xinyue said...
“Creation” is such a good movie which made me cry a lot. This movie basically talked about the life of Charles Darwin. He married a woman who is related to him and therefore had Annie, one of their children. She is not strong enough to go against the illness, so she died. After her death, Darwin started to avoid the truth of her death and stopped talking with his wife. He also believed that he should be responsible for Annie’s death. Well, I think the reason why he paid that much attention on Annie is not just because Annie is his first daughter, but also Annie is the only one in the family who has the same understanding about the nature as Darwin did. At the beginning in the movie, everyone at the time believed that good Christian value can change the way Barbarian acted. However, they failed. Darwin believed that natural selected the survival, and man was selected in the same way. Darwin is not a religion believer but his wife was. Consequently, their marriage is not that happy.
After watching this movie, I think that religion and science do not have to be opposite terms. If we think in the different way, like God created this earth, and scientist just tried to explain why lots of species disappear. I mean if we continue to ask “why” to every solution that scientists made, I do not believe that they can answer all of them. I also think that both religion and science side should try to accept each other. In the movie, that pastor just went away because Darwin did not believe in the religion and one of the scientists even thought what they were doing was a battle. They thought that they would “kill the God” which means kill the religion. I truly love this movie!
I also enjoyed really enjoyed the film. I think the director did a good job at making the audience really sympathize for Darwin. One thing that I found kind of disturbing, which was true to the time period, was how closed minded some people were at the time. For example I shocked when they punished Annie for arguing about the dinosaurs. It was also interesting to see how many people fell ill to sickness back then. This movie also made me realize how important Darwin is, and where we would be today if it weren't for him.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with Xinyue when she said that Darwin paid attention to Annie because she saw nature and evolution in the same way as himself. I think that Annie was the only one in his family who wanted Darwin to tell the truth and to share his thoughts and evidence of evolution. As Steven said, the ignorance of the time period caught me off guard, and that was part of the reason why Darwin was so scared and nervous to share his book, but Annie wanted him to. I cannot imagine the courage it took for Darwin to go against not only his church but his whole family with his beliefs of evolution. However, I enjoyed the ending when Emma decided that Darwin should publish his book. It just proved that if people open their minds they may see something that wasn't there before. This especially relates to our conversation in class the other day about whether a person can believe in both Creation and Evolution and I think Darwin may have been one of those people, at least in some sense.
ReplyDeleteI agree that for Darwin, Annie was not only a beloved daughter but also the person who, whether in reality or in his mind, wanted him to have the courage to publish his scientific discoveries, despite what others might think. But I don't think that Darwin's hesitance in publishing his book was a result of the ignorance of the people at the time. I think that he feared that in publishing his scientific discoveries, he would be, as his friend had said, "killing god". Darwin didn't want to kill God. Though he himself may have lost all faith in religion, he didn't want to publish a book refuting God's existence. He wanted to leave religion out of his book, to focus on his scientific discoveries, to explain the processes of evolution, natural selection, survival of the fittest, and more. He wanted to leave God out of it, for his family's sake and the sake of any religious person who would read The Origin of Species. I think Darwin realized that it would be difficult for a religious person to read his book and accept his discoveries without questioning their beliefs about God, and he worried that his book would be viewed by many as a personal attack on God.
ReplyDeleteI think that Darwin's wife, Emma, is an example of someone who found a way to believe in evolution and religion at the same time. She discouraged his book because she feared the controversy it would cause and the tension that would be felt between her family and the rest of the community, but after reading Darwin's book, she knew that he was right and that his book should be published. I don't think that that means she no longer believed in God. I think that, as the Greek's incorporated both logos and mythos into their lives, Emma had accepted the idea of science and religion both having a place in hers.
The movie “Creation” is the story of Charles Darwin and his process in which he wrote the controversial book On the Origin of Species. The movie delves into Darwin’s personal struggles with writing and releasing the book. The movie is very complex as it shows how Darwin’s faith always wavered as he was a scientist, but how he completely lost faith in God when his beloved daughter Annie died. As mentioned, it is very interesting how Annie seems to be a child of selective breeding. Darwin mentioned that “nature selects for survival, man, for appearance.” He thought that by marrying his cousin they would produce the best children, when in fact Annie was susceptible to illness and dies. I feel his drive to explain this pushes him to produce his novel and lose faith in God.
ReplyDeleteDarwin seems to be a man of mythos and logos. It is obvious how he believe in logic and reason, as he is a scientist, but the overall struggle of the movie shows how was also a man of mythos. He must have had some fear of God and the repercussions of his work or else he would not have struggled so much with his findings. He feels that by publishing his findings that society will forever be altered as Darwin claims that society is bound together by the church. In the end his wife, Emma, seems also to be of mythos and logos. She is a “good Christian” woman of her society but believes in her husband’s work when she agrees to let it be published. Towards the end of the movie, when Darwin visits the psychiatrist, I found it very interesting when the doctor asked Darwin about his faith. He said, “you say you have no comfort in religion, but do you have faith?” I really appreciated this comment and how we have already discussed it in class. It is a very controversial question and shows that maybe one can have one without the other.
This movie shed light on the inner conflict that many great scientists encounter when their discovery threatens societal norms. It was heartbreaking watching a brilliant man like Charles Darwin being destroyed by the very theory he fathered ( and needless to say the loss of 2 children). I thought it was interesting that while he staunchly believed in the validity of his theory he was apprehensive about publishing it in a way that would "kill God." His reasoning did not necessarily lay in his belief of God, but his belief that "God" was the foundation upon humankind built civilization. His worry was that by removing the evidence of God, he would effectively kill religion and ethics that the Christian Church fosters. His dilemma was that by attempting to prove his theory he would unravel the moral fiber of society. I feel that it many respects men of science are also charged with the responsibilities of a philosopher. I feel that the Charles Darwin's life and trials is a testament to how far civilization has come and proof of society's tolerance of potentially dissenting beliefs. I think that this evidenced by the fact that Darwin was buried with all Christian honors, and that while his beliefs were not necessarily accepted, he was not considered a sacrilegious heathen. I believe that the movie in effect, rebukes the polarization of the issue of evolution. As I stated before Darwin didn’t want to kill region nor does he want to ignore scientific evidence. I think it is important to realize that before engaging in a conversation about evolution.
ReplyDeleteThe movie Creation really goes back and reiterates a lot of what was discussed in our last class period. The central plot of the movie revolves around Charles Darwin’s internal struggle to find a balance between science and religion. Living in a society in which religion is not only engrained in the culture, but is also viewed as a set of guiding moral principles, Darwin must conscientiously decide whether or not to write a book that will disapprove the story of creation and thus defy the belief in an all powerful god. Although Charles plays with the idea of not sharing his work with the public lest society crumble as people come to learn the “god has no grand plan for everyone,” he ultimately decides that he must do it. Throughout the course of this movie, it has become evident to me that it is possible for religion and science to go along hand-in-hand. If the morals and ethics can be taken from the teachings of the bible and stories viewed not in a literal sense, but in a figural sense from which life-guiding values can be derived, then science and religion can coincide. However, as soon as one believes the literal interpretation of the bible, then science and religion cannot and will never be able to exist in harmony.
ReplyDelete-Chasen Bender
While watching Creation, to be honest, I was surprised at what originally seemed to be the focus of the film. In the beginning, I had the preconceived idea that the film would portray how Darwin came to write “Origin of Species”, focusing on the science of it such as the experiments, the documentation, etc. After getting more into the movie however, it appeared as if the movie was about Darwin’s family life instead including how the troubles with Annie’s health and later on death affected Darwin emotionally, and thus also affecting his scientific work. Admittedly, I initially didn’t know where the film was going to go until towards end when I saw that it was all coming together. In the end I loved how the film linked science and religion, while throughout the movie it had definitely seemed like the two were opposites. With Emma firmly supporting religion with Charles defiantly standing behind his scientific work, the two of them come to understand that science and religion can coexist in the world. When Emma accepts Charles’ scientific ideas and accepts the work he has done, it does in fact seem to show that Emma is saying, “I can accept evolution, and yet still believe in God.” The film reminded me a little of something that came up in class, that “science only goes so far, and then comes God.” I feel like Emma would agree with this phrase, in that her husband proved so much with evolution and to explain what came before that, there is God.
ReplyDeleteWhat Maddie said about Darwin killing God and how Emma was able to find a balance between believing in evolution and believing in God was very true and I came to the same conclusion. It was interesting to see the contrast between Charles' loss of faith and Emma's stronger association of faith by the same happenstance of their daughter passing away. Darwin did, in a sense, kill God at least in the more authoritative respect. He killed the concreteness of an all powerful deity but in many respects he caused people to become even more attached to their faith. When Emma decides not to burn 'On the Origin of Species' she has put her marriage and relationship with Charles above her faith. She knows that her family and Charles' happiness are more important than being stubborn about belief in an omnipotent being. In my mind that is what religion is all about, being gracious and caring and unselfish.
ReplyDeleteThis movie really made me realize that both religion and science should be able to exist simultaneously. In the beginning of the film, when Darwin and his colleagues discuss the importance of his new discoveries, one of the men exclaims that Darwin has killed religion, and Darwin seems to avoid saying "Amen" after Grace before dinner. Charles Darwin must have been so torn over whether or not he should share this information to the public. I have obviously learned about Darwin in the past, but never really thought about his struggle from that side of things. HIs discovery literally was going to alter the entire society that praised itself on Christianity. Clearly, people have still managed to believe in evolution without compromising their faith. After watching this movie, I truly see that it is not necessary to choose science over religion, or vice versa.
ReplyDeleteZoya Mufti
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed watching this movie. As mentioned previously, I was surprised to see the film followed Darwin’s life overall rather then how he ended up writing the Origin of Species. I had never really considered how difficult it must have been for Darwin to write something so controversial and then how much more difficult it must have been for him to share his ideas with the world. During a time period when Christianity was strongly held on to by the general public, it is easy to understand that Darwin feared being the one to “kill God.” Although it seems hard to believe that people would take such a thing so seriously now, we must keep in mind that the world Darwin came from, people’s lives revolved around religion. I personally feel that religion and science should be able to go hand in hand. For me, religion helps to explain what science has yet to come to a solution about.
This movie does a wonderful job of exemplifying how hard it can be for one to have faith in his or her own religion, and still believe in Darwin's Theory of Evolution. While I certainly sympathize with Darwin, i cannot do the same with the Church and the Priest. Imposing ideals and blackmailing people into their religion for the sake of saving the image of God is not in their power. Even from a religious stand point, in the book of Genesis, God created people with the power of free will. Humankind has the power to do as it pleases, and if God in-fact is un-happy with the idea of evolution disproving the almighty, then it is up to him to make that clear.
ReplyDeleteAs previously stated, I found it interesting that movie focused on Darwin's entire life, not just than his writing "The Origin of Species". I appreciate Darwin's work much more, now that I see the extremes of society and the madness that he had to struggle through in order to finish the book. Also, I realized that although there have clearly been a lot of developments since Darwin's time, a lot has stayed the same as well. Towards the beginning of the movie there was a quote that said "science is at war with religion." We have been moving closer and closer to building a relationship between the two, but you could still argue that science are religion are at war. It amazes me that even through all this time, and with all these new developments in science, science and religion are still being argued about. It just shows how much is still ahead of us.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Megan in her initial surprise at the unexpected primary focus of "Creation". The years leading up to Darwin's completion and publication of On the Origin of Species seem to be a tumultuous set of years in which he faces tremendous internal struggle over his relationship with his family and with Truth. He states with conviction that he need not continue to study what he already knows, yet he lacks utmost certainty concerning the nature of life after death and the consequences he may face if he defies God. There is this pervading sense of guilt which physically manifests in his body, weakening him, as he cringes at the thought of "killing God" and is plagued by the memory of his beloved daughter, Annie. He seems to be sickened more and more by the realization that God may have no ultimate plan, and that life on Earth is dictated by the survival theory, even though his studies have lead him to believe it true. As life progresses, he is able to part with the madness and maladies which have developed as a result of his feeling of shame from neglecting the other members of his family which he did not believe to be perfect. I think this film perfectly exemplifies the struggle of mankind with emotional feelings and physical evidence. Not only is the thought of a world without God or an ultimate plan disconcerting, I believe it may not be the case. Instead, I think that the fluctuations of life have an intelligent being behind them, and that the emotions attached to death have developed in the psyche of mankind in a skewed way, portraying the flux of life as saddening and uncomfortable, rather than beautiful and necessary. Darwin's struggle with this issue, although affected by society's viewpoint at the time, is similar to this when stripped to its bare bones.
ReplyDeleteIn following what was posted before by Maddie and Zach, I too was particularly interested with the movie's examples of finding a median between science and religion. However, I differ in the idea that Darwin lost his faith. I think the root cause of Darwin's blatant mental problems (aside from the obvious loss of his daughter) was the fact that he still believed in God. I think he was torn and confused by his discoveries and how he was raised and what he believed. As opposed to his "loss in faith", I think it was the misunderstanding of how his faith and his logos could suddenly clash so forcefully. This is was I think likewise tore his mental health apart as well.
ReplyDeleteThe movie Creation was really interesting to me because it shed some light on what Darwin experienced emotionally as he came to fully realize the implications of his discoveries. At this point in history, God was thought to be the creator of everything and the majority of people believed that God had laid out a special plan for them and for all living creatures. When Darwin discovered evidence that proved evolution, religion and science were immediately thought to be “at war.” The idea that science and religion can coexist was not thought to be possible. Darwin struggled immensely with the decision to reveal his findings and risk upsetting society, and not to mention his family, and keeping the evidence locked in a box. I found it extremely interesting that Darwin did not immediately believe that God was “dead” with his research. This movie confirms my belief that science and religion can co-exist, it just depends on how you interpret things and how well you are informed about each side. I think that people who are adamantly on one side or the other on this topic should watch this movie, it might change their opinions on how the world works.
ReplyDeleteOn a somewhat random side note, Creation illustrates how much Darwin had to sacrifice to achieve what he did. It seems that, in order to be exceedingly exceptional at something, you have to sacrifice quite a bit. Darwin excelled at what he did because he couldn’t stop thinking about his research and obsessively talked about it whenever possible. This infatuation came at the price of being distant with his wife and children, treating them like science experiments at times. If we did not have these sorts of people in the world, we would indeed be much less advanced in the scientific world. It is sad to see, however, the negative effects this can have on relationships.
I'd like to analyze this film from a different lens. Even though the overarching theme of the film was the struggle between science and religion, I think the more subliminal message was how religion was the single element holding society in its place. As stated in the film, "society is bound together by the church". This subliminal theme is also delineated by the heinous punishment of Annie. She was ordered to kneel on salt for simply contradicting a figurehead of society (in this case the reverend). Darwin was depicted as the insane character because he deviated from the teachings of the church.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated this film for its intimacy. When students--and I know this was true of myself--first learn of Darwin, they learn of him not as a man, but as a theory.
ReplyDeleteHere, however, we see him as precisely what he was: one of us. As Soraya said, Darwin was not only a man of a logos, but also a man of mythos. This movie portrays his tendencies toward the latter in particular. For example, the one scene in which Darwin worries that he is "killing God" is intensely revealing.
Darwin's dilemma is one that I think resonants with the entire human race. It brings back the question we discussed in class: Are religion and science at odds? Normally, we /pray/ not.
The movie really hit a personal note for me in its pondering of this question of the existence of God. Do I WANT God in the world? Though, obviously, the choice is not mine to make, it is an interesting thing to think about. Depending on the personality of God, I think I would be, like Darwin, scared. Perhaps, if this is a war, science should win and we should all die and never live again, rather than spend eternity in hell. Then again, perhaps suffering--any feeling at all--is preferable to nonexistence. Can nonexistence be painful?
I'm getting a bit beyond the scope of the movie, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that the film compelled me to ask myself very big questions.
The focus of the movie “Creation” surprised me as it did many others. It placed much emphasis on Darwin’s internal struggles while he was creating his text “The Origin of Species”. I found it especially compelling that they used his deceased daughter, Annie, to represent an individual that accepted his research. She constantly echoed Darwin’s theories and was truly intrigued by his research. Her death challenged Darwin to compromise his emotions and his knowledge so he could come to his own peace of mind.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that the conflicts depicted in the film are still very much existent today. There is a constant battle between science and religion and it is a topic that many people struggle with. Some critique science and others deride religion. However, many try to simply legitimize both science and religion and figure out how to combine the two into one simple belief. To me, this is what Darwin and his family were trying to do.
Overall, the movie really opened my eyes to a different perspective of how Darwin’s theory came to be. While I do think the movie was slightly overdramatic and unrealistic, it portrayed key symbols and elements that were existent during Darwin’s journey.
This was a pretty depressing movie. Nothing happy happend and that little girl died. It is hard for me to understand the world that Darwin lived in for it is very different than the one I live in now. I was raised beleiving in evolution so It was bizarre to see Darwin struggling so much with a world with no creative power to it. But I do not think that this movie gave a good account of how Darwin's book came to be, rather it focused on Darwin as a person, and with Darwin's personal matters. I think that Darwin's work is much more important than his daughter to be frank, and i think that darwin would say the same if it was not his daughter. The film does however depict a soceity that is beggining to struggle with the idea of a world that is differnt than that previously imagined and that was interesting for me.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised at the focus the film took towards Darwin’s writing of the Origin of Species. With the emphasis on his personal struggle accepting the theories he was trying to prove, the film depicted how his controversial study alienated himself from his family and from society. In retrospect, this was a very powerful focus to take. Darwin himself recognized the need for God in society and it was evident that he was very uncomfortable with the idea of “killing God”. Although he did deny the fundamental Christian story of Creation, he struggled denying God altogether, which led him to a mental breakdown. I see his wife as a great example of how religion and science can be mutually accepted. She was a devout Christian but recognized the powerful evidence for evolution as well. Although society at the time of Darwin would be strongly against his theories I was surprised and happy to see that he was buried with full Christian honors. Maybe this is just a subtle form of acceptance between the Church and science. For a long time I have struggled to find a balance between faith and science because I believe in evolution but I also have faith in God. This debate used to really bother me because I was divided, thinking I have to choose one or the other. However, a single theory of evolution should not disprove any chance of God and any faith in God should not ultimately disprove science.
ReplyDeleteI think that the actor who played Charles Darwin did a particularly good job. He was able to embody Darwin’s struggle to publish his theories and upend society’s way of thinking about religion. Despite The Origin of Species being Darwin’s famous success, at the time it was published Darwin was apprehensive about whether or not the public would accept his ideas. After spending years perfecting his theory, Darwin left himself open to criticism by publishing his book. Although there were strong reasons against Darwin deciding to publish, he felt the great importance of his theory, he decided to publish anyway. Darwin’s perseverance in the face of powerful monoliths such as the Church ultimately paved the way for his theory’s wide acceptance in the Western world.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the film, i immeadiatly was startled at Darwin's own personal struggles. In grade school we were taught briefly about Darwin's research and his contribution to society. This film, unlike what I had previously known of Darwin, did an incredible job developing Darwin's personal life. Most of what we can see from his haunting past to his own fear of god was directly linked to his work. Although Darwin was incredibly intelligent he could not get over the obsession with fearing his daughters fate. As portrayed in the movie he definatly believed in god and was constantly blaming himself for sending his daughter to what we can only assume is hell. He also decided to postpone writing his book because his own fear of not being able to see his wife and love for the assumed eternity in heaven. It really opened my own eyes to the thought of belief without facts. I am very much so a person that needs results or hard data to believe anything, and Darwin had the truth behind the origin of species he still was able to seperate his faith from his work. He also understood that by publishing his book he was not only compromising his own beliefs but the beliefs of the entire religious population. While we continue to read religious works or writings pretaining to individuals beliefs, we should consider how the authors weigh faith and religion as i believe it to be one of the greatest questions in todays society, much like Karen Armstrong.
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