The temptation of redemption

Brown 2022-05-17 22:03:53

Redemption has always been a religious term that speaks of how we reform ourselves from our original sin. The irony is that while people are trying to get rid of original sin and achieve redemption, they never know what the consequences of these original sins themselves will bring us. Is it the curse of eternity? Is it hell after death? Or do we get an imperfect afterlife? Or is it just a bad name and it's not a big deal? In the eyes of many people, it is in such ignorance and unknown that people pursue that mirage-like redemption. For being free from a sin always comes with emotional relief. In this way, redemption tempts us in a hazy way.

Redemption still plays a central role in such an inexplicably religious film. Facing the original sin brought about by such a mistake, his father paid hysterical panic and protection. He told himself again and again not to believe, not to believe, this was just to cover up the fear in his heart caused by believing. Thus, the fear becomes a sensitive nerve, a hysterical cry, and finally a look of despair.

Christians, redeem those who are labelled the devil through their rightful legitimacy because of their status. However, in their eyes, angels and demons are incompatible. So in the face of those who are labeled as devils, they do not have the influence of angels, but they kill them like devils in return. It's as paradoxical and absurd as the Crusades. In the pool of baptism, in the light of the cross, that woman believer is redeeming Molly - by drowning her. The moment she decides to drown Molly, she says "God forgives me". Because she didn't know whether this kind of redemption was right or wrong. In her heart, there were only two creeds: one is that the devil should be removed from the beautiful world; the other is that Molly is a devil.

However, the film tells us that the above redemption is of no avail. The hysterical and crazy protection still can't take care of everything carefully at all times, and more importantly, no matter how to protect and remedy, it can't change the trajectory of the events that were decided because of the original choice; and the murderous redemption , and it did not succeed, because it is not clear whether that kind of redemption saves others or destroys others and aggravates one's own original sin. In the end, Molly faced the choice given by God—killing her father to change her identity, and continuing to be a devil—and chose to escape and kill herself, so as to never pay attention to the question of redemption. However, this is in vain. The facts tell us that we must give an answer, and the answer to redemption is unavoidable. Because the moment my father made his choice, the label on his body was limited, and he couldn't take it off by himself.

The film's solution to redemption is somewhat anti-religious. In the end, Molly went ahead and chose to be a devil, it was her choice, and she stopped thinking about the hysterical father who wanted to protect her - because someone controlled by a religious madman like that is better off in a mental hospital in; she didn't think the devil was such a terrible word either. Because in her eyes, the so-called devils and angels are just an external label. When you return to life and enjoy life itself, what's the harm in being a devil? How can you not be redeemed?

The film's answer to redemption is that redemption and original sin are nothing more than a beautiful web woven in our hearts by certain religions, into which we are trapped and unable to extricate ourselves. However, this is what religion tells us. On the one hand, the conclusion of the film tells us that if we take the judgments that religion imposes on us too seriously, we may put shackles on ourselves that we don’t need to have. Title, Molly is also able to live in the sunshine and upward; on the other hand, can religion really bring us salvation? The video says no. While they redeemed us, they also fell into the devil themselves. Because they themselves do not understand how to redeem. They themselves are conflicted about how to redeem themselves, so at the moment of doing what they believe to be redemption, they still have to ask God for forgiveness, fearing that they have made the wrong move. Why should we trust them instead of ourselves, since they can't be sure of themselves? So be yourself, go back to your own life, even if you don't redeem yourself, what can you do?

This is how the film goes around telling us its understanding of the problem of redemption. Sadly, however, the answers the film gives us are not convincing and do not address the real problem. The ending of the film is powerless, because the ending is not the inevitable conclusion of all the previous narratives. For example, if at the end of Molly's graduation speech, a big iron ball suddenly fell from the sky and killed her, the audience might sigh "Alas, fate is fate, and she was not saved in the end." Therefore, it is not enough to talk about being saved. It is not enough to tell you that it is not important to be saved or not to have a beautiful sunny scene at the end.

Therefore, the film ultimately does not provide a clear answer and convincing proof for that serious religious question - do we have original sin? Even if our original sin was imposed on us by Christianity, it did not actually redeem humanity by the extreme means as the film shows. Conversely, the film's brutal depiction of religious redemption is clearly overly biased if it doesn't have enough reason to argue that it's not what Christianity says it is.

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Extended Reading

The Haunting of Molly Hartley quotes

  • Molly Hartley: [menacingly to Suzie] Leave... me... alone!

  • Leah: Come on. You can't tell me you're not bored out of your mind here.