Line #74 Main/HollywoodJehovahsWitness


1	[[AC:Knock, knock!]]
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3	Have you accepted Hollywood Jehovah into your life?
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5	If not, perhaps you would be interested in some literature? You'll find we're a lot more straightforward than a lot of RealLife religions; not much in the way of intricate doctrine, regular ritualistic practises or nuanced internal culture. All you need to do is pull out the occasional peripheral oddball belief, some crazed eschatological spouting (that's TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt) and indeed lots and lots of {{Knocking On Heathens Door}}s. However, [[InformedAttribute you only have to pull these out when most convenient to the plot]].
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7	Key points of belief:
8	* [[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed The world is about to end.]]
9	* When the world ends, only 144,000 will get to go to heaven.
10	* Other than that, it's the blood transfusions, especially if it's a MedicalDrama. Cue VerySpecialEpisode about respecting beliefs or not so special episode about respecting life more, the shocking revelation that the LittlestCancerPatient isn't getting that life saving treatment because their parents are Jehovah's Witnesses and legal wrangling to overrule them.
11	* May also believe in not having jobs/not believe in the Bible/not believe in Jesus/not believe in having any medicine at all, depending on how much the particular writer skimped on research.
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13	Yeah, there happens to be this other RealLife religion with a similar name but they've got all this extra junk about the true [[ArchangelMichael nature of Christ]], the method of Salvation, organizational structure and all those other things that you can't fit into a 42-minute hour. Now those guys ''do'' believe that only 144,000 will go to heaven, yes (technically, ''rule'' heaven alongside Jesus), but that's not what most of them are aiming for: other good people will rebuild earth into [[{{Arcadia}} a paradise]] and live there for a thousand years before the final Judgment Day. They do indeed believe that blood is sacred and thus they reject blood tranfusions. However, the real life ones have committees trained to point out the alternatives to blood transfusion, even having had heart surgery performed without transfusions without lowering survival rates - but that wouldn't make for such an interesting moral dilemma in MedicalDrama. They are politically neutral (i.e. not voting, not joining the army, not working in government jobs, and generally not acknowledging the existence of the nation-state).
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15	Also, it's grammatically incorrect to say "a Jehovah's Witness." The phrase "one of Jehovah's Witnesses" is more correct and is more commonly used by actual Witnesses.
16	----
17	!! Examples:
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19	[[AC: {{ComicBook}}]]
20	* Utterly mocked in ''[[ComicBook/RatMan1989 Rat-Man]]''. The first story has the titular 'hero' being mistaken for one when he knocks on the door of the Buffoon's lair and presents himself as "I'm Rat-Man! I bring justice among those who walk on the wrong path!", prompting the {{Mooks}} to grab the knives to 'make him disappear'. On a later occasion, we have a Jehovah's Witness knock on Rat-Man's door, and we're treated to his own way to scare them away.
21	-->'''Jehovah's Witness''': Good morning. Do you know God?
22	-->'''Rat-Man''': Yes, that's me. What do you want?
23	* A thinly-veiled ShallowParody of the Jehovah's Witnesses shows up in ''Ninja Nuns'', with their "God" being ''an anthropomorphic door phone''.
24	* ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'': Exploited by Xavier. Thanks to his powers, anyone who looks at the Mansion will read that it is the "Westchester Chapter of the Jehovah's Witnesses", and not a mutant safe haven.
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26	[[AC:{{Film}}]]
27	* There's an UrbanLegend that ''Film/{{Witness}}'' was named for the writer confusing the Amish with Jehovah's Witnesses. In truth, the film was going to be titled ''Called Home'' and was pretty wise up on Amish practices. The title actually comes from the fact it's about a cop protecting an Amish boy who's the only witness to a murder.
28	* Averted in ''A Perfect World'', where it's really only mentioned that they don't celebrate birthdays or Halloween.
29	* In ''Film/{{Coneheads}}'' it is averted and played for laughs when Michael [=McKean=] and David Spade impersonate Jehovah's Witnesses in order to get into Dan Aykroyd's house in the film. [[CrazyPrepared They even came prepared]] with some copies of ''The Watchtower'' magazine, and accurately described Witness belief in their brief exchange with the Coneheads.
30	* In ''Film/{{Clue}}'' one pops up after a few of the other unannounced guests to the mansion have died. [[spoiler: It's actually an FBI agent in disguise.]]
31	--> '''Evangelist:''' Repent! The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!\
32	'''Scarlet:''' You ain't just whistlin' Dixie!\
33	'''Evangelist:''' Armageddon is almost upon us!\
34	'''Plum:''' I've got news for you! It's already here!\
35	'''Peacock:''' Go away!\
36	'''Evangelist:''' But your souls are in danger!\
37	'''Peacock:''' Our ''lives'' are in danger, ya beatnik! ''(slams door)''
38	* Played realistically in ''Film/BigEyes''. Walter tries to play up popular perception of the Jehovah's Witnesses but they're shown to be perfectly pleasant people who gave Margaret the support and confidence she needed to stand up to Walter's bullying and establish her own independent identity.
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40	[[AC:{{Literature}}]]
41	* Frequently mocked and yet slightly indulged in Zadie Smith's ''White Teeth'': one of the main characters is a former JW and her mother still is. Another character converts.
42	* Constable Visit-The-Infidel-With-Explanatory-Pamphlets of the [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Ankh-Morpork City Watch]] is a deliberate parody.
43	* ''Literature/{{Metro 2033}}'' has a group of "cultists", never referred to by actual name, but the reference is obvious as their key point is emphasizing to their followers that "God's name is Jehovah", and that the collapse of the outside world and appearance of mutants is a sign that Armageddon has come.
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46	[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
47	* In ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', Dr Cox had to treat a patient who needed a blood transfusion for a straightforward treatment but was a Jehovah's Witness. In order to keep his jerk credentials, Cox refuses to find another harder way of helping her which clashes with his normal attitude of always trying to keep the patients he can alive. He later goes on to help her, on the condition that she (and everyone else present) refuse to let anyone know he helped her, on pain of death. Turk's mother was stated to be a Jehovah's Witness as well.
48	* Happens in ''Series/ThePractice'', where Rebecca is revealed as being a Jehovah's Witness right when she needs a blood transfusion. Unusually for an [[InformedAttribute Informed Religion]] topic, the fact that no one's seen any evidence of her being a Witness becomes a plot point. The other attorneys at her firm argue that her personal practices clearly indicate that she is not a Witness and therefore should receive a transfusion. It's never confirmed whether she considers herself to be one or not.
49	* On the first episode of ''Series/MockTheWeek'''s seventh season, the cast commented on Music/MichaelJackson's death [[CrossesTheLineTwice in their usual style]]. They noted that being a Jehovah's Witness was possibly the least weird thing about Jackson and pondered whether, when he went to meetings, ''they'' pretended to be out and that he did look like someone who wouldn't have a blood transfusion. This completely ignores that Jackson disassociated himself from the Witnesses in 1987 and was non-religious for the rest of his life.
50	* Averted on ''Series/{{Community}}''. In "Comparative Religion" (the first-season ChristmasEpisode), Troy is revealed to be a Jehovah's Witness and as such doesn't celebrate Christmas. However, you couldn't tell that he was a Jehovah's Witness if he didn't say so. He does have a crazy and uber-religious and very strict grandma, but that's not so much a trope about Jehovah's Witnesses as it is a trope about Black culture in the United States, as she could have just as easily been a Baptist or Methodist. The only major inaccuracy is when Troy says Witnesses "can't drink" (while Witnesses believe drunkenness is wrong, they have no problem with drinking alcohol in moderation). Even so, Troy doesn't fit the description of a typical Hollywood Witness.
51	* In the first episode of ''Series/BlackBooks'', Bernard lets in a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses (on the grounds that he'd rather talk to them than do his tax returns). They are utterly surprised by this, having never got past a single door, and in fact have no clue what to say, with Bernard being rather more informed about religion than them.
52	* In one episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', a suspect in about five rape-homicides, who was found to have both marijuana and cocaine in his home and was known for sleeping with different women until their money ran out, claims that giving the police a blood sample is against his religion because he's a Jehovah's Witness (Jehovah's Witnesses condemn drugs and extramarital sex and have no problem with giving blood for non-transfusion purposes). Legally the detectives can't press the issue, but to their credit, they don't take his claim seriously at all.
53	* In ''Series/{{Leverage}}'', Hardison is an ex-Jehovah's Witness, but is not treated as a Hollywood version. It's mainly used as insight into his childhood.
54	* The "Land Shark" sketch from ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' consists of the titular shark going door-to-door pretending to be a plumber/janitor/candygram-delivery only to eat people, but when one woman hears his voice proclaiming himself to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses and offering a copy of the Watchtower periodical, she quietly grabs her sledgehammer and knocks her guest on the head...who turns out to actually ''be'' a Witness.
55	* ''Series/AllSaints'' has a variation on the "no blood transfusions" rule: a critically injured patient's estranged father insists that she was a Jehovah's Witness, but her fiance insists she was no longer practicing and would want them to do whatever they had to. But before the hospital can determine who has power of attorney, Dr. Campion decides they're out of time and have to go ahead with the transfusions. [[DownerEnding It's not enough to save her]].
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57	[[AC:NewspaperComics]]
58	* They have such a bad reputation in ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' that one panel has a family of gooey blobs act like inanimate beanbag chairs when some Jehovah's Witness approach their door.
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60	[[AC:WebOriginal]]
61	* Spoofed in WebVideo/SailorMoonAbridged. A MonsterOfTheWeek with a boxing motif and wings, created from a catholic priest, introduces himself as “Bobo the Boxing Jehovah’s Witness”.
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63	[[AC:WebComics]]
64	* Shows up in ''Webcomic/SomethingPositive'' where Davan greets a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses at his door naked, and explains that he's behind on his masturbation quota, so he hopes they won't mind if he continues while he talks.
65	* A couple of them (or a local equivalent) [[http://missmab.com/Comics/Vol_114.php show up]] in an early WebComic/DanAndMabsFurryAdventures strip, essentially as an excuse to showcase Wildy's TomBoy personality and her views about the Western [[NippleAndDimed toplessness double standard]].
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67	[[AC:WesternAnimation]]
68	* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
69	** In one episode, a pair of Witnesses about to call at a house stop and decide that they should "go out and get real jobs". Given that the vast majority of Witnesses don't get paid for knocking on doors,[[note]]apart from "special pioneers" who work in remote areas[[/note]] this leaves the question of how these particular Witnesses were getting by if they currently had no full-time jobs.
70	** In another episode of ''The Simpsons'', Marge emotes her desperation for human interaction by saying "The other day two Jehovah's Witnesses came to the house. I wouldn't let them leave. They snuck out when I went to make lemonade."
71	* Otto Aquarius from ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' is one of these.
72	* WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy has a few of these:
73	** Peter, Peter, Caviar Eater has the song [[http://familyguy.wikia.com/wiki/This_House_Is_Freakin%27_Sweet! This House Is Freakin' Sweet!]] which has a Jehovah Witness slapped with his own pamphlet; [[DudeNotFunny he isn't happy]].
74	** In [[http://familyguy.wikia.com/wiki/The_Father,_the_Son,_and_the_Holy_Fonz The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz]], there is a scene where Peter goes around to people's doors claiming to be one; when one person shows actual interest it's revealed he knows nothing about the faith.[[note]]This plus the fact that he was dressed casually and alone- even long-time Jehovah Witnesses rarely go preaching alone- indicates he was not actually a member.[[/note]]
75	** The Evil Monkey is revealed to have joined the religion in [[http://familyguy.wikia.com/wiki/It_Takes_a_Village_Idiot,_and_I_Married_One It Takes a Village Idiot, and I Married One]] and become nicer for; it is later revealed that he was [[NotEvilJustMisunderstood never evil]].

Context Main / HollywoodJehovahsWitness