In which a number of Biblical Settings Come Together

For those of you in Great Britain and with a television license, I shall mention that Darren Aranofsky's Noah is on BBC iPlayer. I watched it, having seen it upon release in the cinema; by my lights, it held up (especially comparing its constant sincerity to the latest Marvel snark-fest). Goodness knows what it does for you.

To briefly make a few points - this is a Biblical film drawing from the four Chapters in the Book of Genesis, as well as numerous of Aronofsky's own expansions and interpretations. The result steers clear of the historical drama angle of other Biblical films. The setting is more temperate in climate than the Near and Middle East; industry and environmentalism arise as themes; motivations are unclear, as is the divine will. Plus Anthony Hopkins appears as Methuselah wielding a flaming sword.

Firstly: let us compose a melange of the settings of Biblical films: the grand cast-of-thousands cities of Ben-Hur or The Ten Commandments with the empty spaces and industrial degradation of Noah. The harsh deserts of the former two also have an appearance. That is landscape; for society, we must think of a set of decadent empires and their verges, with subject peoples caught between them.  Lost artefacts and the ruins of lost kingdoms crust the land. The empires of the day may be cruel, but not unthinkingly so (Marsala as the exception, not the rule). Nonetheless, their presence to the people of the periphery may be hateful. At this point, I shall reference the 2009 American television serial Kings, based on the Biblical book of the same name (this is the only decent-ish clip I could find: Ian McShane as Not-Saul seems a compelling choice).

The supernatural also dots the periphery of these empires; from magical rocks (the zohar of Noah) to giants to signs and portents: the wilderness is the place for all these things. Thus it is a source of potential power, resulting in high-stakes conflict over magical artefacts (IE, Raiders of the Lost Ark; there is something appealingly recursive about a version of Raiders in a near-Bibilical setting) or powerful substances (Mad Max with Bronze-Age angel designed chariots and firearms powered by combustable rocks).

A free-wheeling combination: Bread and Circuses on one hand and vast industry-scarred wilderness on the other. Perhaps rather better as a thought experiment than anything else.