Religious enemies... angels and pregnancy

Supernatural and The Secret Life of the American Teenager take two pretty different approaches to using religion as a theme in their millennial representation, but I think they were both fairly effective and intriguing.

First of all, Supernatural is clearly a magical world where the fantastical is accepted on a daily basis, even though it doesn’t stop sneaking up on the characters in new types of creatures. In the article Renegotiating religious imaginations through transformations of "banal religion" in Supernatural, Peterson says that shows like Supernatural take mainstream Western religious myths and reshape them. Building on and distorting institutionalized beliefs appeals to the viewers, keeping them entertained by the new and in the loop.

Here are some of the myths I noticed Supernatural revised: Deans memories of hell involve red and black, colors often associated with the devil in religious iconography since probably even before the Renaissance. It takes an angel to raise Dean out of hell, much like it took an Angel (Beatrice) to get Dante out of hell in the Inferno, written back in the 1400s. The angel still has wings, although now they’re black. The setting feels pretty western for being Illinois, with all the plaid, gruff men, and cowboy-like speaking. This rings true since the rural west has traditionally been a coming together of Christian ideals and the unexpected, unruly wild.

Another interesting twist to religious representation is the intertwining of technology, which we millennials will relate. The tv turns on when demons and angels are nearby. An ipod replays a car stereo. And the angel’s voice sounds like static.

In The Secret Life of the American Teenager, religion does not deal directly with biblical figures – it’s sort of twice-removed because people practice it in their daily lives (prayers, church, chastity pledges) instead of encountering godly manifestations. Yet it does become very confrontational.

Religion’s biggest enemy here is sex. All the kids are obsessed with it, or with not doing it, or by the problems it causes… pregnancy. The show’s protagonist is purposefully a good girl, and not in an overly-showy way like the cheerleader Grace. She’s cute, nice, a hard worker, and doesn’t deserve to have a jerk knock her up. This show’s message right off the bat tells millennials that teens, no matter how Christian, or how innocent, will make mistakes. I’m interested to see where religion goes on this show: it’s unclear to me if religion will become more positive or negative, or continue to have a mixed effect on the characters’ morals.