The two stories, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein and the movie Blade Runner are both to do with a search for God, but not in the same way, and in neither case was the author aware of the full ramifications of their search. It shows God moving in ways that He rarely gets credit for.
Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein had a beginning, a germ of which began with a dinner being held with Lord Byron, Percy Byshe Shelley and his runaway bride, Mary. First published in 1818, when Mary was twenty years old, she had first considered the book in 1815, when Mary had toured Europe with Percy and Byron. They had had dinner in Gernsheim, eleven miles from Frankenstein castle where two centuries before, an alchemist had been engaged in experiments. Luigi Galvani had discovered ‘animal electricity’ animating the legs of dead frogs. Galvanism was the topic of conversation, and they agreed to write horror stories around the concept. Seventeen year old Mary, persevered.
Life got in the way of the story. Percy’s first wife suicided in 1816, and so he married Mary, who was pregnant. Their daughter was prematurely born and soon died. And so Mary had inspiration for her characters and motivations. However, Mary could draw on her whole young life for inspiration. Her celebrated mother, Mary Wollstonecraft had died a month after giving birth to Mary. Mary had struggled accepting her step mother from age 4. By age 15, Mary had rebelled, running away with Percy.
Mary’s story Frankenstein, styled as a modern Prometheus, had antecedent ideas from Christianity. She contemplated creation and related it to childbirth as well as electricity, in fusion. However, Frankenstein’s monster was not created by God, and so suffers, lacking a soul. And because the monster has no soul, it is destructive. Mary’s vision is very unsophisticated, but compelling in a pop culture identification.
Mary’s concept of using electricity to get the dead to move was a concept scientists in Great Britain tried to explore. They even got approval to test the idea on a prisoner who was executed, and his body was used to see if electricity could effectively animate it. There was pathos in getting the criminal to accept the experiment. The prisoner had killed his wife, and said he knew he deserved to die. However, he feared his animated body might be evil, and kill someone innocent. The experiment failed, with external electricity applied to muscles scalding the skin prior to getting minimal movement. After Percy died by accident in 1822, Mary took on the task of protecting his literary legacy.
The movie Blade Runner 1982, produced by Ridley Scott, was a futuristic Frankenstein. While the Christian ethics still surface as pop culture references, the writers included some overlooked content. Towards the end, as the Monster is dying, it is still fighting to live. The Blade Runner is chasing it, then it turns the tables and chases the Blade Runner. In one scene, the monster’s hand is cramping, and it pushes a nail through it. The Blade Runner stumbles and is clinging to a girder for his life. Monster had clasped a dove as it approaches the blade runner clinging to life. Monster could commit a coup de grace, but instead releases the dove, and with the hand with the nail, lifts the blade runner to safety. Then Monster talks of the profound life experiences that will pass when he dies. It is a clear resurrection reference that the director seems to walk back in later films.
Many hunger for God, and look for God in movies and books, even unsophisticated work like Mary’s Frankenstein or co-opted works like Blade Runner. Even as many involved may try to devalue the story of Jesus, yet they implicitly include Him in their work. It is not the same as reading the Bible, but it allows insights for those who have.
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells swing and jingle bells ring
Snowin' and blowin' up bushels of fun
Now the jingle hop has begun
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bells chime in jingle bell time
Dancin' and prancin' in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air
What a bright time, it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go glidin' in a one-horse sleigh
Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet
Jingle around the clock
Mix and a-mingle in the jinglin' feet
That's the jingle bell rock
Jingle bell, jingle bell, jingle bell rock
Jingle bell chime in jingle bell time
Dancin' and prancin' in Jingle Bell Square
In the frosty air
What a bright time, it's the right time
To rock the night away
Jingle bell time is a swell time
To go glidin' in a one-horse sleigh
Giddy-up jingle horse, pick up your feet
Jingle around the clock
Mix and a-mingle in the jinglin' feet
That's the jingle bell
That's the jingle bell
That's the jingle...
David Daniel Ball calls himself the Conservative Voice.
I'm a teacher with three decades experience teaching math to high school kids.I also work with first graders and kids in between first grade and high school. I know the legends of why Hypatia's dad is remembered through his contribution to Math theory. And I know the legend of why followers of Godel had thought he had disproved God's existence.
I'm not a preacher, but I am a Christian who has written over 28 books all of which include some reference to my faith. Twelve blog books on world history and current affairs, detailing world events , births and marriages on each day of the year, organised by month. Twelve books on the background to and history of Bible Quotes. One Bible quote per day for a year. An intro to a science fiction series I'm planning, post apocalyptic cyber punk. An autobiography with short story collections.
I'm known in Australia for my failure as a whistleblower over the negligence death of a school boy. ...
In Tanami’s red sands where spinifex grows,
Where waterholes gleam ‘neath the sun’s golden glare,
Lived Yaparla, sweet maid, with a heart pure as snow,
Her kindness a light in the desert so bare.
Her father, a wise man, kept songs for the land,
To guard the soak’s waters where life held its sway.
But drought gripped the earth with a merciless hand,
And he sought a new spring to ease their dismay.
Deep in a gorge where the rocks hid the sky,
He found a clear pool with fish dancing free.
But a voice shook the stones with a thunderous cry,
“Who steals my sweet water without leave of me?”
Out slid the Wanyarra, half-man, half a snake,
His scales flashed like opals, his eyes cold with pain.
“For your kin’s life,” he hissed, “one price I must take—
Send Yaparla to me, or your land drinks no rain.”
The father returned, his heart heavy with woe,
And told his dear daughter the serpent’s demand.
“I’ll go,” said Yaparla, her voice soft and low,
“For my people, my country, I’ll walk that red sand.”
She came to the gorge with her digging stick strong,
Singing songs of her kin ‘neath ...
AI adapted
To adapt the story of Bambi to the Dreamtime of Warlpiri culture in the Tanami Desert, we’ll reimagine the tale with respect for Warlpiri storytelling traditions, cosmology, and the desert environment. The Dreamtime (Jukurrpa) is a sacred framework where ancestral beings shape the land, law, and life, so Bambi’s journey will reflect Warlpiri values like kinship, connection to country, and survival in harmony with nature. I’ll keep the essence of Bambi—a young creature’s growth amid loss and discovery—while grounding it in the Tanami’s ecology and Warlpiri worldview. Since Bambi is a specific narrative, I’ll translate its core themes rather than reproduce the original text verbatim, ensuring cultural sensitivity. The story will be concise yet vivid, as requested.
Bambi in the Jukurrpa of the Tanami
In the Jukurrpa, when the Tanami Desert glowed under the first stars, the ancestral beings shaped the land. From the spinifex and red sand, they formed Jampijinpa, a young red ...
Created with Grok, Pictory, And Topmediai
Content from listening to podcasters Hunley and Groubert of America's Untold Stories. They tell it better than me
Folk Song: "The Ballad of Lee Harvey Oswald"
Verse 1
Oh, Lee Harvey Oswald, a man they did frame,
The deep state and CIA, they tarnished his name.
They said he went to Mexico, a lie they did spin,
While he fought for his service, his honor within.
Chorus
Sing for Lee Oswald, innocent and bold,
Framed by the shadows, a story untold.
With courage he stood, though the truth they denied,
A patriot’s heart in a nation that lied.
Verse 2
On that dark day in Dallas, they said he shot Tippit,
Left a wallet behind, but the tale didn’t fit.
Arrested with his own in hand, the proof was right there,
But the deep state kept spinnin’ their web of despair.
Chorus
Sing for Lee Oswald, innocent and bold,
Framed by the shadows, a story untold.
With courage he stood, though the truth they denied,
A patriot’s heart in a nation that lied.
Verse 3
They trained him in Russian, sent him off to the East,
A ...
