"Hellsing" from a Catholic perspective
May. 27th, 2007 04:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
matrixrefugeeSince I had a "Hellsing" anime marathon last night and watched the last six episodes back to back to back: I rather prefer the OAV to the manga, since the anime takes such wide departures from the manga, and I'm not sure what to make of the ending of the anime, whether I liked it or not, but I have to admit, I was relieved when a god-moding freak who reminded me of some anNOYing twinkers on the MxO got the belt-down. Whew. Didn't have to listen to him bragging any more.
Now... on to the Catholic perspective I've been putting off:
I know some people in the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Liberty who'd be foaming at the mouth over the Iscariot organization/Section XIII (*some* people: this group is pretty good about being spot-on at sticking up for the Church when someone misportrays it publicly, but once in a great while, they bark up the wrong tree; case in point when someone got after Dick Wolf for an episode of "Law & Order" where a priest was convicted of murdering a drug dealer. I remember seeing that episode and thinking Graham Greene's ghost had helped the scriptwriter, it was such a tight moral conundrum). But it doesn't faze me any more. I'll admit, I found it irksome at first, but I've gotten past that. My main problem with it when it did bother was the fact that I've seen way too many "Vatican assassins"/priests/monks as assassins done very badly. :: Glares in Dan Brown's general direction; considers writing a crossover fanfiction with a cage-match between Father Anderson and Brother Silas, though Anderson would leave Silas alone since the latter is human:: The "Hellsing" universe, anime tropes aside, is so different from ours that it's more like an alternate universe or a paralell universe of some sort, thus the organizational mechanics of actual Catholicism does not apply here. In our world, even if there *was* a freak-hunting organization in the Church, Pope John Paul II would probably have had it disbanded and issued a public apology for all the freaks that had been put out of comission, especially if any of said beings were innocent of any wrong-doing.
However, I find it surprising that a Protestant spook-targeting organization and not a Catholic one would have a vampire or two on the payroll. There's a couple different Catholic saints who supposedly tamed preternatural beasties to work with them: St. David, a 7th century missionary to Wales supposedly tamed a dragon and used to ride on its back on his journeys. St. Wolfgang, a 10th century German bishop, supposedly tamed a devil or a demon and had it help him in his ministry: there are early Rennaissence paintings of him with a demon holding a Mass book, or carrying a big basket as the saint distributes food or clothing to some poor folks. Just my thoughts, nothing more. My experience with a lot of Protestants is that they can tend to be spiritually pragmatic to the point of being a bit rules-lawyerish at times, and that they'd be extremely hesitant about having something wierd working with them, even if it's for the greater good.
Unless my theory is true and Anderson actually *is* a dhampire (ie. part human, part vampire, doesn't have the weakness to daylight or the need to drink blood).
Now... on to the Catholic perspective I've been putting off:
I know some people in the Catholic League for Civil and Religious Liberty who'd be foaming at the mouth over the Iscariot organization/Section XIII (*some* people: this group is pretty good about being spot-on at sticking up for the Church when someone misportrays it publicly, but once in a great while, they bark up the wrong tree; case in point when someone got after Dick Wolf for an episode of "Law & Order" where a priest was convicted of murdering a drug dealer. I remember seeing that episode and thinking Graham Greene's ghost had helped the scriptwriter, it was such a tight moral conundrum). But it doesn't faze me any more. I'll admit, I found it irksome at first, but I've gotten past that. My main problem with it when it did bother was the fact that I've seen way too many "Vatican assassins"/priests/monks as assassins done very badly. :: Glares in Dan Brown's general direction; considers writing a crossover fanfiction with a cage-match between Father Anderson and Brother Silas, though Anderson would leave Silas alone since the latter is human:: The "Hellsing" universe, anime tropes aside, is so different from ours that it's more like an alternate universe or a paralell universe of some sort, thus the organizational mechanics of actual Catholicism does not apply here. In our world, even if there *was* a freak-hunting organization in the Church, Pope John Paul II would probably have had it disbanded and issued a public apology for all the freaks that had been put out of comission, especially if any of said beings were innocent of any wrong-doing.
However, I find it surprising that a Protestant spook-targeting organization and not a Catholic one would have a vampire or two on the payroll. There's a couple different Catholic saints who supposedly tamed preternatural beasties to work with them: St. David, a 7th century missionary to Wales supposedly tamed a dragon and used to ride on its back on his journeys. St. Wolfgang, a 10th century German bishop, supposedly tamed a devil or a demon and had it help him in his ministry: there are early Rennaissence paintings of him with a demon holding a Mass book, or carrying a big basket as the saint distributes food or clothing to some poor folks. Just my thoughts, nothing more. My experience with a lot of Protestants is that they can tend to be spiritually pragmatic to the point of being a bit rules-lawyerish at times, and that they'd be extremely hesitant about having something wierd working with them, even if it's for the greater good.
Unless my theory is true and Anderson actually *is* a dhampire (ie. part human, part vampire, doesn't have the weakness to daylight or the need to drink blood).
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no subject
Date: 2007-05-28 09:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-28 04:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-28 06:47 pm (UTC)And in the Blade movies, Blade had to drink blood often (or take his "medicine"). And he was a dhampire.
By those Universe definitions, dhampires weren't 100% immune to blood or sunlight, despite signifigant resistances to both. But those are different universes and everyone has their own definition of "dhampire" ... which is why I asked you to clarify.
I think the Hellsing dhampire would be interesting since I heard that, according to the manga, only a virgin can become a vampire. I imagine sex would be a little awkward.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-28 09:26 pm (UTC)And you're right, "Hellsing" dhampires would be interesting to see, and I'll admit, I've been a leetle hesitant over my theory about Anderson's origins, considering the way the universe rules work, re: how vampires are created.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-29 03:09 pm (UTC)~Weaver
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Date: 2007-05-29 10:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-31 08:21 pm (UTC)~Weaver
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Date: 2007-07-04 02:01 pm (UTC)