LAST EDITED ON 10-24-01 AT 04:38 PM (EST)

The title of this week's episode is entitled "The Gods Are Angry". There has been some speculation about who the Gods might be angry at and why. I'm wondering if anyone knows if there are any Massai myths of what happens when the Gods are Angry. Drought maybe? In some cultures, angering the Gods might result in anything from infertility to death (MB wouldn't go that far to beat Friends would he?). I'm thinking there's a clue in there about some kind of punishment. For some reason my mind keeps going to last season and the flooded camp. Does anyone know or care to speculate about superstitions regarding the Gods in African culture?

edited to correct the title goof up -- it's "The Gods Are Angry" not "The Gods Must be Angry" which I think I confused with a movie titled "The Gods Must be Crazy". Sorry

Fighting illiteracy by day
and writer's block by night

• RE: The Gods Must be Angry,dabo, 04:39 PM, 10-24-01
• RE: The Gods Are Angry,TaurusII, 04:47 PM, 10-24-01
• RE: The Gods Must be Angry,Outfrontgirl, 06:06 PM, 10-24-01
  • RE: The Gods Must be Angry,allaboutme, 08:22 PM, 10-24-01
    • I Agree...,IceCat, 08:42 PM, 10-24-01
• RE: The Gods Must be Angry,mavsfan, 00:19 AM, 10-25-01
  • RE: The Gods Must be Angry,scorpio, 01:31 AM, 10-25-01
• Sudden Thought...,sleeeve, 12:41 PM, 10-25-01

I saw this earlier, my impression was that the title was a take-off on the film "The Gods Must Be Crazy" in which a Coke bottle dropped from an airplane becomes an object of divisiveness in an African tribe until one man decides to take it back to the gods because they were foolish for making only one of the thing.

"If the race of man should be left naked upon a desert island, we should become extinct in six weeks. A few individuals might linger, but in a year would become worse than monkeys." (Samuel Butler, "Erewhon")

NS,

A quick Web search turns up a few Masai gods: an Earth goddess, a Sky god, a Creator and Supreme Being. The only one I've found so far with any likely bearing is 'Nenaunir, who is an evil goddess responsible for storms.

Maybe you're on to something here.

)O

Scribe,
First thanks for correcting the title, because I too was racking my brains for a tie-in to the film. I guess there's no doubt the Gods ARE Angry, so why? (I take "god" to represent both gods and goddesses, as it has been used that way forever)

My usual suspect for cause of deity wrath: showing the god(s) insufficient respect.

Manifestation of wrath: injury, illness, weather, plague, angry animals, famine, drought. Losing streak...

Could be the lions encroaching; could be Lindsey showing too much hubris and crashing from dehydration; could be Boran showing disrespect and losing third IC in a row.

"Don't think it won't happen just because it hasn't happened yet"

I think this is a reference to the legend of Sisyphus, in which he maddens the Gods and is forced to roll a heavy ball up a hill until it falls back down and he has to start over again and again and again....
This ties into the giant dung ball challenge discussed elswhere, based on the dung beetles in Africe that roll their balls around also and I believe carry the name Sisyphus beetles

The gods being angry is central to the Sisyphus legend. The Sisyphus legend lends its name to the dung beetle. The dung ball race is the thrilling IC of EP3.

Should not the most important event of the episode (a large scale very physical challenge) be referenced in the title?

I think it should.

The dung beetle is probably where the Gods Must be angry comes from, but...

If the Boran lose another immunity challenge, the Gods could be angry that the Boran's disrespected mother Africa on the first day by dumping out the water.

Dumping the water indicated the Boran's didn't take serious just how brutal life in Africa could be, and they offended the Gods. Now the Boran's are sufferening the punishment of the angry gods.

or...... it could be in reference to Linda's Ep 1 speech about the disrespect shown to Africa by the tribe in the early goings..

Just today, this suddenly struck me as the same thing that happened with Amber in S2.

Ie: the Borans lose another challenge (the RC)get to hear a diatribe from one of the tribe members about how the gods must be angry, cause they just can't seem to win.

What happened in S2??? Well... the team came back to win the IC... could it happen again???