Single Mothers and Retelling Bible Stories

So there is this new show on NBC called Kings that I am absolutely in love with right now. Seriously, anyone who talks to me on a frequent basis knows I won’t shut up about it. Incase people don’t watch it (go do so!), it is basically about what America (or rather an American-like country) would be like with a king, and it is based off the biblical story of King David (and King Saul as well I suppose). I think one of the things I enjoy so much about it is being able to catch all the parallels to the Biblical story because it’s fun to see how they modernized the events and it just makes me feel smart. The main character in the show is David Shepherd (the biblical David was a shepherd) who is the youngest of 8 sons (as the biblical David was). David’s mother is a single mother named Jesse (the name of the Biblical David’s father). The king’s name is Silas (counterpart – King Saul), his son’s name is Jack (nickname for john or Jonathan—Saul’s son and David’s friend) and his daughter (with whom David is beginning to be ‘romantically involved’) is named Michelle (counterpart – Michal, Saul’s daughter and David’s wife). The reverend at the palace is named Reverend Samuels (counterpart – The prophet Samuel). The plot also closely follows that of the biblical story, though obviously with modern twists. It’s a smart, well thought out story line and I am tragically addicted already. There is a plot synopsis (albeit very poor—it’s Wikipedia after all) here, But I’d suggest watching the show.

Now to the point. The part of the show I’m going to focus on is David’s mother, and more specifically the choice to make her a single mother. While I found the choice to turn the Biblical David’s father into a single mother intriguing from the get go, I think this is an especially interesting concept in light of reading Jane Juffer. Juffer talks about how less than two decades ago politicians were running around saying that single mother we’re more or less evil and caused all of society’s problems and so forth. She then points out how in the last few years this image has shifted. She sites Gilmore Girls and Bush’s talk of single mother’s being heroes. This show, this choice to turn a formally male role into that of a single mother (much like the movies we talked about in class such as Invasion of the Body Snatchers) goes right along with what Juffer is talking about.

But I find myself asking why. Why the switch from a (presumably) married father to a single mother? It’s not that I’m opposed to the switch, I’m simply intrigued. Is it merely an attempt to make the show have more modern relevance? The shows writer Michael Green did say that the wanted to take the story and “re-conceive it while still being faithful to the original material but at the same time exploring the themes, modernizing it in every way.” And a single mother does add a very modern, very non-biblical twist (not to say that the Bible is against single motherhood, just that it wasn’t a popular thing in those times). With the percent of single mothers seeming to be constantly on the rise this certainly seems a valid reason for Jesse to be a single mom. Or are the show’s writers trying to make a statement about single mothers being sufficient parenting for a child? David certainly seems very polite and well brought up where as Jack for example, brought up by both a mother and a father, seems to be prone to selfishness, rudeness and materialism. This points out that it may not be about the number of parents but who the parents are that impacts a child more and also seems like a valid reason for Jesse’s switch. Or are they following Bush’s proclamation of the single mother as a hero, showing her as this woman of strength who raised 8 sons after the tragic death of her husband in a war. She does appear to be a woman of strength and virtue, proud of her son’s accomplishment (watch the show to find out what) but weary of politics and fame. So perhaps this is the reason they chose to make Jesse a single mom.

Maybe it is a combination of the above or something I have not thought of. I guess it’s hard to tell exactly why they made that particular decision until there are more episodes and we see the character evolve and such. And even then it’s often hard to tell exactly what someone’s intentions were. But I think it is a very interesting choice and one that I am excited to see grow as the season(s) progress. One more plug for the show, because I am truly overly excited about it: Watch it Sunday nights on NBC at 7pm! :]