CW: very rambling discussion about specifically Christian religion and its role/reality in relation to the popular Amazon musical dramedy Hazbin Hotel (2023-2025) (referred to throughout this post as ' HaHo ' )- do note that serious topics within the context of institutionalized Christian religious violence and control are touched upon
various units are used throughout as footnote indicators (ex. ' + ', ' ° ')
feels like there's a delicate balance in depicting the hegemonic power of Christianity+ as it manifests from how it's wielded alongside the actual theology°
I don't know how to grapple with the dual sensation that it shouldn't matter to give care and respect to something of colonial and capitalist and hierarchical machinery AND that Christianity is nonetheless an incredibly valuable force that cannot simply be reduced to the imposing role, that it exists for, particularly, black, brown, and (perhaps most notably) indigenous communities- as well as those also rendered Other on (not exclusively) racialized lines, such as queer identities; entire cultures that have been damaged, assimilated, or outright erased; the youth who have been made to suffer as part of the system of ensuring Christianity's adoption for entire demographics; women or those otherwise socialized as women°°; and/or the blasphemous, heretical, and pagan°°° -in a legitimately sacred way that goes beyond its systematically, violently enforced adoption and normalization ever since Christianity's ancient institutional incest.
As well, I'd like to try and have a conversation WITH Christianity, rather than a conversation ABOUT or FOR Christianity, in any works that I attempt, whether literary or otherwise.
I'd also like to encourage that for anyone trying to do the same when it comes to repurposing HaHo- and, note: I don't want this an indictment against any works that have already been made or in the process of being made; I don't know how to best express this than the following: I would find it beneficial to take the subject of what you're working with seriously, especially in the context of how the very opposite is the case in its handling by the OG media product, and I would like to promote this behavior as important, /while also maintaining/ that I do not think anyone in the HaHo critical-adjacent community should be harassed for disagreeing with me on the sensitive nature of Christianity even if I think it is personally valuable to address this in HaHo derivative works.
The issue is, then... I don't know how to have this conversation with Christianity, not yet, when I find it necessary to first confront the entangled suffering and liberation that comes with its historic and contemporary lived baggage. Christianity is so normalized, where you come to see it as expected or universal- and that can be understandable from within a culture that is predominantly Christian in and of itself, but when you publish something internationally and then make statements about it on that stage... I don't get how pop culture can get to the point of addressing Christianity in this manner at all. I have to imagine, though, that this comes about from the constant scrutiny of encountered cultures and peoples, rendering them and their realities through scientific lens to control and isolate, and to eventually have that same scrutiny turn inward to the point that the very system propagated (Christianity) is rendered dull in the eyes of its users.
Something something capitalist commodification of everything, I suppose.
This post itself roots from this animatic, for one
More specifically, from its namesake song, and how I've interpreted it.
I love the animatic on an art + HaHo critical level, and have also gotten intrigued by the song itself which expresses a very earnest theme about faith and its handling by authorities, and the impact of that. I don't know if I really agree with the song's message in and of itself, in a way- like I want to look more into the background of the group that made it, try to understand where they're coming from with their own experiences in faith, and also feeling that they are from a normalized, white place in society and thus alienated moreso from these instances of faith being violently handled. Even then, the song feels moreso about distress in the wake of the Enlightenment and science as a tool of power and alienation, and is definitely not intended to be about the imposition of Christianity as I have otherwise been discussing. Still, this provocation is what has led me into thinking about this at this time.
And more more specifically, this post roots itself from my own Christian indoctrination. I don't intend to use indoctrination in a negative light there (though it most definitely has existed as such for many people, again that violent imposition as systemic control), but rather growing up in a household that thought it not only normal but ideal for me to be Christian; Roman Catholic. Private schooling pipeline.
I would be an ass to say that I never adopted the conservative attitudes along the way that was inherent to this private schooling atmosphere (even though there were somewhat amusing instances of heterodoxy, not least of which was the economy teacher getting in a spat with the biology teacher for the latter's open insistence of evolution), and yeah, I did- the normalized homophobia, misogyny, sex puritanism and shaming of others, self righteousness, judgement upon others to a severe degree, utter disinterest in anything rendered 'primitive' 'savage' 'backwards' or 'terrorist' (or as my poli sci teacher said, 'Islamist'). The lived reality of how Christianity is used, y'know? What is encouraged to be adopted... It's just that the theology got my interest more. Which, to the credit of my environment, was not all that bad for that learning experience. Very formulaic (which helps with my tism ngl), but not bad. Enough for me to be fed and still hunger.
What is it like in Heaven? What do you even DO there? What of the saints and angels? Why do the angels lack autonomy? How did they even sin, fall?
Why did Lucifer rebel? What was that battle like, between Heaven and Hell?
Why does God take so freely with His punishments, especially the Plagues? Why should I value Him necessarily?
What are demons? Why do we not talk about them as serious threats? Why should I believe you, my religion teacher, that they're meant to be mental illnesses in how they have at times manifested? What does that mean about my own mental health record?
Why the fuck did you wait so long to tell me what the Catechism is? And why should I even care about this? What does it have to do with the patriarchs, the world-shattering effects of original sin, and why abortion is the ultimate evil?
It felt like there was something deeper, even though I couldn't help but recognize that it was all still... Packaged. Made to be consumed, I suppose. But only treated with severity for political discussions, current events, diocese pro-life organizing... Not like this was literally life and death, the foundation of reality itself. Felt like a performance, and difficult too to even not have it feel like just another part of education, a check that had to be made before you could move on.
Felt like masking and repressing itself for mass appeal purposes, that it didn't matter so long as we regurgitated, and stayed away from what was worldly (meanwhile we had another idiosyncrasy in there being a pop culture class that was entirely divorced from religion lmao; I did a presentation on the Satanic Panic).
...so yeah I've kind of always had this running in me, and the space of engaging with Christianity in the context of media analysis (as well as, frankly, cultural and political analysis) because of HaHo and its many foundationally rotten aspects.
It has had me now come to this point where I am addressing Christianity as a hierarchical and governmental religion once more- previously dormant ever since I burnt out and began to act on what I learned from the consumption of theologically critical, secular (atheist but VERY fortunately not of the miserable atheist sort) online videos. (Which was especially amusing for me when, one religion class that year, we were assigned to literally write apologia for Christianity in the context of hypothetical mass persecution)
And yeah, this was rambling, as forewarned. I'm sorry for that- I hope the mess doesn't get in the way of what I'd like to be my own provocations for the reader, to have a conversation about Christianity and its role and the propagation of Christianity in the context of its role.
Obviously, this is still situated in the context of Hazbin Hotel (HaHo), and is in a way very absurd- but masking is absurd. I don't want to move on when violence is committed. I want it addressed, and I want to learn and think as much as I can. And hopefully encourage others to too, get them to see the bigger picture in which this dumb edgy show operates- on a media, cultural, and political level.
How its packaged, what it too wishes to impose and devalue. Who it ignores and alienates.
And all the historic lived baggage, violence that comes with it.
feel free to ignore, womp womp
+ - Other belief systems do have systemically institutional power as well. I do not think any have the same degree of widespread usage as a tool of control as Christianity has- nonetheless, there are still bountiful abuses, which I consider as part of utilizing faith as a tool of control rather than /necessarily/ inherent to faith itself, or any individual faith. For the purposes of this post, I am just discussing Christianity- if, however, you wish to discuss other belief systems from your experience in how it relates to what is discussed or otherwise, please feel free to do so.
° - I don't know if theology is even a good word for this, closest I can think of; something along the lines of the esoteric reality that Christianity proposes that media like HaHo chooses to portray in setting worldbuilding, idk
°° and °°° - I am dissatisfied with how I expressed both of these categories and would like to think more about what I'm trying to express with each. I think it can still make sense what I'm trying to communicate but it still felt off in the moment and so I wanted to make a note of it.
