John Safran vs God
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John Safran vs God is an 8 part television documentary series by John Safran which was broadcast on the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) of Australia in 2004. Described in a media release as "[John Safran's] most audacious project yet". Despite being an irreverent look at world religions and theology in general, Safran managed to be both informative and entertaining, without being outright offensive. It had a much more serious tone than Safran's previous work Music Jamboree. The show was released by Ghost of Your Ex-Boyfriend Productions and SBS Independent, it was directed by Craig Melville and produced by Selin Yaman. The series won the 2005 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Comedy Series.
To his detractors, the informal format was received as being slightly condescending. On his official website his ex-girlfriend/webmistress says about the series, "There is only one thing worse than someone shoving their religious views down your throat, and that's someone shoving their smarmy, superior views on religious beliefs down your throat".
The show's opening theme was Hate Priest, a Satanic-Rock-style song by the band Mozart on Crack. The opening sequence featured John in a black suit breaking out of a patch of black scorched earth with his bare hands during a thunderstorm. The words "When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison." Revelation 20:7 are spoken. click here for video of opening titles
John himself says this on religion:
| “ | I’m definitely pro-religion, more so than anti-religion, I constantly feel like I’m going to get into trouble for the things I do, even if there’s no logical reason for me to get into trouble. So that’s the reason, I think, why I must believe there is something “there”, God or whatever. Because why would I feel like I’m doing something wrong if I believed there was nobody around to punish me for it? [1] | ” |
Contents |
[edit] Episode guide
[edit] Episode One
- In the UK, Safran meets Sheikh Omar Bakri and Sheikh Abu Hamza and succeeds in getting a fatwa placed on Rove McManus for dropping Safran's scheduled appearance on Rove Live (the fatwa was later removed)
- Safran tries out a religion based on hallucinogenic cactus plant, Peyote; vomiting and weak hallucinations ensue
- Safran examines Scientology at the expense of Jamie Packer and the Nine network
[edit] Episode Two
- Safran looks at the duplicity of Australia's "Sorry" attitude to Indigenous Rights
- Safran tries out zen Buddhism in Japan, the segment includes two incidents of Safran being beaten with a stick as punishment for mistakes made with meditation and philosophical questions.
- Safran examines the link between Satanism and Freemasonry
[edit] Episode Three
- Despite being Jewish, Safran attempts to join a branch of the Ku Klux Klan in California
- Safran tries out Catholicism under the guidance of Father Bob Maguire (who later joined Safran in a regular segment on the radio station Triple J and the SBS series Speaking in Tongues)
- Safran holds a competition in which Australian-Palestinians vie for his Israeli citizenship by recreating segments from Music Jamboree
[edit] Episode Four
- Safran examines Mormon cinema in Salt Lake City, proposing his "Extreme Mormons" film
- Safran tries out Voodoo in Haiti, participating in the "Day of the Dead" ceremony. This segment was rather graphic, featuring the TV crew being attacked, spiritual possession, and a goat having its testicles bitten off and its throat slit.
- John visits a Jewish gun advocate and rabbi in Los Angeles, in a bid to show that American gun rights activists consist of more than fundamental Christians.
[edit] Episode Five
- John travels to Sicily to confess to a priest that he stole some batteries and masturbated in a bed owned by the priest during Race Around the World
- Again in Salt Lake City, Safran tries some atheistic door knocking to harass local Mormons
- In India, Safran tries out the spiritual teachings of several Hindu gurus
[edit] Episode Six
- John auditions for the Harlem Gospel Choir with a tuneless rendition of Amazing Grace
- John tries out Ásatrú ("the Viking religion"), taking part in a remembrance ceremony in the United States
- Big Brother series one contestant, Sara-Marie Fedele helps Safran attempt to broker peace between Australian representatives of both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
- Inspired by rumours in Malawi, John confronts Australian politicians in Canberra to try and discover if any are vampires.
[edit] Episode Seven
- John travels to Mozambique to lift a curse from the Socceroos at the behest of football legend Johnny Warren. (As an interesting sidenote, after 31 years of not qualifying, the Socceroos finally qualified for the World Cup 2006 in Germany, beating Uruguay in what many media articles termed a stroke of luck for a team previously lacking it).
- Again in Salt Lake City, Safran finds out what is so special about "Mormon underwear"
- With the help of Canberra mathematician Brendan McKay, John uncovers the link between The Bible Code, September 11, 2001 and rapper Vanilla Ice.
- John examines the realistic goals of religious boycotts
[edit] Episode Eight
The eighth episode was the most controversial. Instead of its usual format of various segments, the show featured a single story: the exorcism of John's demons by Christian exorcist and fundamentalist preacher, Bob Larson. There was none of the humour that had characterised the preceding episodes. The exorcism was dramatic and realistic, and no explanation was given at the end of the episode as to John's behaviour. On the Yahoo! "Cult of Safran" web group, a stormy discussion started on whether John was actually faking. Safran's lisp is absent while allegedly possessed. Safran had appeared in several radio and television plug spots for the show post-production pre-screening, and only briefly mentioned the exorcism episode as a very intense segment to film. After the screening of the episode Safran appeared in interview on ABC radio and said he didn't remember a lot of the experience. The sales pitch for the recently released DVD goes "You've seen the exorcism, now buy the DVD"
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Official site with SBS
- John's official site
- John Safran vs. God at the Internet Movie Database
- John Safran vs The Spirit of Things — 12 September 2004 interview with Rachael Kohn on Radio National's The Spirit of Things program
