JWs and the movie "The Village"

jstalin

I was thinking, on my way to work this morning, that the movie The Village is a lot like the JWs. In the movie, several families live in a false 1800s village in the middle of the forest that only a few people knew was fake. In order to keep the villagers in line, they created a fake monster that would roam the woods at night and scare the crap out of people, so no one dared leave.

The JWs are a lot like this, from what I gather. Once you're part of the JW "village," you are warned that demons roam everywhere and evil apostates will pounce on your soul any chance they get. Once you've left the "village," it's as if you never existed.

Lilycurly

Plus, there are Elders leading the group....it's amazing though, I saw it when I was still in and saw no similarities, it didn't ring any bells. But now that I'm out, it all gets through. Talk about serious blinders!

freedomlover

same with me LIlly - saw it when I was "in" still and it didn't ring any bells, but once the fog lifted - oh man - the similarities were unbelievable!

BlackSwan of Memphis

I felt the same way about the movie. I saw it for the first time a few months back and just saw it again the other night.

It reminded me so much of the jw's and other similar groups.

meagan

merfi

I could see the parallels very clearly. In fact, I watched it because someone had mentioned how similar it was to how the JW are, so I wanted to see for myself. The movie itself was one of the most lame-ass ones I've ever seen (but then I didn't get freaked out by The Grudge or The Ring, either...) but it was interesting to draw the similarities. Elders in control of everyone's mind, boogeymen "out there" so you need to stay close to the village etc. The movie kind of made me mad -- I felt like one of the village idiots who actually BOUGHT this stuff the elders were saying.

Chocolat was another movie that I'd heard one could draw parallels with.

~merfi

onesong

Other parallels : The Island , Truman Show , The Matrix and the earliest one I know of, Plato's allegory of the cave.

Jim_TX

Yeah - I bought the movie when it came out on DVD. My girlfriend told me that she wasn't going to watch it... she doesn't like scary movies.

I watched it solo, and saw the similarities to the JWs.

I then convinced my girlfriend to watch it also. She liked it, too.

I think it's a pretty good movie... buncha control-freaks in charge. Poor kids growing up - afraid of the boogeyman... Oh - don't forget the unique words and phrases that they had, too - just like JWs.

Regards,

Jim TX

merfi

Plato's allegory of the cave

This is my all-time most favorite snippet of literature out there.... When we studied Plato's Republic in Philosophy, I just ate it up. When we got to this allegory, lightbulbs were going off all over the place. Sadly, at the time, I was still only 'studying' so wasn't able to make the parallel then. However, through the next 15 years after, the Allegory would pop back into my head whenever I'd stumble across something that didn't 'fit' right in JW teach. And now -- I use the Allegory when I explain stuff to the kids, to other people etc.

I was going to get this calligraphy'd and framed someday.

I know, I know..

~merfi

atypical

I thought exactly the same thing when I watched it. I was just starting to question everything I believed in and that movie really shook me up. Seeing other people so controlled just by fear and indoctrination - it hit home for me. I said something to my wife and she didn't seem to know what I was talking about.

CaptainSchmideo

For those of us without a "classical" education, here is a link to "Plato's Cave"

JWs and the movie "The Village"

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