{"id":1953,"date":"2006-10-25T15:17:00","date_gmt":"2006-10-25T15:17:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2006\/10\/color-of-the-cross-two-days-to-showtime\/"},"modified":"2006-10-25T15:17:00","modified_gmt":"2006-10-25T15:17:00","slug":"color-of-the-cross-two-days-to-showtime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2006\/10\/color-of-the-cross-two-days-to-showtime.html","title":{"rendered":"Color of the Cross — two days to showtime"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>
Gadzooks, I\u2019m behind on my Bible movies. I\u2019ve been meaning to finish my write-up on One Night with the King<\/a><\/i> ever since it opened nearly two weeks ago, and now, Color of the Cross<\/a><\/i> is only two days away from being released. Arrrgh.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the meantime, check out the stories on the film put out recently by the mainstream media. The Associated Press<\/a> reports:<\/p>\n

\u201cColor of the Cross\u201d tells a traditional story, focusing on the last 48 hours of his life as told in the Gospels. In this version, though, race contributes to his persecution. . . .<\/p>\n

What Jesus looked like has long been debated by theologians around the world. Different cultures have imagined him in different ways, says Stephen Prothero, chairman of the religion department at Boston University. In Japan, Jesus looks Japanese. In Africa, he is black. But in America he is almost always white, like the fair-haired savior painted by Leonardo Da Vinci in \u201cThe Last Supper\u201d in 1495.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This last bit is a fair point. But I would ask whether any American or British film about Jesus has suggested that he was persecuted because<\/i> he was white, or fair-haired, or blue-eyed, or whatever. For that matter, I would be surprised if, say, the Indian Jesus film Daya Sagar<\/a><\/i> (1985), reviewed by my friend Matt Page at his Bible Films Blog<\/a>, dared to suggest that Jesus was persecuted for being Indian. Or if that upcoming Egyptian movie<\/a> about Jesus dared to suggest that he was persecuted for being Egyptian. There is a significant difference between casting local actors in a story that originates in another culture, and revising the story so that it becomes about<\/i> the culture from which those local actors come.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Chicago Tribune<\/a><\/i> reports:<\/p>\n

The script anticipates the problem some audience members might have with a non-white Jesus. \u201cBut he is black and to say that he is the messiah is blasphemous,\u201d says a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jews\u2019 supreme court.<\/p>\n

In fact, Jesus\u2019 ethnicity has been a stumbling block for directors for as long as they\u2019ve been making biblical films, notes Adele Reinhartz. A biblical scholar turned movie historian, her book \u201cJesus of Hollywood\u201d will be published early next year. For her research, she watched 40 movies with biblical themes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHollywood wants to have it both ways: to show Jesus in a Jewish context but not make him seem Jewish,\u201d said Reinhartz, associate vice president of research at the University of Ottawa.<\/p>\n

Franco Zeffirelli, the distinguished Italian director, made a six-hour television series, \u201cJesus of Nazareth<\/a>,\u201d Reinhartz noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cZeffirelli\u2019s young Jesus is a little boy with blond hair, blue eyes and a cute turned-up nose,\u201d Reinhartz said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

No argument with any of those<\/i> observations. And let\u2019s not forget the adult Jesus\u2019s upper-class Oxbridge accent in that film!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gadzooks, I\u2019m behind on my Bible movies. I\u2019ve been meaning to finish my write-up on One Night with the King ever since it opened nearly two weeks ago, and now, Color of the Cross is only two days away from being released. Arrrgh. In the meantime, check out the stories on the film put out […]<\/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-1953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nColor of the Cross -- two days to showtime<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gadzooks, I'm behind on my Bible movies. 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