Noah: filling Biblical plot holes

This contains spoilers for Noah. Yes, it’s not just the Bible tale verbatim.

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Today I saw Noah. Overall I found the film engaging and well-constructed. It definitely is a Biblical film for the 21st century- drawing deep into the Apocrypha and willing to make the lead protagonist something more than a paragon of virtue in a wicked world. It wrestles with the whole Flood in human terms- what would it be like to be doomed as the flood began? And what would it be like to be one of the few who survived, but had to listen to the cries of the dying?

The Old Testament has known consistency issues. If one thinks of scripture as something more than a set of books, it would be trite to call them “plot holes”. Revelation is not plot. But there are lots of outstanding questions in Genesis, and the Noah story is no exception.

Director/writer Darren Aronofsky digs deep into both the Apocrypha and modern fantasy literature to create an alien antediluvian world- a time where fallen angels walked the earth, and artifacts from the Garden of Eden were still carried by Adam and Eve’s descendents.

Aronofsky solves a couple logistical questions people have about Noah. How did a single man and his small family create a giant wood boat the size of a cruiser? The fallen angels, turned into horrible rock monsters, help Noah (who clearly has the favor of God) to seek redemption. How did they get so many animals together? God sent divine rivers out across the world and called the animals to the Ark? How did they feed all of them? Noah and his family concoct a sleeping smoke that puts them all into hibernation.

The approach to the nuts-and-bolts issues in Old Testament scripture is interesting, and it is nice to see a Biblical film try to flesh out the realities of life in the time of Genesis. By far the largest, and most important effort in Noah is to clarify why Noah’s clan were selected by God (though in the film, “the Creator” is exclusively used), and why everyone else was so terrible that they needed to be purged from the Earth.

Genesis itself is incredibly unhelpful. Here is the entire explanation of the moral landscape, in Genesis 5:11-13:

11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. 12 God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. 13 So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.

Clearly things had degenerated to an awful point- using “corrupt” three times in two verses gives that impression. But besides being corrupt and violent, there is not much to go on. Noah is described as righteous and godly, but not much past that.

Noah centers its entire story and conflict around the differences between the two groups. It casts most of the world as descended from Cain- they are violent, wasteful, and have an insatiable lust for land, resources, and the flesh of any animal they can get their hands on. Noah, his wife, and their three sons are descended from Seth. They appear to not be not only vegetarian but do not rely on animals in any capacity. Noah preaches conservation- use only what is needed, and look after the Earth that God gave man.

The landscape of the film is desolate- whole forests cut down, mountains turned into vast now-abandoned mines. Animal and plan life is scarce because the people of Cain have used it up to create their technologically-advanced civilization- at least Iron Age. One could see God’s flood as an environmental necessity- Nature must defend itself from complete destruction. In this light, the central idea of the Flood becomes more acceptable. Noah understands responsibility and stewardship. He will be able to create a better world. That is why he is chosen.

Overall this helps one wrestle with the theology of the Noah story. While I am not a Christian, my beliefs and current participation in the Unitarian Universalist church make me sympathetic to the idea of a universally-loving god As written, the Noah story seems like God killing a vast number of people due to general grievances. Used to a modern system where guilty parties need to be tried in an evidence-based system, it feels odd to think of such a vague scenario as holding a critical moral and religious lesson. The argument in Noah is consistent and frequent- there is great danger in people who think of humanity as supreme, and all of Nature subservient and there to please and fulfill. Characters deal with the flood in a realistic way- drawn between their duty and their common ground with those said to be wicked. It is more satisfying, and the detail that Noah injects gives the whole tale depth and dilemma.

The film is not perfect, but I appreciated a narrative that attempted to supplement scriptural stories and provide a new idea of what the land that Noah and his kin saw was like. The myth is fully realized- it feels distant, yet the underlying themes draw in the modern audience.

 

Author: AJM

Writer, sociologist, Unitarian Universalist.

2 thoughts on “Noah: filling Biblical plot holes”

  1. Have you ever heard of the Epic of Gilgamesh? Well, it’s identical to the Genesis flood bedtime story… but written about 2 to 3 thousand illusory-like years before the handbook of predictive programming called the ‘Old Testament’ started its circus show.

    ‘Utnapishtim’ became the flood hero ‘Noah’ in the newer version.

    By the way friend, predictive programming is found in ditties, myths, songs, shows, art, movies, science, and religion. The subtle messages program the subconscious mind, nudging you to focus on an event, so as to increase its probability it’ll occur in the ‘future’. One who experiences the event thinks it’s a natural occurrence, instead of recognizing it to be as staged as the Ginsu Knife sales pitch.

    There’s a coastal water event that is being planned by those who are directing both mainstream and alternative media. Since most carnival patrons don’t control their attention, it’s highly likely it just might occur.

    The arc of angles assists in creating the perception of ‘things’. In essence, the ArcAngel is the ‘Arc of Angles’ (created by the mixing of the 3 energies that are subjectively interpreted as colors red green blue when they come together to make the first Hexagram).

    An Archon creates using Angles.

    The arc of archeology brings the illusory-like past and presents it as real to those in the present.

    The arch connects duality, and presents it as one. Two bull horns of bull.

    The ark is the arc of electricity that El-ectrifies, and provides what is wrongly thought of as ‘life’. All brought to you by Elhohim (the Elected Hebrew name for God).

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    1. I have read Gilgamesh, and it’s one of a great many flood stories (some perhaps stemming from the flood coming when the Black Sea and the Mediterranean suddenly became connected).

      The rest of your comment is incoherent pseudo-mysticism, so I can’t comment on any of that.

      Like

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