Ethiopia v The History Channel Pt. 3/4
“Another, Darker Purpose”
So, I’ve diving back in right? And I’m thinking, “ok, we’re passed this weird tunnel experience and watching someone pretend to be Indiana Jones; let’s give this another go and find out more about this place.”
I sit down, back from a commercial break, and this happens:
He narrators that 11 sites of this holy ground were constructed as a new Jerusalem, serving as sacred destinations for pilgrimages for nearly 1000 years, “but a leading expert on Lalibella believes that they may have served another, darker purpose” (11:39).
There is a shrieky sound and the camera cuts from panning movements of some churches to Indie walking and pointing.
He says: “Now, remember, the churches of Lalibella are arranged in different clusters. Those down in that area are more for typical religious purposes, but these over here, closer to us, these look a lot more like fortresses.” CUT SCENE — HIT IT!
Rock music hits as our brave adventurer emerges from a village street corner, turning from somewhere. He is shown taking his jacket off, swinging it over his shoulder, and plowing his way through the catwalk of ordinary life in his quest to find out what has happened to the people of this land.
Let us pause here.
Setting aside this ridiculous but literal example of pretending to discover a place already known, what was he talking about with this “other, darker purpose” above? Why is that after saying the word “fortress” does the post-production team kick it up even another notch and show this former Gap model imagine himself alone in a barren land of no history?
I will try to make it to the part where he, hopefully, meets the leading expert who carries this theory of “other, darker purpose” but let us embrace the fact that it was the mention of war that is tied to this other purpose. Is he surprised to hear there was “pre-historic” conflict? Unlikely, but he acts like it. That, or I’m reading the fetish of war in this. Is it a feature of this forgotten land, this remote country called Ethiopia? Yes.
It so far compounds the theme that this faraway, zany place is unmotivated by anything genuine, it is built on a reason-to-be that is beyond comprehension. Crazy-different version of Christianity? Ethiopia. War and underground fortresses? Ethiopia. Remote places lost to time and records? Ethiopia.
This isn’t a history program; it is a lesson in myth making.
More soon,
Trevor