{"id":18580,"date":"2014-05-12T16:50:11","date_gmt":"2014-05-12T23:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?p=18580"},"modified":"2014-05-12T17:07:35","modified_gmt":"2014-05-13T00:07:35","slug":"will-the-leftovers-steal-some-of-left-behinds-thunder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2014\/05\/will-the-leftovers-steal-some-of-left-behinds-thunder.html","title":{"rendered":"Will The Leftovers<\/i> steal some of Left Behind<\/i>\u2019s thunder?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>Fred Clark<\/a> makes an interesting argument that hadn\u2019t occurred to me before: If the secular Rapture drama The Leftovers<\/a><\/i> premieres on HBO in June \u2014 just a little more than three months before the Christian Rapture reboot Left Behind<\/a><\/i> comes to theatres in October \u2014 then the secular TV show could make it even more difficult than it already is for some people to take the Christian movie seriously.<\/p>\n

Specifically, Clark zeroes in on the fact that The Leftovers<\/i> is designed to get people asking the sorts of empathetic what-if questions that the Left Behind<\/i> books and films have shown very little interest in. As Clark puts it: <\/p>\n

The Leftovers<\/i> looks interesting. Whether or not it turns out to be any good, it\u2019s an HBO show, so it\u2019s going to generate some buzz. People will be talking about it \u2014 and talking about the questions it raises \u2014 all through July, August and September. What would<\/i> that be like? What would you<\/i> do? How would you<\/i> react? What would happen to \u2026?<\/p>\n

Those questions are going to be kicked around in all kinds of settings right up until the Oct. 3 release date of the new Left Behind<\/i> movie. So the audience for that movie \u2014 even the insular, culturally isolated core of its pre-existing fans \u2014 is going to enter the theater having given some thought to those questions. That audience will enter the theater having given more thought to those questions than Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins ever did.<\/p>\n

That mother\u2019s voice from The Leftovers<\/i> \u2013 her scream of \u201cSam!\u201d \u2014 will set the bar for audiences\u2019 expectation of what Left Behind<\/i> shows as the aftermath and response to its Rapture. If the new movie is anything at all like the book it\u2019s based on, those audiences are bound to be angrily disappointed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I can think of one obvious objection to this argument: namely, that the TV show and the movie are aimed at two very different audiences.<\/p>\n

Clark says even the \u201cinsular, culturally isolated\u201d fans of the Left Behind<\/i> franchise will be giving some thought to the questions raised by The Leftovers<\/i>, but how many Left Behind<\/i> fans will even be watching The Leftovers<\/i>? (How many \u201cinsular, culturally isolated\u201d evangelicals watch HBO to begin with?) And if they aren\u2019t watching it, how much thought could they possibly give<\/i> to the questions raised by the show?<\/p>\n

Still, the fact remains: Christians don\u2019t own<\/i> this concept any more. The Rapture is going to be fleshed out by the broader popular culture in ways that will inevitably affect the Rapture stories told by Christians down the road, or at least, it will affect the way those stories are received. Could be interesting to see how that all works out.<\/p>\n

In other news, HBO has posted a few new videos for The Leftovers<\/i> that I hadn\u2019t got around to blogging yet. I posted the first teaser last month<\/a>. Here\u2019s the second:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Pv3FeBDU1Io<\/p>\n

And here\u2019s the trailer for the show, which includes the Not Safe For Work hints of nudity and language that you\u2019d expect from an HBO show:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Shn1mPejr_4<\/p>\n

The show premieres on HBO June 29.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The HBO Rapture drama premieres June 29. The Rapture movie reboot premieres October 3.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[372,2244,271,2098,287],"class_list":["post-18580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-end-times","tag-fred-clark","tag-left-behind","tag-leftovers","tag-rapture"],"yoast_head":"\nWill The Leftovers steal some of Left Behind\u2019s thunder?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The HBO Rapture drama premieres June 29. 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