I recently watched the Netflix mini series, Eric, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch. The series is set in 1980’s New York and follows Vincent whose son goes missing. There is also a lot of puppets… but not the creepy kind, honest. The show deals with a whole load of issues from addiction, racism, homophobia, wealth and corruption. It asks questions that are just as relevant today as they were in 1980’s. About who we focus on and who we disregard in society. About how power corrupts those who are meant to help others. It focuses in on how we battle with the secrets we carry with us and those that we think will bring shame upon us. At the heart of it all though, it is a story about the monsters we journey with and our search to find a place we can call home.
Benedict Cumberbatch said of the show “This is a story about people finding their home… whether it’s a child, a homeless person, a gay Black cop, a wife in an unhappy marriage, or even Eric on the show, it’s all about finding a place.”
For me these two themes are something we can all relate to in some way.
We have all probably been scared at some point of the monster that hides under are bed or in the closet. The one that stalks us, prying on are anxieties. We have probably also feared the monster our society has warned us of. Maybe though our monsters can also help us. They can show us that the things we are told are scary and should be feared aren’t and that sometimes the real monsters are found elsewhere.
The second theme is that of finding a home. Home should be the place where we feel safe and where we belong. for many of us that is all we want. A safe and secure place where we don’t have to worry about the monsters that lurk outside and we can be who we were made to be.
Questions
- When you were growing up did you have an imaginary monster? If you did, what did they look like and what made them scary?
- What are you scared of?
- Where would you call home?
- What might the monsters in the Bible be trying to tell us?
- How would you describe “home”?
- Is God present in the place you call “home”?
Blog written for Sunday at the Pub