One nice touch is that Father Pruitt's story to Riley about how he spent all night trying to catch an identical-looking mouse to replace the dying one he tried to save, may have led to more mice appearing around the Church, causing them to stock up on rat poison in the first place. Which is basically a microcosm of what Paul doing, where his "miraculous Acts of God" ripple out into massive death and destruction of the very thing he was trying to preserve.

Thank you, this was an excellent analysis. I just also wanted to say, thank you for sharing your story ❤️❤️❤️

The most telling point in that scene with Joe Collie and Leeza, the one that really told me we were seriously in the deep woods with addiction and grief, was when he started to cry HARDER when she forgave him. That was the most true feeling thing I think I've seen on screen in years for me. Mental health struggles are hard, addiction is hard, and forgiveness in the face of the purgatory of torturing yourself? Terrifying.

Come for the DILFy vampire priest, stay for the indepth analysis of religious trauma

Finally some good fuckin Midnight Mass content. Its been vexing me how many videos about this production have utterly failed to interact with the explicitly Christian, and even more explicitly Catholic, themes. One thing that struck me is just how much Christian symbolism was inverted throughout the season. I found it particularly effective and affecting in how the Virgin Birth doctrine was inverted in the story of Erin. Also, Bev Kean is a villain on a par with Nurse Ratchett. So utterly mundane in their petty villany, allowed to commit such excesses of cruelty thanks to the system they support.

I lost my dog Rex in a similar fashion to Joe. Not in the cause but in that I was there and he slowly died in my arms, watching Pike die and Joe’s reaction was absolutely visceral and I had never empathized more with a fictional character in my life. I’m a fuck up, I have severe depression and I sometimes can’t bring myself to do more than sit and wallow in what feels like an unearned sadness. But Rex didn’t care. He was a grumpy old man who sounded like Clint Eastwood in my head. He got me off my butt because he needed me. He would lick my face when I cried and curled against my side at night when I slept, keeping himself between me and the door so he could protect me. We watched TV together, played together and nothing ever made me feel more human and normal than Rex ever did. I don’t know if Joe was a good person or not, I don’t think that was the point, but to me, nothing destroys your faith more than losing your last tether to your own humanity and you have to claw at anything to keep yourself from going under again, not because you don’t want to go back under, quite the opposite, but because you want Pike’s life or Rex’s life to continue to mean something, that your own life can mean something. I was rooting so hard for Joe. I wanted him to claw his way out. I am sad he never had the chance.

One thing I really liked about the scene where Ed unloads all his emotional bullshit on Riley is that the focus slowly shifts from Ed to Riley to the point that Ed is a muddy blur in the background as he goes further onto his shit. I've been surrounded by men all my life who do this, who act like because they're only rarely emotional that any moment where they finally choose to be is meant to be somehow momentous or worthwhile to the person getting dumped on. But for once, rather than giving them their due, the focus was instead on the person made to deal with this bullshit. It was refreshing.

"There is no hate quite like Christian love." An old saying. I don't know where it came from but most of us including Christians recognize the truth of it. This series is dense with metaphor that I relate to completely. I was raised in the Unitarian Universalist Church which was not a religious church but experiences with my Catholic and born again Christian friends and their families were often terrifying. Their judgment and harshness was extreme and I am a white straight sis woman. Most of my family members are conservative Christians to this day. They are a disturbing mixture of sweet and terrifying in their righteous callousness to this day. My kids and I have a tough time staying in touch with them. These characters like Bev and Pruitt are too real and scarier than the vampires.

Oh my god your story about your mom and chemo is EXACTLY what I went through when my mother got cancer in Highschool. I distinctly remember being on a school trip and a chaperone I confided in about her passing sat me down and handed me a BIBLE telling me that finding God would help me cope with my mom's cancer and death. Like yes thank you reading this book will totally solve all my grief thanks for using my lowest moment to spread your faith to me. I was flabbergasted and disgusted that ANYONE would see someone in emotional pain and use that as a chance to push their religion and beliefs onto them. I know deep down she was doing it because she believed it would help me but to me it was so out of line and rude to even suggest.

This was an excellent analysis. As an Irish person, I have a complicated relationship with religion. Catholicism is so ingrained in our culture that the Irish word for hello (dia dhuit) literally translates to "God be with you". Only in recent years has the country started to recover from being a Church state. Gay marriage and abortion are now legal, and only now are we acknowledging the crimes that were committed in that time. I never questioned the size of the population in Midnight Mass and didn't know it was the result of the pandemic. Since a Parrish in the Irish countryside is that small. All of these factors (along with some quite personal to me) immediately drew into the show. Another aspect of the Midnight Mass that I like is that some characters parallel stories from the bible. Leeza and Warren with Adam and Eve instead being the first humans being the only survivors from the aftermath of the show. Erin with Mary instead of a miraculous pregnancy, a miraculous miscarriage. Riley the prodigal son who isn't welcomed with open arms, especially from his father.

I cried watching the show, I cried watching it again and now I cried listening to your essay. But I appreciate all of those moments, because those tears did not came from suffering, but from healing. Healing through art, healing through connection, healing through love ❤️

oh my god the part about the bullying. i went to catholic schools and exactly that happened to me (disabled & queer as well). the teachers blaming me for the cruelty of my peers. being accused of faking being sick. and then they would turn around and talk about loving thy neighbor. it felt like such an insult. thank you for talking about this, sending you my love

2021 was a huge year for me. I left a fundamentalist Christian religion and started trauma therapy. I haven't been able to put my thoughts and feelings into words quite yet, but here you've said it all. Thank you.

Can’t wait to watch!

The part about forgiveness in Lamentations really got me. When I came out my mom said horrible things about me and my queerness for years. A couple of years ago she asked me to come talk to her one night and apologized for being homophobic. When she got done unloading her feelings and making excuses I said I didn't know what I was supposed to say. She said "Well, I want you to say that you forgive me." I did just to end the conversation. Since them if I ever allude to how homophobic she was and how it affected me she'd get mad and say something like "well I'm better now" to end the conversation. While I hate that you had to go through that it was reassuring to feel less alone in that anger.

Bev seems like that woman we all had in our small parish in Ireland that peered nosily out of her windows to see what the "youth" were doing. She's not an exaggeration. 🤣

I keep coming back to this video once in a while, not only because it is good as hell but I'm just in love with the way you get to the emotional core of the characters. Also, you're one of the few people I've seen who won't give an inch to Father Pruitt. Everyone rags on Bev- with good reason, she is literally the WORST. But so many seem to give him a pass because he's "nice" and had "good intentions". But no, he intentionally poisoned his community, in every form a patriarch tending to his "flock". He refused to reach out to his daughter and instead settled on looking from a distance, causing her to feel even more alienated growing up. He shouts down Riley, telling him Joe was a lost cause, to absolve the guilt he knows he should be feeling but instead feels _nothing_ . Pruitt had _always_ known what he was doing.

Goodness. The Christian trauma element of Midnight Mass was a huge reason why I... haven't watched it because it hits so fucking close in far too many ways, even though it's something I'd really be into. But I just can't handle it as a whole right now. Though, I feel watching this might actually make it easier by knowing a lot of what would be in store. But so many of your own experiences mirror mine, too. I wasn't in a Christian or Catholic school, but I was in a highly evangelical area in a public school that may as well have been run by the church. Just... whew.

I recently found your channel through Jessie Gender and this was illuminating. So many important ideas are presented here, but the thing that really stood out to me was towards the end. Where you emphasized how many of the horrific practices of the institutions run antithesis to what Christianity is supposed to be. How faith can manifest in both positive and negative ways, and how many religious people and institutions use faith as a shield for causing harm. It amazed me how you were able to provide such nuance on this topic based on your own experiences. Well done!

What I like about the “turn the other cheek” quote is how rebellious it actually is. It’s often taken out of context to mean we should just put up with the abuse others inflict on us. But when you think about it, to be struck on the right cheek likely means the one striking is using the back of their right hand, hitting the person as a means to show they’re an inferior socially. To turn the other cheek is to say, “fine, but if you’re going to hit me, you’re going to hit me as an equal”. We can’t always control the actions of others, but we can refuse to let their actions define us.

I like character-driven, slow burn stories, and was raised Catholic, so Midnight Mass was a very interesting watch in my book though I can see why many people found it to not be their cup of tea. That said, I really hope to see Hamish Linklater in more stuff, because he chews the scenery just the right amount in this and he gripped my attention whenever he was on screen.

I enjoyed every minute of this video. This series resonates with me too deeply and your interpretation of it is too beautiful. I’m having so many questions about my own belief after watching this series and after watching videos of people’s interpretations about this series. Thank you for making this wonderful video, perfectly executed and thank you for sharing your past through this video. You’re a beautiful human with a beautiful soul.

Thank you for this video and I really appreciate you showing us how deeply you connected with this show.

As a Christian… I am so happy that you took the time to make this video. I have had many “Bev’s” in my life and it’s just sad to know that people are making the worst out of a following that is supposed to be kind, loving and divine. I truly appreciate and love you 🙏🏼

One thing I have learned is, you have to treat people EXACTLY like how they treat you. What I mean by this is, my in-laws and my parents are like Beve Keene, except they genuinely believe they are in the right all the time (I think Beve knows that she is manipulative), and I am in the wrong all the time. They "justify" their abuse towards me by saying that they know better, and no amount of arguing or presenting my case will ever convince them of otherwise. So, I treated them exactly like how they treated me. For example, they tell me that I should get back with my abusive husband (who is both physically and mentally abusive) because "as a woman, that is your life's calling". To this, I told them, all doe-eyed and innocent, "But God came to me in my dream, and he told me that I should instead get a job and earn lots of money and divorce the guy I was forced to marry".

Nothing has every haunted me and calmed me more that the phrase "I loved you completly, and you loved me the same.That is all. And the rest is confetti" Thank you for your video, I don't know how you did it, but you got the ideas jumping in my head and phrase perfectly.. and made me cried in the process, thank you

What you say about forgiveness is 100% correct imho! The conventional "wisdom" around this topic is so mired in toxicity, it feels wonderful to hear someone talk sense for once!

This was one of the best videos I've watched in a long time, your points hit home to me, a disabled, autistic, trans person who attended a tiny christian private school for half of his shcooling years, but what really got me was the parallels from the show and the church's reaction to the vampirism and covid-19. I'm a covid survivor, I got it working an "essential" warehouse job shipping out luxury work out gear before vaccines were available. It's been 624 days since my positive test result and I don't leave my house anymore, I have to spend most days in bed because the virus did damage to my brain and makes it unable to properly communicate with systems in my body. I live every day in pain, with chronic fatigue, I can't work anymore so I know what day of the week it is because of the letter on my pill organizer. And the worst part is not losing my life as I knew it at 24, like there is a community of disabled people I'm now in and I'm able to handle my autistic brain better than I was able to when I was working, the worst part by far is the covid deniers. It's the convoy of truckers coming to my city to yell slurs at me and call me a liar. It's the people in politics saying that covid is fine actually, what happened to me isn't a big deal and it's only killing the people who are now my community so what does it matter. I started watching this because I wanted to hear a summary of the show before I finally got around to watching it because I'm very bad with horror and have enjoyed hill house and Bly manor but only after warnings and spoilers, but I've realized this show wasn't going to scare me with gore and horror, it was going to bring me down with covid reality.

Ladyknightthebrave sent me here. Your voice is very soothing

I have such a complicated relationship with this show. I wasn’t raised religious but the themes were so hard hitting that I was too scared to even understand that the big bad was a vampire. The image of the girl Riley killed, the acting of Father Paul and some of the others, and that last little scene stick in my brain as being so amazing. But the show over all made me so sick I would not rewatch it.

I cant quite put evereything down in one comment, but thank you for taking the time and making this. you've put so many of my thought into words and I'm glad this exists for people to watch. I also really appreciate you actually diving into pruitts behavior and faults. Ive seen and talked to so many people that write off pruitt as just misguided and bev as the true villain, but he does so much evil and its irritating to watch that get ignored.

I don't think my alexithymia will allow me to describe how I am feeling, but what I can and will say is thank you. Thank you for making this video, and thank you for putting to words what I have been struggling with in my faith for years now. I am a heterocisgendered black man who, after hearing what happened to Jorge Flyod back in 2020, started questioning my faith when Christians said George Floyd's murder was deserved. Because inadvertently, it felt like they were saying black life doesn't matter and they get what's coming to them, and when asked does my life matter, then the compassion, grace, and, dare I say, love floods in like the flood gates. "You're not like other black people," as if you saying that to me is a compliment. Most of my peers and friends have adopted this charismatic view of the faith, and while it has its benefits, most have not addressed the internal/subtle racism that they still engage in and then play it off as a joke. Even if them knowing my past of being sexually abused by my older cousin( of the opposite sex), are met with sexual jokes or inappropriate/uncomfortable comments regarding that issue. Regardless, thank you for being you. Thank you for making me feel like I am not the only one who sees these issues. And lastly, I am so sorry for brothers and sisters in this faith not loving their neighbors as themselves. I am sorry they've pursued power instead of love and not walking the Jesus ethic in life.

Thank you for this incredibly thought provoking, touching, heart breaking video. Thank you for your story. I'm sorry they did those things to you. I'm a queer person struggling with my faith from high school as I see countless instances of people using a faith based on LOVE to hate others. It hurts. It hurts and it's wrong. Midnight Mass was good, but immensely personal to me as well, knowing how fundie Christians can get with their beliefs. I did not get to that point and I am grateful. The Heaven scene with Erin and Riley made me sob uncontrollably, as did the end of the show as Riley's parents sang and danced and gazed lovingly at each other as they faded to dust. I didn't put it together (too busy crying) that those who had love in their life didn't die alone. That's beautiful. Thank you for this. I'm glad you're still here.

I loved the analysis here and how deeply personal stories were used to enhance the explanation. I have thankfully not experienced that level of trauma in the name of religion, but I have recognized it being done to others and despise that level of fanaticism. On a side note, as a dog lover who constantly dreads the idea of inevitably losing these perfectly innocent and loving creatures, and as someone who recently lost their first child to miscarriage, this show hit hard but handled both so well. The way she discusses the loss with Riley is heartbreaking but so true to the feeling and I loved it.

I love this review. I know for myself, christianity is a complicated thing . Loving the good it brings but dealing and staring into the face of all the harm and toxicity it instills in you and how it continues to mess you up as you try to heal and reconcile your orientation with your faith...I think you did a great job expressing your view and your experiences , especially forgiveness.It has been a process to learn how to not owe people that and I hate that its been so ingrained since I was a child.by the institution. In regards to catholic teachers, what you said made me remember my own experience of getting into arguments with my catholic teachers and asking why the system was so toxic to others when in the very scriptures they taught me they claimed that jesus loved and cared for the outcasts of society, and raged against corruption in the temples and in the spiritual leaders. I always thought it was telling that they could never answer me.

Whyyyyy am I only just watching this? What a fantastic analysis of a really compelling series. Thank you for putting the time and effort into this, and for putting your story out there.

Great analysis. Your focus on forgiveness was perfectly on point. I have seen and read a number of reviews and interpretations and yours is the first that puts the spotlight on the beautiful depiction of forgiveness and different types of forgiveness. The scene between Joe and Leeza was one of the most powerful and believable depiction of forgiveness I have seen in a long time.

At first, I started believing that I had little religious trauma, neglible in the face of stories of those I know around me that have suffered an incaluable amount. However, even just knowing what religious leaders teach about us (the qu33r, the disabled, the faithless) can hurt just as much as if it was said directly to you. Yet, this video sums it up so well and so deeply that I think I will carry it for a long time. You spoke with such brevity, wit, and with such emotion that it broke my heart at multiple times. Thank you for making this, Aranock, and I hope you know, as crazy as Canada seems right now, you're not alone. The similarities you draw between Midnight Mass and Charlottesville and Jonestown was haunting, and deeply moving. I've never seen the connections before, and now I don't think I can unsee it.

This was it. After finishing the show I went to the internet to help me digest what I had watched and experienced. There were a lot of interesting takes for sure, but they weren't what my brain Needed. This video essay though, this was what I was looking for. Thank you for that.

Thank you so much for this. Especially for your comments on love at the end. It all comes down to unconditional love (or even - as my therapist calls it - unconditional regard). So many people forget what that even means...

gods dang this made me cry a lot especially in aranocks personal stories.

Found this video through Ladyknightthebrave's channel and it got me interested in the show. I knew basically nothing about it before that. "No hate like Christian love" unfortunately rings so true, and I say that as a Christian. I appreciate that neither you nor the show limited their criticism of Christianity to "cults". Still, from what I understand of the plot, there is an element that doesn't really sit right with me: The fact that the survivors of the midnight mass basically have to kill themselves in the end by exposing themselves to the sun is... idk, not really fitting with the other themes of the show, I think. (I also have, if I understood what you said correctly, 2.5 nitpicks: When the priest talks about the "translation from the original Latin", he is talking about the Roman Catholic missal = instruction for how to celebrate Catholic mass. Roman Catholic mass has always been in Latin or translated based on Latin, as far as I am aware it is based on previous Greek mass in general structure, but it's its own thing and not simply a translation. And when it comes to the New Testament, we do have the Greek text to a reasonable degree of certainty. The "translation of a translation" thing is still kinda true for non-Greek-speaking churches, because Jesus spoke Aramaic, but his words were written down in Greek. The half-nitpick is that the term "positive Christianity" unfortunately has some baggage, because that's what the Nazis called the Christians in Germany who supported them. But I suspect this connotation only exists for (some) German speakers. Anyways, those don't really impact what the video says.)

Thank you for this. I love Midnight Mass so very much and there's been a drought of content for this topic. 💖

Your analysis of this incredible thought provoking and moving series is also thought-provoking and moving- and so is your story. Thank you

Oh hell yes. I've been wresting with my interpretation of the allegorical message in this show for a few days now and need to see this video! Reminder set.

This video was so well done and I cried several times during it A++ I have such a weird relationship with religion. I was raised Anglican and even was a server throughout high school (it counted toward mandatory community service hours for graduation and if I had to be there anyway....). I wasn't really bullied or anything there (if anything the public school I went to was waaay worse) My best friend at the time was the kid of our minister so I didn't mind going to church because I got to hang out with my friend immediately after. That said at church plenty of people assumed we were a couple because of good old heteronormativity. There were two times I told people the truth that I was a lesbian (my friend couldn't say anything about their own queerness because as the child of the minister they were under more scrutiny. The scrutiny was so bad it reached a point where I wasn't allowed to stay over at my friend's house because "people would talk"). The one time I said it the woman I said it to responded with a "that's what you think" (which uh....okay?) And the other time the woman I said it just stopped attending church for like a year and never said anything when she came back (it could be a coincidence but in the back of my mind I wonder...) I don't know what any of them think of me, it's been years since I've even lived in the city where that church is. And in that time they got a new minister that I've only met a couple of times, one of those times being him sincerely asking me questions about LGBTQ+ youth and potentially starting a Christian LGBTQ+ group. Idk if he ever did it but he was super respectful and kind when we spoke and I hope someday we'll get more people like him actively trying to do real good so less kids have to wonder if their gayness scared off someone for a year and so people like my friend don't have to hide themselves because of being under an insane amount of scrutiny. All things considered my story of being a queer kid raised Christian isn't as heinous as others, I just reached a point where I realized Christianity wasn't my thing. But I still can't feel comfortable with Christianity nor will I ever. Not when I know there are Christians who will hate me for being queer and who will hate my brother in law for being Muslim and who would probably hate all of my loved ones for some "sin" or another. Even if I was lucky enough to not have major church trauma far too many people aren't and I just can't be okay with that, ever.

midnight mass is my favorite thing atm i’m very excited for this

This show, while horrifying, was healing for me as a trans person who came from a fundamentalist Christian home. Excellent essay, thank you for your work!

I just finished the video and Im commenting for the Algorithm so more people can see this. This was a beautiful video and I am deeply glad you made it.

Thank you for this. I don't watch horror, it's not my bag, but I do enjoy analyses of it because horror so deeply reflects the social anxieties of its time. As a recovering Ex-vangelical this type of commentary is really cathartic and validating. Thank you for sharing your story. The part about forgiveness really hit hard. I had a similar parental experience over the holiday, just a preemptive invalidation of any harm under a guise of explanation and essentially "you turned out better for the experience". I GUESS WE'LL NEVER KNOW, WILL WE?!

That last 2 minutes made me weep. That was beautiful. This show is so important to me. Watching it for the first time I felt like all of my problems with the religion I grew up in were seen, and it was like an ah hah moment. It’s been the biggest contributor to being finally able to leave these beliefs behind me. It’s truly one of the most beautiful and poignant things I’ve ever seen.

I went to Catholic school too, as a Muslim. It was a really hard time in my life. But there were some nice people there too who tried to help me. I agree with you, individual Christians are fine sometimes but the churches are very corrupt. I really wish we could save Christianity from the hands of the churches and the powerful religious institutions that have twisted a message that is supposed to be about loving your neighbour as yourself.

Here on the recommendation of Ladyknightthebrave. This was brilliant. Loved this series and your analysis.

Your comments about being bullied in school and being seen as wrong and evil after lashing out resonated with me greatly. The first half of my childhood I attended a christian (presbyterian) school and saying it sucked is an understatement. I was "fortunate" to never suffered physical abuse in school, though the psychological abuse was invisible to all except me. Even after moving school some bad behaviours and shitty morals pushed into me continued because my country (Brazil) is over 80% christian (around half and half of catholic and evangelical), so I could never fully escape the worse aspects of it. One of the few things that pulled me out from hating christianity itself and all religions was my grandma, she is a spiritist christian. In most of the world Allan Kardec's spiritism is more of a philosophy but in Brazil it has become a branch of christianity. The way she believes stuff and what she believes in isn't perfect (like believing that the troubles we live now are because of mistakes from our past lives which is _extremely_ problematic) but she genuine tries to be a loving and understanding person. People like her showed my former christian and revolted atheist self that the problem are the institutions, like you masterfully said in the end. -Then I started leaning towards paganism but that's another story lol.- This video was great and this series looks great, it also seems like a great inspiration for my writing with the "People are shades of gray with hues of colours" like you beautifully said. Also the vampires, because I'm writing urban fantasy. Thanks for the video and the series recommendation.

As another trans person having grown up in xian schools and church I want to say how deeply I appreciate you sharing your personal experience as an educational tool. It means a lot to hear my own experience of alienation reflected in such a nuanced manner. *virtual hugs if you want them*

I love Midnight Mass as a Christian. In much the same way in Pan’s Labyrinth, I’m most afraid not of the faeries but of the fascists, the vampires are not the true monsters of the story. Anyone who has been involved with Christian groups know a Bev Keane if not many. How all of scripture is weapon for them deftly wielded against others and in defence of all their own actions. She makes me skin crawl with how absolutely accurate she is. And the inclusion of Pruitt to show the way to hell is paved with good intentions. He wants to help, he’s so sure he knows what’s best, he can save all of you if he’s allowed to continue, even if it’s questionable, even if it becomes horrific. God I love this series. I also love the atheist is the one who got to be the Jesus parallel. Riley is killed by the religious and powers that be. After his death, he reveals himself to Erin (and in letters to his family) and Erin witnesses his departing (although not an ascension) and it’s through Erin and the others that salvation truly spreads, as they speak and reveal and bravely sacrifice of themselves so that others may live. In some ways it’s the same as the parable of the Good Samaritan. It wasn’t the Levite, it wasn’t the rabbi, it wasn’t those who were holy and followed the “ correct ” faith. It was a Samaritan who showed compassion and kindness and commitment to a stranger dying on the side of the road. I feel Midnight Mass is the same sort of indictment against Christians today. In this story, who truly was righteous? Who was the neighbour? I think it’s long overdue Thank you for this lovely video essay. I am truly sorry for how Christians and Christian institutions have not only failed but actively harmed and traumatised you. And so many others. It is disgusting and horrific and must be combatted. It’s easy to say “that’s not me or my church or my faith” but nonetheless it is Christians committing these heinous acts and it needs to be Christians who take accountability and make a stand to clean up our own house. I’m sorry for what you’ve suffered.

"I believe there's a higher power that will judge you for indecencies." "Tom Crusie?"

thank you for this video, i really appreciate your point of view on this. you've put many of my thoughts and feeling into words better than I could've, while also answering a lot questions i had about things in the show i couldn't put into context the way you could. your work is very beautiful and i hope you're as proud of it as you should be.

Thank you so much for your work and vulnerability. This was beautifully done and I look forward to your future work 💜

One of my best friends recommended this to me- and the show has been literally all I’ve thought about since I finished it last night. It really validated me in the face of the religious trauma I’ve experienced, knowing that I’m not only okay, but capable of love. Thank you for your insightful video!

Thank you for making this and being so candid with your own experiences. That's not remotely easy to do, but you take this and channel it into putting out knowledge and understanding into the world. That's always a positive in my book. Thank you again and looking forward to the next video

I rarely ever watch videos that are longer than 10 minutes bc I have short attention span. But this was so beautifully done. Your message and analysis are spot on and I want to thank you for putting your story out there. The song at the end was the perfect touch.

Wow, this video was just stunning. Excellent analysis! Your passion really, truly comes through. Others have said it, but i will say it too; thank you for sharing your story, and for sharing the time it took to bring this project to fruition.

I can feel the pain of attending a Christian School as a nonChristian. Your words on this topic have been thought provoking and cathartic.

As a christian, these are exactly the problems I have with christianity. Thank you for the video!

Loved this whole thing- I likely won't watch the show itself since I'm squeamish about horror, but as someone who also bears the scars of Christian Trauma it means a lot to have it be verbalized and discussed. When I got to the part where actual, TRUE forgiveness occurs in the show, I teared up. It's such a shame those moments are so few and far between compared to what me and many others have experienced, which is definitely exemplified in this show. Excellent work!

Absolutely amazing analysis And congrats on 1k!!

Joe's death actually broke me.

I felt so incredibly seen by this show. Like nothing before, honestly. And I feel so seen by this video. This feeling of knowing I'm not alone is so helpful. I hope you are well, and I hope you can always say you are better than you were before.

Excellent analysis. It's such a thematically rich series. I particularly appreciate the depth and nuance given to every character, it's some of the best characterization I've seen in anything ever. Also this channel needs more subs asap.

Lovely video, fantastically made ❤️ This show wasn't on my radar but now I'm excited to give it a watch!

Honestly love this essay. Something that really stood out was the in-and-out group nature of the church and the lack of denominations or Christian groups promoting curiosity. Part of why I fell out of my church but not faith was because I read that I was called to learn and pursue knowledge and in that pursuit I abandoned a lot of teachings irrelevant to the faith that were merely means of control for the church. I really appreciate the respectful criticism of Christianity because I'm so used to blatant hate or defense of the faith without any nuanced discussion. Your viddy and the show are both amazing for that. Edited: Further in now; really proud of you for sharing. I can't imagine the strength it took to share. I've no words but im awed by your art, well done.

Thank you so much for this beautiful video, I watched midnight mess just because of how well your video is ❤

I watch so many different video essayist but this was so comprehensive and entertaining to watch. You did a great job! Thank you for your insight 😊

Ugggghhhh I’m bawling! Well done, friend. Thank you for this. 💙💙

This amazing video deserves an in-depth thoughtful analysis, but most of what I would write would be piles of 'I went through that too' anecdotes. *Instead:* Thank you for calling out and contextualizing the "Kool-Aid" remark. I had to study that incident (including the tapes) and found it especially vile that phrase was suddenly being used by "both sides". So, while it's a drop in the lake of this amazing video - I get to know that all of the other commenters are (hopefully) the viewer count are people who heard that.

Watched midnight mass after a ladynightthebrave inspired haunting anthology binge and I was just waiting for a thoughtful video essay unpacking it. Thank you for delivering

I love this video so much. Thank you for making it

This is great. Loved the show. Loved your essay. Growing up christian is a nightmare. I'm glad we got out.

This analysis is beautiful. Having gone to catholic school in Canada, having watched my mum get sucked into Christian fundamentalism, and having been told variations of “it’s god’s plan” so many times during my ongoing battle with cancer, this video hit me in the feels (maybe a bit harder than the show itself-you are that good ❤).

Thank you for sharing your story with us, Aranock. Great analysis as well!

Thank you for sharing you're personal experiences when that's nothing anyone should have to. I love you and I hope you find all the happiness in life you deserve. ❤️

i am a year late to this video but this show is Fascinating and to me especially fascinating bc I watched Shiki as a kid, an anime with a very similar plot

Thank you for this analysis. I’ve watched this video at least 10 times since it came out and it’s so comforting to listen to for me. I’ve wanted to make a thank you, but the words and feelings never sounded right. I’ve always had a particularly complicated relationship with my faith as a Baptist Christian and I don’t particularly like how patriarchal and fanatical much of the churches I visit tend to be. I grew up with so much judgement and shame around my body and sex. I don’t like organized religion, but my relationship with God is still important to me. I was assaulted right before I watched the show and I was very lost, confused, and had to re-evaluate my relationship with religion. Immediately after it happened I had all the cruel, dehumanizing messages I’ve been told in church blaring in my head to the point where my shame, anger, and guilt caused me to have a panic attack and think I’d be better off dead. I wanted nothing to do with my religion, despite it meaning so much to me. So when I found a different, more comforting display of Christianity and religion in general, the show basically took over my head to cope for a few weeks and I was looking for someone else who watched, loved, and analyzed the show as much as I did. I came here from LadyKnight’s recommendation and I certainly was not disappointed. I love how much you discussed forgiveness and how much damage they can do, regardless of how good their intentions are. I’ve been struggling with how to forgive so many people and the person who assaulted me, especially after someone suggested I should get over my pain and PTSD because “I’m a Christian and I’m supposed to forgive and accept pain, no matter what people do to me”. I want to let go of the anger, but I feel like it’s be accepting their abuse or mistreatment. I’ve also heard that this experience and struggle would bring be closer to God or that “God works in mysterious ways” as if me losing so much of my time and mental health could ever be a positive thing. I love my God, I just genuinely hate how so many people use his name to bully or subjugate vulnerable people. But luckily, I have good, genuine Christians in my life who have helped me and who have given me comfort during this awkward and painful aftermath. Thank you so much again for this essay. It’s made me feel a little less alone and helped me keep my sanity during my weird recovery period.

i watched this show (series?) a bit ago, maybe a month or two, and i had been craving an analysis because i could tell that there was so much there if only i could figure it out. you answered literally all my questions and explained every connection and storytelling tool that i thought made this show so powerful. my mom also dealt with christianity being weaponized against her, and while she has done some amazing work to always stay true to herself, she's put a barrier up against certain political & religious conversations that i don't know if she'll ever break down. she (understandably) isn't very interested in the show or going into a deep and emotion-inducing dive on the topic, and so i only get little insights here and there into what she's going through. i say all this to show how much i appreciate your work & effort here, and how well the end result came out. so much of what you're saying resonates with me and what i know of my mom's experience, and watching this helped me understand more about her situation in a way i never thought i could without opening her up to more pain. i am so grateful to you for sharing this. thank you.

This video is a fantastic acompaniment to Midnight Mass. After I finished MM, I was so moved and had so much to think about my own faith and how religion has been used to cause incredible harm. You did such an incredible, thoughful reflection on the themes of the show and its cultural context. Thank you so much!

Incredible and moving work. Thank you.

Thank you for this beautiful video. It brought me to tears more than once. Thank you 💙

I'm only 10 minutes into this video and it's already my favorite. Love your commentary, humor, and edits. New sub ❤️

TW: Upsetting themes of child abuse and suicide This resonated with me because I think I was in slight denial of my own religious trauma. I thought it wasn't really religion doing harm to me as a child because the person doing harm was just a bad person. But they harmed me as a bad Christian. They pushed me to attend church, and I didn't see anything wrong with it because that's how I was raised by my parents. For years afterwards I was a piece of shit, openly accepting my friends who were LGBTQIA+ but in my mind I held the still damaging belief "God hates the sin not the sinner." It's only recently that I've been pushing back against this, realizing that I never felt the need to ask these questions about the religion I was raised in because no one straightforwardly encouraged me to do so. The people who harmed me were supposed to be there for me, my dad was supposed to recognize that his daughter shouldn't be this thin, that she shouldn't be trying to kill herself at age 10, that she shouldn't be scared of the woman he called his wife. When I tried to kill myself he didn't even show up until like a week later. He knew I was in the hospital, that I was struggling, and my mom took his ass to court to ensure his wife couldn't harm THEIR children, and he just let the mental and emotional abuse continue because he was weak and cowardly and stuck up his own ass. And when I was later diagnosed with depression, and anxiety, and Aspergers, he allowed his wife to continue to use the r word in casual conversation around me, and allowed her to berate me for "using my disability as an excuse" when I was unable to express to them that I was merely bringing it up to try to explain why I didn't act like her own children or even my brother. I lashed out at my brother a lot too because I was hurt, and he was hurt and had toxic masculinity shoved onto him and he lashed out at me and to this day I still am terrified whenever he raises his voice, or when my mom raises her voice. My mother who fought for my safety, who made an effort to learn more and become more understanding and willing to help me understand who I am. She is the person who I wish I could be more like every fucking day. I don't want to be like my dad, who hides behind his religion to avoid apologizing for the pain he thrust upon us. I struggle daily with my mental health and mental disability, and I'm trying to heal and every time he messages me I feel disgust at the text messages even though I don't respond because he's acting like everything is fine because he doesn't know how bad his inaction hurt me. To that I say I refuse to identify as Christian, I refuse to allow myself to be led down a path of hatred and disgust. I can't do much at the moment but I will do my best to fight for myself and my mother and everyone else who can't fight. Because the way people are treated within Christianity is disgusting and vile and puts a sour taste in my mouth. I want to apologize to anyone I've ever indirectly hurt with my ignorance, whether they're aware of how I viewed them or not, because I am disgusted by my past self. No one deserves to hear "You don't deserve to live." Not a single fucking person.

Love this video so much -- I'm a queer author whose stories center mostly on the impact of religious fanaticism and oddly its been making me like... more religious? I feel like to write these stories you have to understand the good and bad of faith. I grew up in a particularly loving sect of Mennonites who love their queer, poc, and disabled parishioners, and discovering Christian hate made me leave the church even though it wasn't the Mennonites who ever even hinted hatred against me. I felt really connected with Erin's return to faith with the intent to love-- Even as a non binary lesbian i've always wanted to raise my children to believe in a loving God, because it was something comforting when i felt i had nothing left, the belief of love and forgiveness redeeming you if you show love and forgiveness. hell as i am typing this i'm like recalling memories I have blacked out of growing up religious of unanswered prayers. I'm still not sure I believe in a Christian God at all, but I do believe in the power of love and redemption being something divine. There was once a book we made during sunday school where we wrote all the facts we knew about Jesus, what he looked like, that he had a beard, that his mother was Mary and his father was God. But my favorite part is that I chose to write that he loves every child like his best friends, and to me that is what I want religion to mean to myself and others. That you are wholly loved. And I think that is such an important message in midnight mass. It's not what you believe, it's what you do in the name of your beliefs.

Watching this again having now seen the series in full. It still holds up, your stuff is amazing, and @12:47 had me cackling.

Excellent observation on the concept of forgiveness as often centring the perpetrator rather than the victim, and being treated as something that you simply deserve rather than something that is freely given by the wronged party.

Well done, thank you for making this.

An incredible essay about an incredible show! Well done, God bless you!

I can't exactly say I had the same experiences but I had my issues growing up in the catholic church. I had to attend Sunday school and bullying was apparent, and sadly none of the teachers did anything. I'm sorry that you went through far much worse things. I'm glad you made this video. Best wishes.

Thank you for making this video. I watched you and Tirrrb's video on Jubilees terf problem and it made me curious about your content. First I watched your video on being nonbinary (I've had trouble understanding it in the past but I'm slowly learning more about it) which was also excellent. This video in particuliar has stuck out to me however, as a cis maybe queer (I am still not sure yet) young woman who has just started college and still hasn't had the courage to tell her pastor father and family that she isn't Christian and hasn't been for about 2 years now. Videos like yours and Belief it or Not's channel have made still going to church every Sunday after all this time that much easier. I feel like people who haven't been deeply ingrained in Christianity and the church's doctrine can never truly understand how worthless it can make you feel. Thank you for talking about it in an open and honest way. Thank you for showing that the institution is the real issue, not the individuals, although the individuals who do harm should still take responsibility because they still have a choice to fight back against corruption and the institutions they're under. I truly hope that one day I won't have to resent Christianity for the way it has made me feel.

Fabulous script, really powerful conclusion filled with love and understanding and hope while remaining resolutely critical of the elements of Christianity that seek control. I found myself relating the sheriff during my first watch through, while not Muslim, I grew up Jewish in a small christian town, and got pretty familiar with how many Christians felt about The Other, I think those experiences led me to embrace midnight mass as deeply cathartic, and it was lovely to see that catharsis written about so beautifully here

As a cis straight white dude raised catholic (now atheist), your perspective is not one i've ever heard. and i really appreciate you sharing your hurt to maybe open some eyes and help some people. much love and respect.

Love that you cut to Garth Marenghi who was also in Bly Manor! So fun!