Black Jesus v. The Sons of Anarchy

I recently finishing watching the first season of 'Black Jesus' and it is a kind-hearted mixture of Trailer-park Boys, Friday (the 1995 movie) and, well, Jesus Christ. The plot is that Jesus and his homies want to start a community garden/grow-op - that's it. My biggest complaint is that the show doesn't go for the jugular in its' social commentary, but by the end of the season I had made my peace with it's gentle but foul-mouthed stoner humour.

But the following article really brought something home to me; I'm might be an atheist/agnostic with interests in what I would call 'hard-core' subjects - industrial music, war, crime and punishment, goth, genre media (sci-fi, horror, fantasy), evolution, parasites and disease, historical disasters - but I have absolutely no interest in 99% of 'hard-boiled' American media; it intuitively repulses me, and there is a lifetime of better media to watch.

The article linked to above is titled 'TV needs ‘Black Jesus’ more than ever' and it is a short read but here are the key quotes from it:

"By the time I reached [Game of Throne's] third incest plot, even this born-and-raised atheist was praying for a savior."

"From “The Sopranos” to “Breaking Bad” to “Sons of Anarchy” to “Scandal,” episodes tend to center on acts of calculated violence. In these shows, family is the only thing worth caring about besides power [...] “True Detective” offered a whole philosophy of nihilism, with mangled bodies to match. And let’s not get started on “American Horror Story” or “The Walking Dead.”"

"Adam Kotsko examines this phenomenon in his book “Why We Love Sociopaths,” in which he suggests that our fixation on such megalomaniacal protagonists is “an attempt to escape from the inescapably social nature of human experience.” [...] To spend an evening bingeing on one of these shows is to step away from moral constraints such as the sanctity of life and plunge into the war of all against all."

"Unlike so many our TV protagonists, Black Jesus doesn’t offer power or strength in this world. For him, causing harm is the worst defeat. [Show producer] McGruder has been highly critical of the Christian entertainment-industrial complex in the past, but his Jesus embodies the holy figure’s chillest qualities. He’s a leader without an army, a friend who always gets you to do the right thing — even if he smokes your weed and never has any money. When “Black Jesus” portrays pride as the easiest thing to sacrifice, it upends the television world we’ve grown used to."

Preach on, brother! Amen!