Sunny Banana
I am a school chaplain and the content is intended to encourage curiosity about Faith and it's impact on day to day life
The Sunny Banana, is a play upon the Zulu greeting, Sanibonani, meaning I see you.
As tech wrenches us from real life, we are not seeing each other. The Greek word 'idea' means to see. It is as if we have lost the idea of what it means to be human; social, communal, relational. The same word, to see, in Old English is 'seon' which has connotations of understanding.
Let's start seeing each other again, listening, respecting, and understanding each other and ourselves. After all, we are people through other people.
Sunny Banana
Is Netflix Adolescence woke?
The Netflix series "Adolescence" has sparked heated debate, with many viewers labeling it as "woke" propaganda targeting specific demographic groups. But is this interpretation missing something profoundly important about the show's actual message?
Looking beyond surface-level politics reveals that "Adolescence" is actually telling humanity's oldest story—one about our universal fallen condition. The series cleverly weaves biblical symbolism throughout, particularly through a character named Adam and references to apples, unmistakably pointing to the Garden of Eden narrative. This isn't about blaming men, any particular race, or religious group for society's problems; it's about recognizing that the capacity for moral failure exists within all of us.
What makes "Adolescence" particularly striking is that while it offers truth about the human condition—how we struggle, make mistakes, and pass our wounds to subsequent generations—it provides no pathway to hope. The show accurately depicts Alexander Solzhenitsyn's observation that "the line of good and evil runs through every human heart," but stops short of offering solutions. Where Adam's disobedience led to blame, shame, and exile from paradise, Christ's perfect obedience and teachings on radical forgiveness offer the hope that "Adolescence" lacks. Rather than pointing fingers at others, we're called to take ownership of our actions while extending grace to those around us.
Have you watched "Adolescence" yet? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this interpretation. And if you're curious about how Jesus Christ might offer solutions to our modern struggles with blame and shame, reach out, and let's continue this conversation.
there has been a lot of talk about adolescence on netflix and I wanted to make a few comments about that. As a chaplain, one of the things I want to comment on about is that people saying that adolescence is woke, that it's trying to push an agenda about race, ethnicity and religion, even gender, because a lot of people are saying that this story is blaming men for our society's woes and problems um, there's talks about the ethnicity of the boy, the family, um, the boy that does the crime and so on and so forth. But I want to comment on saying that it is not woke at all. No matter how you look at it. You need to look at this adolescence a bit more closely and I'm very grateful for glenn for glenn scrivener from speak life charity in eastbourne, who has made this amazing video on youtube. You can check it out, the deeper meaning of adolescence on the speak life channel. I highly recommend it and that's where I got all my ideas and I agree with him 110% that adolescence is actually a story about the truth of humanity. It's the story about us. It's the oldest story ever told. Okay, it tells us that we are human. It's the oldest story ever told. Okay, it tells us that we are human and we mess up. We are actually the problem, not white men, not black women, not gay people, nothing of the sort, but humanity. And I want to use man in the ancient sense when I speak today. I'm going to talk about man. Man means humanity, us. So man is the problem. And adolescence is saying that.
Speaker 1:When you see, in episode one, you see a policeman talking to his son, and what is his son's name? His son's name is Adam, and after speaking to Adam on the phone, he talks to his colleague about apples. Okay, the references couldn't be stronger to the garden of eden, our origin story as humans. So he has a father talking to adam who, by the way, is being disobedient and not listening to his father, and that sounds very much like adam and eve in the garden. And then the apples. Obviously, we know that Adam and Eve ate from that fruit that they were not supposed to. So you have this, a peripheral story running alongside the main plot, okay, so let me say this again adolescence is not saying that men are the problem, or any race, or any religion.
Speaker 1:It's the problem, okay, it's man and that's all of us. So it's not trying to blame any ethnicity, any people, any religion or gender, but what it is is a hopeless story. It's not trying to offer hope, it's just a hopeless story, which means saying we are trapped in this condition and we mess up. Look at that boy if you watch adolescence. And it's not supposed to happen what happened. It's just not supposed to happen. Looking at the stats, okay, good family, supposedly goodwill, father, mother, but a horrific crime happens. But that reminds me of one thing that Alexander Solzhenitsyn told me, a survivor of the sorry he didn't tell me personally, but said and wrote that the line of evil runs through each and every human heart. The line of good and evil runs through the heart of every single human. We have the capability to mess up. So adolescence is a hopeless story because there's one Adam. It just talks about man's problem. It does not say or tell us or offer a solution, and that solution is the second Adam, and I'm going to get to that soon.
Speaker 1:If we look at adolescence, it reminds us that struggle, sin and grief is actually passed on. So again, it's the oldest story ever told From our ancestors, adam and Eve. Our spiritual ancestors, adam and Eve, through disobedience, have passed on this disobedience and problem to all of us, to all of us. Okay. So adolescence tells us that this is inevitable. You see that the boy's father in the show had a, a bad father and struggled with his father. So that father, second, third generation onto this boy, is passing down problems, suffering grief. Now, where is the hope? Now, adolescence offers truth, truth about the human story. Where is, as the chaplain, I am worried about and concerned about where the beauty is and where the goodness is. Ie, where is the hope? Where is the hope? Okay, and I find, and I want to share this with you, that jesus offers the solution to humanity's problem, to the problem of adam, to the problem of sin, which is the problem of evil. Okay, and for more about how Jesus does this, please reach out to me or drop me a line, but this is what I can offer now.
Speaker 1:In Genesis, the first book of the Bible, adam is told not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But he does, and through disobedience, adam and Eve are kicked out of paradise, the place they were created for originally. Jesus Christ, through his whole life and his teachings on earth, shows us and lives a life of obedience to his purpose. I remember Jurgen Klopp, one of the Liverpool coaches before the current coach. He said on live television his biggest hero was Jesus Christ because he lived out his life to the fullest according to the purpose and meaning that he was called to live. And so, through obedience, christ teaches us and shows us, and he reverses that disobedience. So how do we reverse the disobedience of our own lives? Well, it's through the obedience to the work of God in us, the purpose that we are called as human beings, to love, to forgive, to show mercy.
Speaker 1:Now here's my second point, and I've got many, many points that I'd love to discuss with people, points that I'd love to discuss with people. But after Adam has been asked why he ate the fruit, what does he do? He blames Eve. What does Eve do? And shame. Humanity loses its original blessedness, if you like, its original beauty. Something is marred through shame and through blame them, blaming each other, and out of paradise they go.
Speaker 1:And Jesus, over and over again, teaches us to forgive One of his disciples. His followers asked him Lord, how many times should we forgive someone? Seven times, because seven was a heavenly number, almost like a complete number. A heavenly number, almost like a complete number. And Jesus says, not seven times, but 77 times, seven times you should forgive others. He even teaches us to love and forgive and pray for our enemies, those who hate us, those who would rather see us hurt, those who persecute us. He said love, forgive and pray for those kind of people. Amazing, amazing. And so Jesus does this and says do it, do the same. And so blame and shame are reversed through love and forgiveness. And this is the beauty and this is the goodness. This is the good news that Christ has to offer us.
Speaker 1:If you are curious about this and how Jesus Christ is the solution to our human condition and problems, again I would love to talk to you and drop me a line, please. So adolescence is not woke and it's not trying to tell a story about social justice or trying to blame other people. It's telling us the truth about the human condition. The inescapable part is our condition, that we fall into struggle, we make mistakes and we mess up, and part of us, we are part of the problem and we can't start to blame and point fingers at anybody. And once we take ownership of our lives and understand our purpose is to actually love others, forgive others and we also take on this hopeful story that there is a way out of this four-walled existence of struggle and pain and suffering, and it's through these things love and forgiveness and purpose. As always, may your heart be filled with peace, grace and mercy.