🎬 Series "See": Planting Religious Skepticism in a Godless Age
A critical look at the philosophical messages in Apple TV+'s post-apocalyptic drama.

The series See (Apple TV+, 2019-2022) presents a gripping post-apocalyptic world. But beneath its action lies a powerful, subtle message rooted in Western philosophical skepticism—a message aimed squarely at religious belief.

🌍 The Premise: A Blind World
Centuries after a virus wiped out most of humanity,the survivors are all blind. Sight is considered a mythical, almost heretical concept. Those born with the ability to see are labeled "witches" and hunted by the religious enforcers of the Payan kingdom to be burned at the stake.

🔄 The Core Message: "Skepticism" in Action
The plot’s central turn is a masterclass in skepticism.The evil Queen of Paya, who initially burns the sighted, later completely reverses the doctrine when she realizes the sighted can be useful to her power.

· Yesterday's "truth": Sight is evil, a mark of witchcraft.
· Today's "truth": Sight is a divine gift, a tool for the kingdom's future.
The message to the viewer is clear: There is no absolute truth. "Truth" is constructed and manipulated by those in power to control the masses. This directly mirrors skeptical arguments against religious doctrines, suggesting they are merely tools of control that change with the winds of political utility.

⛪ A Deliberate Parallel: The "Dark Ages" & The Inquisition
The series is not subtle in its historical allegory.The blind society, ruled by a manipulative queen who claims to be God's representative on Earth, burning heretics—this is a direct portrayal of the European Dark Ages and the Catholic Inquisition.
The narrative frames this period as one of superstition and oppression, deliberately evoked to create a negative association with organized religion in the viewer's mind.

🔭 The "Salvation": Science Minus Spirituality
In the series'logic, sight is equated with knowledge and science (as only the sighted can read old books). The final scene shows the sighted in a vast library, hinting that the future belongs to them—to knowledge devoid of spirituality.
The series thus proposes a familiar Western narrative:humanity's salvation lies in shedding the "shackles" of religious dogma and embracing a Renaissance of pure, secular reason.

💡 The Critical Perspective
This analysis argues thatSee is part of a longstanding Western cultural project:

1. Reacting to the Past: It channels Europe's trauma from theocratic rule during the Middle Ages.
2. Promoting Doubt: It seeks to implant the idea that all received religious truth is potentially manipulative and false.
3. Offering a Secular Alternative: It posits science and knowledge, separated from divine meaning, as the only true path forward—a path that, as history shows, can lead to its own forms of existential emptiness and colossal violence (e.g., the World Wars).

⚠️ Final Thought
Seeis more than a survival drama. It is a vehicle for a specific philosophical worldview that encourages skepticism toward religious foundations and promotes a materialist understanding of human progress.

Source (Persian): In-depth analysis from the Andishkade-ye Motala'at-e Yahood (Jewish Studies Think Tank).
https://jscenter.ir/jews-and-the-media/jews-and-hollywood/25039

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