"Life of Pi" Will atheists get it?

[cliffy1]

actually it is and I've been trying to figure a way of answering it without blowing the ending.. people hate that

I wonder if god watches movies?

[sophiexfox]

I wonder if god watches movies?

Well if he has the time to listen to ya'll mutter requests to him at once...of course he has time for movies!!!!

[Glacier]

I am Christian, I am male and most definitely straight, but I thought Brokeback Mountain was a great love story, though I got a little squeemish during the tent scene...

Have you ever heard Willie Nelson's brokeback mountain song? Stoned as usual... lol.

[fvkasm2x]

I don't know why you think an atheist couldn't 'get' this movie. Pi isn't exclusively Christian - the whole first act of the story is him telling how he was raised both Hindu and a realist, then how he found Catholicism, then Islam. He is all these things at once. The theme is spiritual not religious. Just because one doesn't believe in god doesn't mean they're incapable of understanding spirituality.

Agreed.

I just watched the film last night and was more interested in the story and visuals than the religious messages. In fact, I never even thought about them until I read this thread (and yes I was aware of everything as an atheist).

[janalta]

I finally watched this movie last week, and given the fact that it's been out for so long I doubt giving away any info at this point is going to destroy anyone's lives.
Now that I've seen it, and truly 'get it', your initial post here seems rather arrogant - assuming because the main character says it's about God, then of course, it's about God and proves undeniably that he/it exists.
This movie isn't about God at all - it isn't even about religion.
It is strictly about the power of the human mind and the human spirit. The drive and the spirit within us to be able to overcome unimaginable horrors and atrocities and come out on the other side somewhat intact and sane.
The human spirit, within each of us - not some fictional spirit in the sky.

Kind of blows me away that people give some sort of higher power or God all of the credit for what each of us possesses within our own hearts and minds.

[fluffy]

Kind of blows me away that people give some sort of higher power or God all of the credit for what each of us possesses within our own hearts and minds.

On the other hand, the true extent of what each of us possesses within our own hearts and minds can easily be considered as a higher power of sorts. The traditional concept of God as some supreme consciousness with his finger on the buttons of the universe is fast losing ground to something more metaphorical, "God" as an embodiment of everything we don't yet fully understand, of all the wonder and mystery that surrounds us, something similar to the way we would refer to Mother Nature or Santa Claus, not literal entities as such, but more a particular collection of thoughts and ideas.

I would suggest that what atheists don't get is that the God they choose not to believe in is as outmoded as the God many do believe in.