Netflix Daredevil

Catholic Guilt as in "Catholics are guilt-obsessed freaks" can be reasonably described as a myth, but it is true Catholicism has an emphasis on sins, atonement and redemption for your mistakes (this being the reasoning behind the baptism, even. It's meant to "cleanse" the Original Sin from the baby).

The Catholic church has shed much of its emphasis on guilt with the second Vatican council. There's also quite a bit of regional variation: In Eastern Europe, Catholicism generally opposed communist dictatorships backed by the USSR, but in Latin America, Liberation Theology meant that the Catholic church has generally been an ally of Marxist opposition to fascist dictatorships backed by the US. In both cases, the Catholic church was an institution that was deeply entrenched in political and social debate. Among Catholics on the American East Coast, among the Italian American and Irish American populations, Catholicism wasn't quite as political, and the pre-Vatican II emphasis on guilt may have stuck around a bit longer as a result.

I know Martin Scorsese considers Catholic guilt to be a major theme in his works, and in his documentary "Il Mio Viaggio in Italia" he explicitly mentions Vatican II as the watershed moment for the role of guilt in the religious experience of Italian Americans. It's not empirical data, but I trust the man's knowledge of Italian American culture.

My dad's side of the family are pretty definitively Irish-Catholic, so I find this sort of thing very interesting. Mind you, I don't think I've ever really gotten into the culture of it - my family's not especially devout.

That said, I do think I understand what they're talking about with "Catholic guilt". Original sin, I don't think I'm prepared to comment on - that's really more of a spiritual thing. But I have always believed very strongly in the concept of atonement; even if you don't believe in God or heaven, I still think it's important to recognize any damage you've done and make an effort to repair it. Now, what that means will differ depending on the situation, but I think that's to be expected. The whole fear of failing to act is, I think, part of this.

Now Matt has, in his work as Daredevil, done a great deal of good, but he's also hurt a lot of people in order to do so, which is the main conflict as his character. That's why he ends up adapting the devil as his symbol - for the good of everyone else, he must take on the burden of doing harm, of being the devil.

I'm interested to see where they go with this. The Punisher can easily serve a sign of what Matt could become if he goes to far, in a way that Fisk might not have been able to. While Fisk uses the opposite methods of Matt to enact what they believe as positive change (though Fisk still seems to have the basic mindset of doing terrible things for the good of many), Frank Castle is more like Matt Murdock taken to the logical extreme.

Perhaps joining the Defenders will help Matt to relieve himself of his burden...

Actually, according to this article, Matt is Irish Catholic. Murdock is an Irish name (it means "sea warrior").

Well, yeah. I thought that was pretty readily apparent.

Sea Warrior, eh?

That is pretty damn badass.

I also assumed everybody would get that Matt is Irish Catholic. The coding is pretty on the nose.

I mean, I'm Dutch and non-religious, and it's pretty obvious to me that Matt is Irish Catholic. The Irish American community in New York isn't exactly an obscure phenomenon.

edited 13th Oct '15 5:15:30 PM by JOZeldenrust

Foggy... Karen... Are all three of our "heroes" Irish?

And why is it the Black and Hispanic friends that die?

the only minority dying who befriended them who was ben. matt's friends are primarily well off Anglo-American caucasian anyway. there is his love interest the american Indian Echo who once shared a title under Elektra and the Puerto Rican legacy character white tiger. almost all the people in the source materials are just white people anyway. their obscure enough to change

edited 14th Oct '15 6:38:36 AM by xbimpy

I'm not sure Foggy and Karen are Irish American. The name "Nelson" would suggest English heritage to me, and Foggy isn't Catholic, or at least not as staunchly Catholic as Matt. Karen doesn't strike me as particularly Irish either, just generic white.

All three of our main characters are very white, though, and that, coupled with two notable non-white characters (Ben Urich and Elena Cardenas) getting killed, is a bit of a problem for me.

O yeah her to though I wouldn't say she is notable. A background character. But Foggy and Karen aren't going to die anyway. Unless they want to stuff Karen in the fridge just cuz the comics did it. Foggy has 0 chance unless they want to shock us.

edited 14th Oct '15 8:07:45 AM by xbimpy

http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/punisher-elektra-come-to-life-in-leaked-daredevil-season-2-stills

Do you think we'll see anything from Fisk this season?

edited 29th Dec '15 11:20:41 AM by yellowturtle

"Daredevil's" Elektra Will Reflect Matt Murdock's Wild Side, Showrunner Says

http://www.comicbookresources.com/article/daredevils-elektra-will-reflect-matt-murdocks-wild-side-says-showrunner

Looks like they're going for an adaptation of the rooftop scene◊ from Welcome Back, Frank.

So, how does Daredevil get out of that one?

Spoiler alert!◊

To be frank (...) the Daredevil issue and maybe the subplot with the other vigilantes were aspects of that otherwise awesome storyline that I didn't really care that much for.

Anyway, a few years later there was a slapstick-y follow-up arc where Matt tried to catch Frank with the help of Spidey and Wolverine.

x5 Probably not directly unless Castle is in town to kill him. They'll probably keep him off screen except for a cameo here and there if that.

Haha, so it isn't the 25th.

Close enough.

Not enough to matter in the sense that some claimed.

New Poster.◊

edited 7th Jan '16 7:54:47 AM by Halberdier17

The poster is incredible.

I honestly didn't notice the Punisher logo in the trailer until the second time I watched it.

Oh. Well, then I'll go watch it a third time!

edited 8th Jan '16 6:24:16 AM by yellowturtle