It's been a while since I posted anything, and even this is not a true blog post. I found this article and I am curious to HEAR from you...your thoughts?
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Hollywood vs. Jesus
Posted By Skip Press On January 29, 2009 @ 7:54 am In Media Criticism, Politics | 16 Comments
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I’ll watch just about anything starring Mira Sorvino. There’s a sincerity to her face, and a lovely vulnerability. Then of course, she has the best legs of any working actress. Couple this with the fact that I like religious themes in movies, and have since seeing “[2] The Robe” as a kid, that means I saw [3] NBC’s “The Last Templar” miniseries. Full disclosure: I’ll also generally watch anything produced by Robert Halmi. Also, the miniseries came from a [4] debut novel by Raymond Khoury, and I prefer novel to movie projects.
Once again, though, this Hollywood product was yet another mixed bag regarding Jesus. If you haven’t read the novel or seen the miniseries and plan to do either, stop right here, as I don’t want to spoil it for you. (Well, not completely…)
The “Maguffin” (as Alfred Hitchcock would say) that everyone is trying to find is a treasure from the Knights Templar. Instead of a vast room of gold, it turns out to be the Gospel of Yeshua, a scroll written by Jesus, that will explain he was just a man. So a monsignor with a hitman in tow who is actively killing people is trying to stop this, because obviously that will blow the “lie” of the Catholic church right out of the water it’s been walking on for 2,000 years. And the character who reveals himself to be “the last Templar” wants it to blow Christianity out of the water because of all the wars in the name of religion, you know? (No mention about all the wars involving Muslims, maybe Khoury and/or the screenwriter weren’t interested.) So the last Templar struggles with Tess (Mira Sorvino’s character) for the scroll and it flies off a cliff and into the sea.
CUT TO: Our last flashback of the Templars retreating from a Crusade who hid the scroll away in the first place, and we learn that they concocted the Book of Yeshua, made it all up, because they were sick of their Middle Eastern war and wanted to put an end to conflicts over religion.
Hmm… wonder how this project got greenlighted? Iraq my brain.
I have this friend who has had 170 titles published and sold 62 million copies of books and novels, largely in the Christian field. One set of novels he wrote with a partner created a new genre in publishing and resulted in a full page article in the New York Times about [5] Jerry Jenkins. So did any network rush forward to do a miniseries on the Left Behind series? Of course not.
Hollywood apparently has an ongoing conflict with Jesus, and it’s costing them a lot of money.
Maybe you saw [6] Kathy “D List” Griffin win an Emmy and declare “Suck it, Jesus!” Oh, she’s so funny, not, rapidly descending into the “used-to-be-funny-now-sadly-bitter” land of Rosie O’Donnell and Bill Maher. You probably saw Tom Hanks in “[7] The Da Vinci Code,” based on the best-selling novel that plays on the conceit that Jesus lived in the flesh after crucifixion, married, and had children. As I watched it I marveled at how many people worldwide are interested in Jesus, 2,000 years after he lived.
Matter of fact, Jesus sells better than any media material in the world. Mel Gibson’s ”[8] The Passion of the Christ“ made almost as much as “Da Vinci,” despite being filmed in Latin and Aramaic, with subtitles. Despite being turned down by every major studio, the independently-financed film had more pre-ticket sales than any other film in history, and is the highest-grossing R-rated film in U.S. box office history. It’s the only R-rated film allowed on the shelves at [9] Liberty University.
Yes, people like Jesus, and not just at the movies. Any guesses on the the longest running family drama on television? It beat “Little House on the Prairie” and “The Waltons“ for longevity. “[10] 7th Heaven,” about a minister, his stay-at-home wife, and their seven children (all named after people in the Bible), was continually the #1 show on The WB network during its ten seasons.
Michael Landon recognized the strength of the Christian audience. After Little House on the Prairie he had another hit with “[11] Highway to Heaven.” And ten years after that show began, “[12] Touched By An Angel” became a huge TV hit that ran almost a decade.
In 2008, one of the most profitable films in recent history was made. The [13] PG-rated “[14] Fireproof,” starring Kirk Cameron, is about a firefighter trying to save his marriage. Made for around half a million, [15] as Steve Mason reported on BigHollywood, “Fireproof” finished its theatrical run with $33,000,000 at the box office. What makes it so remarkable is that it was cooked up at a little church in Georgia.
There’s quite an audience for Christian-themed material, unless you realize that’s the largest identified audience in North America. According to his website, Pastor [16] Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Life” “has sold 25 million copies and is the best-selling hardback book in American history, according to [17] Publisher’s Weekly.” Joel and Victoria Osteen, whose [18] Lakewood Church is housed in the 16,000 seat former Compaq Center in Houston, Texas, have 38,000 people attending their weekly services, with 200 million households in the US and people in over 100 nations around the world watching the TV broadcasts. Joel’s “Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential” spent over a year on the New York Times bestselling hardcover advice books list. Reportedly, the advance on his latest book was over $13,000,000. That’s movie star numbers. Have you seen a network TV special on either of these ministries? I haven’t, but it seems the ratings would be out the roof.
Hollywood had a long tradition of turning out movies with benevolent Christian themes, like “[19] Going My Way” with Bing Crosby. And who can forget how doing the right - and Christian - thing appeals to James Cagney at the last minute in “[20] Angels With Dirty Faces,” as he listens to the advice of his boyhood friend, a priest played by Pat O’Brien, and “turns yellow” before execution to dissuade some admiring young delinquents from emulating his life of crime?
You can blame the lack of such characters on the troubles of the predatory priests in the Catholic church, but doesn’t the fact that [21] Catholic charities is the largest private network of social service organizations in the United States compensate a little for this? When is the last time you saw a movie or TV show about all the Christian charity that goes on around the world?
Why Hollywood for the most part largely ignores the demonstrably huge box office and TV ratings numbers in the North American Christian viewing audience could be the subject of its own book. After all, the combined revenues from “The Da Vinci Code” and “The Passion of the Christ” approach two billion dollars. Mel Gibson and other filmmakers wise to this audience take their films to churches, where congregations are hungry for entertainment that doesn’t offend them. Why are major Hollywood products any more so derisive or challenging of the largest religion in the world, one based on benevolence and compassion? Why doesn’t Hollywood capitalize on that kind of potential?
It used to be different. The way it is now? Just seems like a sin.
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Article printed from Big Hollywood: http://bighollywood.breitbart.com
URL to article: http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/spress/2009/01/29/hollywood-vs-jesus/
URLs in this post:
[1] Image: http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/files/2009/01/passion_of_christ_mel_gibson_director.jpg
[2] The Robe: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046247/
[3] NBC’s “The Last Templar” miniseries: http://www.nbc.com/the-last-templar/
[4] debut novel by Raymond Khoury: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Templar
[5] Jerry Jenkins: http://www.jerryjenkins.com/
[6] Kathy “D List” Griffin win an Emmy and declare “Suck it, Jesus!”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re-8MeEBUJ8
[7] The Da Vinci Code: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0382625/
[8] The Passion of the Christ: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0335345/
[9] Liberty University: http://www.liberty.edu
[10] 7th Heaven: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115083/
[11] Highway to Heaven: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086730/
[12] Touched By An Angel: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108968/
[13] PG-rated: http://www.mpaa.org/FlmRat_Ratings.asp
[14] Fireproof: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1129423/
[15] as Steve Mason reported on BigHollywood: http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/smason/2009/01/24/fireproof/
[16] Rick Warren’s “The Purpose Driven Life: http://www.purposedrivenlife.com/
[17] Publisher’s Weekly: http://www.publishersweekly.com/
[18] Lakewood Church: http://www.lakewood.cc
[19] Going My Way: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0036872/
[20] Angels With Dirty Faces: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0029870/
[21] Catholic charities: http://www.catholiccharitiesusa.org
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