Wrath A Seven Deadly Sins Story (2022)
Desiderato Merriwether
Seven Deadly Sins Anthology is an American television drama film series based on the books by Victoria Christopher Murray and produced by T.D. Jakes, Derrick Williams and Shaun Robinson for Lifetime and LMN.[1]
Each film in the series follows a story inspired by one of the seven deadly sins in the Bible. The first two films Lust: A Seven Deadly Sins Story (starring singer Keri Hilson) and Envy: A Seven Deadly Sins Story (starring actress Rose Rollins) premiered on April 10 and April 18, 2021 respectively.[2][3] The third and fourth films Wrath: A Seven Deadly Sins Story (starring singer Michelle Williams) and Greed: A Seven Deadly Sins Story (starring actress Monique Coleman) premiered on April 16 and April 23, 2022 respectively.[4][5] The fifth movie in the series, titled Pride: A Seven Deadly Sins Story, starred singer Stephanie Mills and premiered on April 8, 2023.[6][7]
Our anger might begin as righteous advocacy for others and ourselves. The sexist treatment of a colleague stirs in us a desire to speak up. An abuse of power by someone in authority over us makes us want to stand up for ourselves. The shooting in Ferguson sparked a protest that continues even after the news cycle has moved on. Real wrongs occur and emotional responses are justified.
But our anger can easily spill over into something out-of-control. Speaking up can become shouting harshly. Standing up can turn into holding grudges. And a protest can become a deadly riot in a manner of minutes.
The great lie that often accompanies anger is that we know the whole story. Anger that looks justified from our perspective may actually be out of order. And, trapped in our small stories, we may miss the cues to tell us when the time for anger has passed or when our anger has shifted to a sinful place.
Earlier this year, I had an intense experience that made me feel betrayed and wronged. And I felt angry. I stewed over this incident alone for several months. Bitterness started to grab me and I made no moves toward reconciliation. I was alone with my anger.
A handful of friends heard what was going on with me and reached out. Some of them were in the room when the incident happened. They shared their experience and helped me figure out where my anger was justified and where it was a result of a misunderstanding.
Evagrius, a fourth-century monk, created a list of eight common sins to help people be aware of them and guard against them. Pope Gregory I reduced the list to seven in the sixth century, providing us with what we now commonly refer to as the seven deadly sins: sloth, anger, envy, pride, lust, gluttony, and avarice/greed (Michael Mangis, Signature Sins). This is the final post in our series on these seven sins, explaining what they are, how they affect our relationship with God and others, and how we can move past them.
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Sitting alongside Derrick Williams and Shaun Robinson as executive producers, the upcoming Seven Deadly Sins anthology, based on the books by Victoria Christopher Murray, will debut on Lifetime on April 16 and April 23.
In a conversation with BET.com, Jakes shares why he takes on films that are filled with jaw-dropping moments, what it was like working with the cast and what sin he believes is the most crippling that society is dealing with today.
Bishop TD Jakes: We're just following down the path of the book and the text itself on the seven deadly sins and say we're listed in the Bible and then we have this huge dramatization. That centers around how we handle pressure and how different people based on the triggers from the traumas that they have incurred in life are more susceptible to certain things and other people. I thought that Victoria Murray did an amazing job in the novel. And to bring that to film as another layer of integrity to the project.
Bishop TD Jakes: It's a collaborative effort between Lifetime and our organization and all the executive producers get a chance to weigh in on it and try to pick the person that fits the role and has the cache to be able to deliver the kind of dramatic presentation. These films are quite dramatic, you have to have the chops as an actor to be able to deliver that.
BET.com: Now, Bishop, the last time we spoke, we talked about your personal experiences with lust and envy related to the Seven Deadly Sins Saga. When it comes to wrath and greed, how have you been able to live with these sins, and what advice do you have for those who might need a little assistance?
I think one of the great things about this film is the believability of the characters and the relatability of the characters. People tell you don't cross the line but they don't tell you where the line is. And so you have to be able to make a distinction between being reasonably ambitious and being greedy. A lot of times it depends on not so much what you want, but what you're willing to do to get it and you need to set boundaries and allocate a budget on how far you're willing to go to get up.
Bishop TD Jakes: I think you're gonna be really surprised at the character Michelle Williams plays I think you're gonna be really surprised that she defends herself and fights back. [We] certainly [have] the strong Black woman image upheld there.
There are several jaw-dropping moments in the way that the script is written and the way that actors conveyed it and the director directed it. I'm really careful about attaching my name to things and so it's the kind of thing that I think I would watch it! But also think that the target audience of Lifetime will really relate to the struggles of these women with the various areas with whom they have to do it [with].
Bishop TD Jakes: Oh my gosh, that's a great question! If you could close your eyes and just point at every one of them. You're gonna see them today. I think it depends on where you are in your life.
What I've really tried to point out is to not demonize the villain but to really get you to see that every villain was at one time of victim. We look at what people do, but we don't look at why people do it. And I think we've done a really good job of pointing to the why behind the what, and we'll never get together as a society until we get past what and start to understand the word.
I like your idea of taking each of the Biblical deadly sins and matching it with one of the Narnia books, and certainly the example of Eustace becoming a dragon is an especially forceful consequence of his greed!
Therefore we can find sins and their effects throughout the Narnia books; in some cases the consequence of a sin would be death or a very nasty outcome. In several places we see the direct intervention of Aslan, usually undeserved. Matching just one major sin to each book is unlikely to be easy or agreed to by others.
There, shining in the sunrise, larger than they had seen him before, shaking his mane (for it had apparently grown again) stood Aslan himself.
"...when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards."
I realise I'm putting this a bit bluntly, but again, if you read what Lewis himself had to say about people searching for hidden meanings in his own and others' works, it's absolutely clear that this isn't how he wrote the Narnia books and it isn't how he intended them to be read and interpreted.
And so on with that and the rest of the books. But one of the strengths of the Chronicles, I think, is that Lewis for the most part doesn't go naming these sins or giving us obtrusive sermons on them. He just gives so many memorable examples, throughout the books, of all kinds of self-centred thoughts and actions and the consequences that come from them. We're mostly left, as readers, to take this in and draw our own conclusions!
I think gluttony is considered one of the seven deadly sins is that if food (like Turkish Delight) was all we ever think about, it can get out of hand. For Edmund, his craving for Turkish Delight got in the way of his relationship with his brother and sisters.
@jasmine_tarkheena in my opinion the story doesn't depict gluttony. We see a troubled boy who teases his sister, and resents his older brother's authority. Something had happened to him at school which changed him from the nice kid he was (see the comment near the end, where Edmund is healed by Lucy's cordial - he became his old self again). It's war time in England, sugar is rationed, and suddenly a beautiful lady offers him anything he wants. He chooses his favourite sweets, and eats the whole lot (like a lot of children and teenagers). There's something unnatural in it (mentioned later by Mr Beaver) and his longing for more is akin to addiction rather than gluttony. He sees a way to get what he wants, with a promise of being in charge one day - a desire for power.
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