I watched There will be blood for the first time last week, I was struck by the portrayal of competition between religion and capitalism. I am still digesting this masterpiece, does anyone have thoughts about these themes? Why they portrayed it as capitalism vs faith?
The film presents us with a world in which the relationship that exists between capitalism and Christianity is starkly different than what exists today. The cozy symbiosis in which American churches co-exist with business was not always thus. There Will Be Blood accurately reveals the strong resistance to basic Christian principles of charity and fellowship and equitable distribution of wealth that made capitalist barons like Daniel Plainview not a hero of the Sunday sermons across America around the turn of the century, but the villains to preach against. The turbulent path that saw big-time capitalism and Christianity go from confrontation to collusion is a story still waiting to be told in film, but There Will Be Blood represents a fitting introduction.
