Name:

Watching The Leftovers: An Investigation into Meaning, the Sacred, and

Society
While viewing the first episode of the first season of The Leftovers, please keep
in mind the following questions. Jot down notes and your responses to the
questions for in-class discussion. I will be collecting them (and returning them)
for a quiz score.
Religions provide meaning! This is a standard thesis in the academic study of
religion. Many of your definitions of religion included the idea that religion
answers the questions we have about the world and beyond.
Using specifics from the episode, what are three instances where people or
groups are seeking to explain the events around them (or providing meaning):
1.
2.
3.
What happens, then, when there are events in the world that CANNOT
be explained by the current, dominant religious models? What
happens when religion cannot convincingly respond to the question
WHY?

On the opposite side of this paper, respond briefly to at least two of the four
following questions:
(1) What do you make of no one standing for the Pledge of Allegiance and the
new introduction of prayer in the public schools as found in the opening?
(2) How do the restrictions and demands of the Guilty Remnant (or the GR
the people in white) result in behavior maintenance, group identity, and
meaning?
(3) Two part question:
a. What do you think the meaning of the Guilty Remnants Stop Wasting
Your Breath slogan means (as displayed at the 3-year anniversary event)?
b. Why do you think the vast majority of the attendees turn against this
group through violence?

(4) What do you make of the final scene with Meg arriving at the home of the
Guilty Remnant? Why do you think she arrived at the encampment?