{"id":1364,"date":"2007-09-11T01:31:00","date_gmt":"2007-09-11T01:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/09\/chariots-of-fire-sequel-too-religious\/"},"modified":"2007-09-11T01:31:00","modified_gmt":"2007-09-11T01:31:00","slug":"chariots-of-fire-sequel-too-religious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/09\/chariots-of-fire-sequel-too-religious.html","title":{"rendered":"Chariots of Fire sequel too “religious”?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The Guardian<\/a><\/i> has picked up on the news<\/a> that Rich Swingle is writing a sequel to Chariots of Fire<\/i> (1981) \u2014 and the article claims that Swingle\u2019s film will be called With Wings as Eagles<\/i>, rather than Beyond the Chariots<\/i>, which was the title of his one-man play.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is interesting, because Ken Wales has talked<\/a> about making his own sequel to Chariots<\/i> called With Wings as Eagles<\/i>. Wales is never mentioned in this article, so either Swingle has teamed up with Wales and the Guardian<\/i> neglected to mention this, or there are two rival sequels in development using the same title.<\/p>\n

The Guardian<\/i> says Sue Pottle \u2014 the daughter of Harold Abrahams, the Jewish runner played by Ben Cross in the original film \u2014 is concerned the new film will overplay the religious angle. And this has Jeffrey Overstreet<\/a> at the Looking Closer Journal concerned that the Guardian<\/i> itself may be overplaying the religious angle in order to dismiss the movie before it has even been made.<\/p>\n

I hate to quibble with Jeff\u2019s post \u2014 especially since I agree that the secular media tends to get a bit paranoid whenever evangelical faith enters the picture \u2014 but a few points come to mind.<\/p>\n

First, the title \u201cChariots of Fire\u201d was probably derived not from the Bible, not directly, but from William Blake\u2019s poem \u2018And did those feet in ancient time<\/a>\u2018, which formed the basis for \u2018Jerusalem\u2019, a hymn that is performed in the film and on the soundtrack album.<\/p>\n

Second, it does not seem that the Guardian<\/i> was \u201cpicking through the details of Rich Swingle\u2019s life looking for something horribly suspicious.\u201d Instead, the story states: \u201cSwingle\u2019s CV shows religion is a central theme in his work.\u201d Looking to an artist\u2019s past work for a sense of what his future work might be like seems fair, to me.<\/p>\n

Third, Jeff claims that the original film \u201cdid not favor the Scottish Christian\u2019s view over the English Jew\u2019s view.\u201d However, critics such as Margaret R. Miles have argued otherwise<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Finally, it does not seem so odd to me that the Guardian<\/i> would describe Swingle as a \u201ccommitted Christian\u201d. The term is often used by self-professed \u201ccommitted Christians\u201d to distinguish themselves and others from \u201cnominal Christians\u201d and others who are not so, well, committed. If \u201cwe\u201d can say it, why not the Guardian<\/i>?<\/p>\n

Besides, writers do<\/i> sometimes critique the \u201ccommitted\u201d members of other faiths for making movies that reflect their beliefs.<\/p>\n

Just look at the Amazon.com review of Red Corner<\/a><\/i> (1997): \u201cUsing a faulty thriller for his soapbox as an outspoken critic of China, a devout follower of the Dalai Lama, and an influential supporter of Tibetan freedom, Richard Gere resorts to the equivalent of propagandistic drama to deliver a heavy-handed message. . . .\u201d<\/p>\n

And does not Dead Man Walking<\/a><\/i> (1995) derive at least some of its power from the fact that we know Tim Robbins et al.<\/i> are firm opponents of the death penalty, yet they made a movie that is more fair-minded than we might have had reason to expect?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Guardian has picked up on the news that Rich Swingle is writing a sequel to Chariots of Fire (1981) \u2014 and the article claims that Swingle\u2019s film will be called With Wings as Eagles, rather than Beyond the Chariots, which was the title of his one-man play. This is interesting, because Ken Wales has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nChariots of Fire sequel too "religious"?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Guardian has picked up on the news that Rich Swingle is writing a sequel to Chariots of Fire (1981) -- and the article claims that Swingle's film will\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/09\/chariots-of-fire-sequel-too-religious.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chariots of Fire sequel too "religious"?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Guardian has picked up on the news that Rich Swingle is writing a sequel to Chariots of Fire (1981) -- and the article claims that Swingle's film will\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/09\/chariots-of-fire-sequel-too-religious.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-09-11T01:31:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. 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