Equus: The New Jesus

In "Equus", Foucault's Discipline and Punish  automatically came to mind. Alan is haunted by this constant observer, this watchful eye which teaches punishes him in a dramatic way. He cannot lead a life of normalcy because of it. Consider it this way, those people who we consider abnormal in our society--girls who won't shed their clothes for a man at the snap of a finger--are under this constant watch themselves and they are punished by not being able to assimilate into the mainstream. Alan's religion with the horses, is very similar to the relation with any Christian and Jesus Christ. While many consider Alan to be a male character, he is not. The horses are his Lord, and they give him ultimate pleasure. Equus is simply a rewriting of the Bible. But it calls into question how healthy the "opium of the masses" is. Opium, would indicate that people are drugging themselves for comfort. But if that were true, Alan (and many other Christians) are leading a life in the exact opposite. While they may feel the comfort of knowing there is someone out there who loves them, who will take them in the next life--they do not have the comfort of living in the now. In the present.