According to our notes, “midrash is said to minimize the literal meaning of the text and force the reader to struggle with the meaning, to make the meaning personal. The readers can project themselves into the search for meaning.” In looking at the two episodes of The Decalogue that we watched we can see how moving the episodes are and how they can affect each of us in a similar but different manner and how it relates to the commandment they are supposed to represent without flat out stating it.
The first episode was the first commandment; Thou shall have no other god besides me. This is show in the fact that the son and father are very intrigued with what the computer can do with its calculations. The computer even tells the son what his mother is “doing” at the time. They use it so much that they determine whether or not the son is able to skate on a frozen over pond. The father knows that this can be dangerous so they do all of the calculations and he tells his son that the next day he may go ice skating, the father even goes to the pond himself to check the thickness. Unfortunately his faith in the computer failed him. The pond was not as frozen as calculated and the son fell in and died. His father had a god of the computer before God and he was punished for it. What makes this episode midrash is that no one ever states that he is placing too much emphasis on the computer, not even the father’s sister who has signed the son up for Church Education classes. She understands her brother has faith, but has turned to something that seems more concrete. This episode makes me realize that all of the great technology that is being made is good until a point; we need to remember that there is something greater than ourselves that created this entire world and not just a computer.
The second episode we watched was the fifth in the series with the fifth commandment; Thou shall not kill. The basic story is that a man kills another man and is now being put on the death row. One thing that I found interesting about this episode is that the killer is not shown like today’s criminal shows, we actually see him as a human because of the very normal and basic things he does to show that he is just like us. He sits and has coffee, he is seen trying to get errands done, but what makes him see slightly inhumane is when he kills the man and then eats the sandwich without caring, but then he seems to come back and realize what he did when he gets mad at the radio. The death penalty is a very hot button issue and this begs the question should we really do an eye for an eye, as Gandhi says “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.” The midrash feelings given in this episode are some of remorse and questioning. My biggest question was why did he kill the man, but that may be something we never know.
Using midrash in this Decalogue series was a very interesting way to go about it. From only seeing two episodes I can see that midrash helps get the point of the episode across without having to spell it out, which can be rewarding for the viewer and more enjoyable to watch for one’s own interpretation.
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