne-tenement_videogames Watch it here if you dare], a few [[Let's Play|Lets Plays]] of this level had actually caused [[Heroic BSOD]].

 

* Sam from ''[[Men in Hats]]''.

* Charlotte from ''[[Penny and Aggie]]''.

* Dolly in ''[[80's Dan]]'' turns out to be like this, but just when it comes to Christmas.

 

** Averted in [[The Movie]], where he's shown as a more fatherly figure and seems to fully revert to his season 1 kindness (and then some).

* [[Complete Monster|Judge Frollo]] from ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]].''