| Kasz216 said: Are atheists actually underrepresented? To have an atheist in a show you would need. A) A show about religion or that deals with religion a lot. B) A show who also needs a counterpoint to that. Aka not a show SOLEY about religion.
I just got done watching Babylon 5 again through netflix. There are a number of atheists on that show. Or heck, Look at Star Trek. Every single person on Star Trek I think is an atheist. Outside of Worf anyway and maybe Riker. The thing is, nobody knows that... because atheism is kinda useless as a storytelling device. I mean, if Chandler from friends was an atheist. Or George Costanza or the fat guy from king of queens... how would you know? And why would you care? There is nothing you can do with an "hey i'm an atheist" angle that would work in a comedy or super drama. Basically you'd need to have it in a dramadey... and even then it's likely to be a plot point that lasts all of 1 episode because there isn't anything you can do with it. Unlike say, religions where you can have a crisis of faith or there are things you can go to. The only thing atheism is really "functional" for from a writing perspective is to show a pessimism to a greater force pulling you out of trouble. Like during a big war. |
I'll agree with this. Atheism is either an activist belief (where you're actively calling out religion, which would naturally make you look like an overly assertive character), or is a non-issue. That's the main problem of looking at Atheism as a worldview in and of itself, because aside from a few Dawkins-types, it's a non-belief primarily, and one that is a component of other worldviews (like Communism or Nihilism), and not really a worldview in and of itself, and thus it's not really operative as a story component.
Monster Hunter: pissing me off since 2010.
