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St. Cloud State University
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Jesus don't want me for a sunbeam
By Joe Palmersheim
Published:
Thursday, March 25, 2004
Joe Palmersheim -- Reader´s Advocate
I finally saw The Passion over break, and although I thought it was an all right movie, I didn't see how it lived up to the hype it's been getting.
Let me explain where I'm coming from. I went to Catholic school until I came to SCSU (amazing, huh?) and we watched movies like this all the time. The only difference with this movie is that it used more stage blood than all the other ones I've seen put together.
In time, I guess I grew desensitized to the story of Jesus being crucified. It was almost like "Oh, he's on the cross again. And why does he have blond hair and blue eyes?" These were the questions that my teachers could never answer.
Any time you make a movie about Jesus, you will piss someone off. Show Him being too saintly, and you will get complaints about Him not being "human" enough. Show Him being "too human," and you will get the religious right calling for your head on a plate.
Movies like this, from what I understand, used to be commonplace. When my parents were children, they went to see movies like "The Ten Commandments" and other titles of the same genre. But around the '60s, the religious film died. Why?
Simple. I know a lot of people who think that church is depressing. Why should the movies be any different? Which would you rather see on a Friday night with a date: Jesus being crucified, or the mindless hedonism of the American Pie crew? Yeah, that's what I thought.
Movies have taken the place of actual learning within our culture. People come out of movies that were "based (loosely) on actual events" convinced they had seen the real story. This is the power that movies have, and it should not be taken lightly.
I'm religious, but I'm not particularly pious. This isn't meant to be taken as some deep analysis of the movie and its impact; that's already been done. These are just random observations from an unarmed American, who saw the movie and questioned Hollywood more than he did his own faith.
(P.S. - those of you who got the Vaselines/Nirvana reference in the title of my essay are my best friends.)
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I got the Vaselines/Nirvana reference. E... (3/25/04)
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