Author: James McNally

The Passion Over “The Passion”

I’ve been very ambivalent about the release of Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion. On the one hand, as a professing Christian, I’m happy that people are actually talking about Jesus Christ again. But I’m also deeply uncomfortable with the way the film is being relentlessly marketed to the Christian community. The filmmakers have basically teamed up with the churches, telling them that this will be the greatest outreach opportunity in many years. Or, in other words, selling our film will help you sell Jesus, too. I’ve never been comfortable with sharing my faith in this way. Big events are not conducive to real thought and discussion of serious issues like faith. I think I’m going to wait until this film is out on DVD and then I’ll watch it. If I think it will be a thought-provoking way to discuss Christianity with my skeptical friends, then I’ll invite them over to my home.

Another issue that I have with the film (and of course I’m aware that I haven’t yet seen it) is its focus on just the most gruesome aspects of Christ’s incarnation. From the reviews I’ve seen, even the Resurrection is given little screen time. Instead, it’s a bloody, violent depiction of the last twelve hours of Christ’s life. I’m aware that people will tell me that it is necessary to see what Christ suffered for us. On the other hand, I’m also aware that violence sells movie tickets. And that a suffering Christ is, perversely, more “macho” than the one who heals the sick and tells us to love our enemies. When I was a teenager, every Easter our youth group would gather and our youth pastor would read us an account of Christ’s suffering on the cross. Part of me was rightfully humbled, but another part of me always felt like I was being manipulated. I think I feel the same about the premise of this film. The Catholicism of Mel Gibson is of an old and conservative bent, and guilt has always been one of its tools. Something about that just makes me squirm.

David Van Biema writes about this aspect perceptively in the March 1 issue of Time:

With due respect for his desire that Christ’s sacrifice be understood by all and for the gratitude among Christians that a Hollywood deity has finally made an accomplished and utterly unironical Christian film, one can only hope that he has it wrong. The Christian story includes joy, astonishment, prophecy, righteous wrath, mystery and love straightforward as well as love sacrificial. The Passion of the Christ is a one-note threnody about the Son of God being dragged to his death. That may be just the ticket for some times and for some benighted places where understanding human torment in terms of God’s love is the only religious insight of any use. But in a culture as rich, as powerful, as lucky and as open-minded as ours — one might even say, as blessed — it is, or should be, a very bad fit indeed.

I welcome the film as a starting point. The fact that people are actually discussing Christ’s death again around the water coolers is great. But I don’t think we all have to march in step in our views of the film. One thing that isn’t really addressed in the film is the whole purpose and place of the Crucifixion in the Christian faith, and so I hope that the hype around the film encourages people to delve into that a little bit.

Note: I’m hoping that I don’t need to turn off comments on this entry. While I like discussion, I’m not intending this entry to be the basis of a flame war. My own discussions of my faith take place with my friends and so I won’t be engaging in much of that here. Please keep it civil and I’ll be as hands-off as possible. Thanks for your understanding.

The “Your Name Here” Story

From the wonderful Open Video Project, a new source of bandwidth drain, comes The “Your Name Here” Story, the ultimate industrial film. This film was made in 1960 by and for attendees of the Calvin Workshops, an annual series of workshops held to help industrial filmmakers improve their work. Whether this film was meant to be seen in public or not, it shows that these guys clearly had an idea of how inane a lot of their work seemed, not just today, but even while they were creating it. The spoof industrial film in Spike Jonze’s Being John Malkovich owes a debt to the Calvin Workshops.

Also, don’t miss #Bfl O {ggGX = STwWcfl x 2s4 (1963), a look at the film-production process starring chimpanzees, and The Vicious Circle, or What Are We Trying To Do? (1964), about the joys of working with corporate clients.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that the industrial filmmakers of the 1950s and 1960s have a lot in common with today’s web designers. Watch and laugh and learn!

Trivia Note: The Calvin Workshops were sponsored by the Calvin Company, a leading producer of industrial (“nontheatrical”) films based in Kansas City. An early employee was Robert Altman.

What’s Wrong With The NBA…

I was out celebrating my birthday last night, and so missed the NBA All-Star game, but the statistics point out exactly what’s wrong with the game today. 44 dunks and 16 missed free throws (out of 32). The truth is that players are no longer shooting the ball all that accurately. Free throws are just the most glaring example. Sports Illustrated had an article this week about why most NBA games are so low-scoring. Sure, there’s some better defence being played. But on the whole, I think there are far too many shots clanging off the rim these days. If I were a coach, I’d have my players shooting hours of free throws.

UPDATE: 12-time All-Star Oscar Robertson just published a scathing piece in the Sunday New York Times slamming the NBA’s deterioration into a shoe-selling organization and decrying the lack of fundamental skills among many of today’s players. Choice quotes:

  • “Many players can’t dribble or defend. It’s dunks and 3-pointers, with nothing in between.”
  • “When people tell me that scores are lower because defenses are better, I have to laugh.”
  • “The NBA has made a conscious decision to function as a marketing and entertainment organization, and seems much more concerned with selling sneakers, jerseys, hats and highlight videos than with the product it puts on the floor.”

(Link – free NYT registration required)

P.S. Paul, if you’re reading this, I promise one day to blog about “What’s Wrong With Our Political System” but, contrary to Mr. Chomsky’s views, I don’t see that as quite as simple. We could start by getting our politicians to shoot more free throws, though.

Olympic Obsession

I’ve always been a huge fan of the Olympics. The first Olympic games I remember were those in Munich in 1972. I was seven. I’ve always been drawn by the idealism and innocence of the Olympic Movement, and the Opening and Closing ceremonies more often than not find me in tears. I watched the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid on my tiny black and white TV, and I remember my shock at witnessing the US hockey team beat our Canadian boys. “Miracle on Ice” indeed! In 1984, I even developed an unhealthy and inexplicable crush on the dwarfish and overtoothed American gymnast Mary Lou Retton. My name is James, and I’m an Olympics junkie.

All this is fresh again this year as I eagerly anticipate the Summer Games in Athens. For my birthday, I asked for (and received!) the excellent Criterion DVD of Kon Ichikawa’s amazing document of the 1964 games, Tokyo Olympiad. I could watch the segment on Ethiopian marathoner Abebe Bikila over and over. The film also features the surprising victory in the men’s 10,000 metre race of previously unknown American Billy Mills, whose life was featured in the film Running Brave.

If you’re interested in some of the amazing stories behind the Summer Olympics, a great book is David Wallechinsky’s The Complete Book of the Summer Olympics, which he updates every four years.

There are also some very cool web sites if you’re interested in doing a little Olympic surfing:

I also found some sites for cities that are bidding for the 2012 games. It might seem very early, but the decision will actually be made next July.

See, the title of this entry is pretty accurate, huh?