I did, though mostly secondhand (I had a couple of classmates who were into them). My main exposure to them was via an evangelical’s huge multi-year writeup dissecting exactly why they were awful.

These things sold tens of millions and informed a huge number of Christians’ religious views. Some highlights include:

  • The very first words of the very first book are “Rayford Steele’s mind was on a woman he had never touched. With his fully loaded 747 on autopilot…”
  • Russia and Ethiopia fire their entire nuclear arsenals at Israel. This is because the authors see it as fulfillment of the Bible verse discussing “Gog and Magog.” Divine intervention destroys every single missile and aircraft with no Israeli casualties. Somehow, this does not cause any of the characters to question their own religious beliefs.
  • The Rapture happens. Billions of people vanish overnight. Somehow, this exact fulfillment of the Rapture prophecy is treated as something between “Huh. I wonder if the Christians were right” and “That’s just a kooky Christian theory, it was actually caused by the electromagnetism from nuclear weapons.”
  • Less than a week after The Rapture, the world gets back to normal despite something like a third of the Earth’s population having just disappeared. There is no sign of long-term trauma or logistical strain.
  • The Antichrist is a Romanian who takes over the world by ascending to the position of UN Secretary General. His evil plan includes dismantling the world’s militaries and using the money saved on weapons to pay for the development of the Global South.
  • Female characters have two possible personalities: perfect tradwife and sinful harlot.
  • One of the later books includes a graphic, gory description of Jesus simultaneously exploding tens of thousands of people.
  • happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    12 days ago

    Mandatory plug for The Leftovers, an HBO drama that’s my favourite show of all time: (cw: suicide, sex) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLT3YUALJno

    It’s a secular version of Left Behind which critically interprets Christian mythology in an absurdist world. 2% of the world’s population disappears and the series follows the psychosocial collapse that causes. The portrayal of faith and Christian themes is so much more interesting when they aren’t trying to sell it. There’s a scene where a wayward priest confronts someone who might be god and it’s one of the best dialogues on television because the show spent two seasons making him Job and giving him reasons to hate god, something Christian media is totally unwilling to honestly portray because it’d offend their audience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0KHjAJXDv4

    • Belly_Beanis [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      12 days ago

      The Leftovers is one of the GOATs. The scene that always gets me is when he has to sing karaoke in order to leave the hotel (this will make sense when you see it lol). Also the line “We fucked things up with Nora.”

      You have to be in the right state of mind because the show dives deep into regrets and grief. It also has an awful pilot and doesn’t really pick up until around the third episode.

      Liv Tyler is fucking terrifying as a villain.

      What’s nuts is the show finished years before covid and QAnon, yet predicted both. 2% of the world doesn’t sound like much to cause everyone to go crazy, yet we had less than that causing people to become unhinged.

      • happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        12 days ago

        I watched it before COVID, during it, and after. That’s the thing that convinced me it was the best. It asks all the questions that broke people’s minds during COVID and then asks how those can even be answered in a world without meaning. Justin Theroux’s performance, especially in those dream sequence episodes, is on par with Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood. Post-apocalyptia is my genre and originally made me watch/judge it, but after living through a collapse it’s the only post-apocalyptic media I can think of which humanistically portrays what that feels like.

      • happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        12 days ago

        It’s so beautiful. The writing, acting, and score are a step above anything else on TV and most films. The pacing can be awkward but this show is uniquely emotionally resonant for me and the way it handles the subject is fascinating.

    • AFineWayToDie [he/him]@hexbear.net
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      12 days ago

      Oh geez, it’s good? I got a bored and gave up after three or four episodes, because I didn’t feel like there was any commentary on society at large. Everything felt very individual.

      Then again, it sounds like I missed something.

      • happybadger [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        12 days ago

        The early episodes of the first season are where it drags. That’s where it’s trying to adapt straight from the novel instead of making its own narrative. Especially during the second season you see the larger effects beyond the Guilty Remnant.