Curious Christian

Reflections on culture, nature, and spirituality from a Christian perspective

Little Oberon

Published by

Matt Stone

2005-09-19

Another note for my self as much as anything else. Just finished watching Little Oberon, an Australian drama featuring Sigrid Thornton, and found it had surprisingly strong Pagan themes.

The most obvious: one of the three central female characters, Georgie, was a high priestess of Wicca and another, her daughter Natasha, saw ghosts and experienced stigmata. The other surprise was that one of the central Christian characters, a local minister, was actually portrayed as being reasonably sensitive and astute. However, less surprisingly, one of the more conservative Christian characters was a villianess. Here’s some of what the Melbourne Age had to say:

These allusions to mysticism are not mere sidebars: indeed, the relationship between Natasha’s ghosts and Georgie’s past serves, ultimately, as this telemovie’s central storyline.

In short, Little Oberon appears to be exploring the religious pulse of Australia in a far more serious and overt way than anything else I’ve seen to date. It will be interesting to observe how Wiccan and Christian communities react to it, particularly if the rumoured series comes to pass.

Further note to self: Could the three central characters be a deliberate illusion to the maiden, mother and crone manifestations of the tripple goddess? It could have been accidental, but then again the maiden’s particular gifts were directly linked to the continuance of her virgin state which would suggest awareness. Hmmm, now that I recall she was tempted by a Pan figure. Definite allusions to the pagan god and goddess mythology methinks.

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5 responses to “Little Oberon”

bec

2005-09-20

I definitely agree with your musings, Matt – actually I found it grated a little because it was all so obvious (particularly the virginal figure tempted by Pan).
There was something about it I haven’t quite figured out yet, but the best I can explain it at the moment is that it seemed that it was quite disembodied from the “Australian” context. I say this as someone who loves writers like Tim Winton, who seem to be able to write about a peculiarly Australian spirituality, connection with the landscape etc…

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Matt Stone

2005-09-20

I think part of the issue is that Wicca itself is still struggling to connect to the Australian landscape, at least from what I observe.
For example, Witchcraft maganize contains regular soul searching articles on whether the wheel of the year needs to be adapted for the southern hemisphere or not, and I recall a recent article where an Australian writer confessed, ritualistically speaking, to identifying with the northern hemisphere plants and animals more than the Australian bush. I find this quite intriguing in the light of much anti-Christian propoganda denouncing us for our insensitivity to earth rhythms.
Another issue is that Wicca is growing strongly in the cities and alternative coastal enclaves like Nimbin but Im not so sure about more conservative rural areas. Maybe I’m wrong. But the setting of the show does seem a little forced. I doubt you could waltz in a build up a coven that quickly just anywhere. Act as a solitary, sure, but that was a stretch. So maybe some bush mythologising on their part.
But nevertheless Wicca is the fastest growing religion in the land, particularly amongst younger women, and marketing execs have been twigging to it. Consider the “Venus Divine” lady shaver campaign for instance. Slogan was “Reveal the Goddess in you.” I think this is just taking it to a new level.

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bec

2005-09-21

I find the lack of connection with the landscape intriguing, because for most of my friends, their primary concern with Christianity is, as you suggest, the disconnection with place. Equally, this is the attraction of many pagan, New Age and Easter beliefs and belief systems – they are perceived to be more gorunded, organic, earthy…
I’m not sure about the social context of rural communities. I grew up in a regional centre – 20,000, but very country/rural in mindset. I actually think that there is a level of tolerance and understanding in country communities that doesn’t exist in urban areas – smaller populations mean you’re forced into close proximity with those who are different, you don’t have the choice of isolating yourself. In a rural community, it’s much harder to simply dismiss someone as a ‘whacko’ because you generally know them reasonably well! The hills where I grew up were full of different spiritual communities, ranging from benign paganism to some really dangerous “Christian” cults – we went to school with each other, shopped with each other, etc etc, so there was actually a level of understanding that I’ve never found in the city.

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Matt Stone

2005-09-21

Bec,
I’ll take on board your observations about the rural communities. Happy to be corrected on that.
As for earthy religion, and disconnection from the Australian landscape aside, I think where Christianity can genuinely be called to task by the Pagan community is their critique of
Christian eco-theologies, which by and large have been pro-exploitation or at least relegated to the backwaters of theological consideration.
God has used pagan prophets in the past (see Balaam for instance) and I believe he is doing it again now to call us to task since we have been so hard of hearing. We need to dig below the theological barnicles of the centuries and look to what the Bible really has to say, unmediated by vested interests.
In short, its time for Christians to recognise that care for the Creator’s creation is a moral obligation. And not just in a piecemeal fashion by a few social activists but at the highest levels of leadership.
Christianity, properly understood is an earth, sky and sea religion. And our hope, understood holistically, includes a downloading of divinely resurrecting energies into the entire ecosphere and not just some sort of individualistic uploading into a gnostic-heavenly cyberspace.
I hope that this show, if it does develop into a series, can explore alternative Christian responses to land exploitation through the two principle Christian characters. Yet I fear it would actually need three characters to rise above the typical liberal-fundamentalist debate.

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bec

2005-09-22

Matt,
I couldn’t agree more re: the need for Christians to take the call to care for creation seriously. You don’t even want to get me started on that one…
I guess what struck me when watching Little Oberon was the way in which Natasha’s spirituality seemed to be quite European (the nymphs were even blonde haired and blue eyed) and Georgie’s seemed to be really disconnected from the landscape (she bears her body to the moon in a clearing where trees look on, rather than crowd around her). I don’t know what it all means, it just really stood out to me. It was particularly strange given that the story is set in a country town, and it was a significant place spiritually – the landscape just seemed to be that, the landscape – not a ‘place’ or ‘space’ or Creation.

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