Homosexual Heath Ledger Character: Bad. Heterosexually Promiscuous Ledger Character: Not So bad?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I've had some interesting chats with the film writers and the editor of Christianity Today Movies in the wake of the publication of Lisa Cockrel's\" \/>\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\/lookingcloser\/2006\/01\/homosexual-heath-ledger-character-bad-heterosexually-promiscuous-ledger-character-not-so-bad\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Homosexual Heath Ledger Character: Bad. 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{"id":13552,"date":"2006-01-06T20:08:00","date_gmt":"2006-01-06T20:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lookingcloser.wordpress.com\/2006\/01\/06\/homosexual-heath-ledger-character-bad-heterosexually-promiscuous-ledger-character-not-so-bad\/"},"modified":"2012-10-29T14:35:56","modified_gmt":"2012-10-29T20:35:56","slug":"homosexual-heath-ledger-character-bad-heterosexually-promiscuous-ledger-character-not-so-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/lookingcloser\/2006\/01\/homosexual-heath-ledger-character-bad-heterosexually-promiscuous-ledger-character-not-so-bad\/","title":{"rendered":"Homosexual Heath Ledger Character: Bad. Heterosexually Promiscuous Ledger Character: Not So bad?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a>
\n $\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had some interesting chats with the film writers and the editor of Christianity Today Movies <\/strong><\/a>in the wake of the publication of Lisa Cockrel\u2019s Brokeback Mountain<\/em> review.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mark Moring, the CT Movies editor, says he\u2019s received over 250 e-mails<\/strong> about the Brokeback Mountain <\/em>review. Many of them have expressed hatred toward homosexuals. And some of them have expressed hatred towards Christiainity Today <\/em>for even reviewing the movie.<\/p>\n

(Some of them are posted here<\/a> and more here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

But here\u2019s something interesting\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

While many of those Christians responding felt that it was immoral for Christianity Today <\/em>to say anything positive, or to say anything at all<\/em>, about a movie in which Heath Ledger plays a homosexual\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026 there has not been one single letter <\/em>raising any protest to the fact that Christianity Today Movies also reviewed Heath Ledger\u2019s other movie currently in theaters\u2026 Casanova<\/em><\/strong>\u2026 in which he plays a character who happily hops into bed with one woman after another.<\/p>\n

While Casanova<\/em> does end with a nod toward the rewards of fidelity, we\u2019re never made to consider the immorality of his promiscuity. Furthermore, who\u2019s the villain in the film? The guy who works for the church.<\/p>\n

So, if CT reviews a movie in Ledger gets frisky and sleeps with a bunch of WOMEN \u2026 nobody bothers to protest.<\/p>\n

But make his indiscretions homosexual<\/em> instead of heterosexual<\/em>, and suddenly, it\u2019s not just automatically a \u201cwicked\u201d and \u201cabhorrent\u201d movie, but even those Christians who write about the film thoughtfully are labeled as sinners and even \u201csodomites\u201d!<\/p>\n

It boggles the mind.<\/p>\n

[revised question] <\/em>Why are so many Christians ready to send off angry letters the moment something offends them? And why do so many respond so viciously toward their brothers and sisters in Christ who are trying to engage the culture in a thoughtful, rather than condemning and judgmental, way?<\/p>\n

This question comes back to me constantly. For my decade of publishing film reviews, I\u2019ve received mountains of spiteful and condemning letters from Christians telling my that I\u2019m not saved, that God will judge me, etc. \u2026 all because of my attention to various films. My attempts to engage those writers in conversations have usually been useless\u2013they have no interest in discussing anything, they just want to deliver judgment. Movieguide\u2019s Ted Baehr even announced to the public on live radio that, because I liked a certain film, I have clearly not read my Bible. (An interesting statement, considering what the Bible says about people who claim to be clairvoyant.) But in all of those years, I\u2019ve only received a couple of angry notes from unbelievers\u2026 and those notes led to interesting conversations.<\/p>\n

Anyway, in case you missed it, here\u2019s my review of Brokeback Mountain<\/em>.<\/a> A few folks have asked why I prefaced the review with such a heavy clarification. But if you could see my email box, and the responses coming in to CT, you\u2019d understand.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"