{"id":2597,"date":"2005-09-14T23:23:00","date_gmt":"2005-09-14T23:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/09\/newsbites-penguins-mormons-passion\/"},"modified":"2005-09-14T23:23:00","modified_gmt":"2005-09-14T23:23:00","slug":"newsbites-penguins-mormons-passion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2005\/09\/newsbites-penguins-mormons-passion.html","title":{"rendered":"Newsbites: Penguins! Mormons! Passion!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Time for another handful of items.<\/span><\/p>\n

1. The New York Times<\/a><\/i> had a bizarre item yesterday on how the surprise hit<\/a> documentary March of the Penguins<\/a><\/i> has been drafted into the culture wars, with conservative religious pundits pushing the film\u2019s already problematic anthropomorphism far beyond what its makers intended, and cheering its depiction of monogamy and whatnot (and never mind the penguins practise only serial<\/i> monogamy). Today, Jeff Sharlet at The Revealer<\/a> responds:<\/p>\n

. . . the conservative, religious reading of March of the Penguins<\/i> strikes me as good media work \u2014 a recognition, after all, of a kind of relativism by which all stories can be interpreted to echo or augment our own. Religious conservatives such as Michael Medved, who proclaims the movie \u201cThe Passion of the Penguins,\u201d are playing pretty loosey-goosey with parable and allegory, but by our lights, that\u2019s just fine. Beliefs are built from stories, which make for a wonderfully unstable foundation.<\/p>\n

For instance, when I saw the film, I was sure that it would destroy the faith of some religious conservatives who hinge their beliefs on gender. How does one reconcile a commitment to \u201cmale headship\u201d of the family with this story in which female penguins are clearly in charge? Perhaps the intelligent designer, in whose image we are made, is a lady penguin?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2. Last week, the Salt Lake Tribune<\/a><\/i> had an interesting item on how Mormon filmmakers are planning to go mainstream, now that Napoleon Dynamite<\/a><\/i> turned out to be such a runaway hit.<\/p>\n

3. Variety<\/a><\/i> reviews The Passion Of Joshua, The Jew<\/i> at the Venice and Toronto film festivals:<\/p>\n

Bland direction is the least of the sins perpetrated by \u201cThe Passion of Joshua, the Jew,\u201d a historical pic billing itself as the anti-Gibson \u201cPassion\u201d but in reality little more than recruiting propaganda for Jews for Jesus. Conceived by helmer Pasquale Scimeca as a salvo against anti-Semitism, pic doesn\u2019t know how to handle its theme, and ends up championing the concept of the Christianized Jew rather than the universality of a Jewish Jesus-like figure during the Spanish Inquisition. Attempts to cast \u201cJoshua\u201d as an artfilm may win a few uncritical kudos at home, but pic has little chance of crossover markets. . . .<\/p>\n

Scimeca, a former seminarian, discovered his own ancestors were Marranos \u2014 Jews forced to convert during the Spanish Inquisition \u2014 and \u201cJoshua\u201d plays like an attempt to explain their actions. Joshua\u2019s initial (historically impossible) naivete regarding Jesus is followed by an intense desire to learn ever more about this Messiah.<\/p>\n

Notwithstanding a final quotation from Pope John XXIII on the need to make amends for the Church\u2019s anti-Semitism, \u201cJoshua\u201d becomes a parable on the mistreatment of a Jew who\u2019s become Christianized: He\u2019s seen the light, emulated Jesus, but is still crucified. This certainly won\u2019t be playing at Jewish fests.<\/p>\n

To give Scimeca the benefit of the doubt, he knows not what he does, but the pedestrian nature of his screenplay, coscripted with Nennella Buonaiuto, also works against any well-meaning aims. Heavy-handed parallels between the Inquisition and present-day, with Jews and Muslims pointedly shown as brothers-in-exile, pushes the bounds of preachiness. Scene set-ups lack spontaneity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Be all that as it may, I have to say I\u2019m kind of interested.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Time for another handful of items. 1. The New York Times had a bizarre item yesterday on how the surprise hit documentary March of the Penguins has been drafted into the culture wars, with conservative religious pundits pushing the film\u2019s already problematic anthropomorphism far beyond what its makers intended, and cheering its depiction of monogamy […]<\/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-2597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nNewsbites: Penguins! Mormons! Passion!<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Time for another handful of items.1. 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