Elijah Grammer’s Final Project

The Judge poured over her notes again, let out a long sigh, and furrowed her brow. She checked them, rechecked them, rechecked them again, took a quick burrito break, and rechecked them a third time. You would think as an eternal being I would have seen everything. I mean, there’s literally no way I couldn’t have seen everything.

She sighed. Nothing for it I suppose.

She snapped her fingers and it appeared before her. It really was as strange as she thought it would look, but somehow its mismash of parts congealed into an intelligible whole. It could almost be called beautiful. You know, if you were into that sort of thing.

“Whe… where am I?”

“Oh dear you can speak! I wasn’t really expecting that. Not sure why but…”

A look of confusion spread across… could you call it a face? Continue reading

Mary Crawford Final Project

“Four Passengers” by Mary Crawford

The Good Place and The Great Divorce: Visions of Hell and Purgatory

The Good Place may be set in the afterlife, but it is not, first and foremost, about the afterlife. Its primary concern is the morals (or lack thereof) that landed its characters there. But a show that assumes the existence of an afterlife, and in particular an afterlife that judges its members on moral qualities, must deal with the question of not only how one can be a good person, but also why.

Continue reading

Mia Lecinski’s Final Project

I decided to write a speech by Michael for my final project, using prophetic rhetoric from the Bible. The Good Place is decidedly not a religious show, though nor is my final project. Prophetic speeches from the Bible often condemn humans for their sinful qualities, and end with advice for how to be better. Throughout this class, we’ve discussed how Schur has defined human nature through The Good Place. I thought it would be powerful to take all of Michael’s revelations about human nature, and to place them into a speech. I used this religious technique simply to highlight Michael’s feelings towards humans. It also attempts to piece together Michael’s core philosophy about humans. Continue reading