Y200 Politics and Film, Lecture #13 March 24, 2011

1. March 24, 2011

2. Left/Liberal Criticisms of Hollywood
 Pro-capitalist
 Pro-militarist
 Patriarchal , sexist, or anti-feminist
 Racist
 Anti-GLBT bias

3. Conservative Criticisms of Hollywood
 Anti-militarist
 Anti-religion
 Anti-family
 Liberal bias
e.g. Michael Medved, Hollywood vs. America

4. Religion and Hollywood
 Bible films of the 1950s
 Inherit the Wind (1960)
 Controversies
 The King of Kings (1927)
 The Life of Brian (1977)
 Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
 Dogma (1999)
 The Passion of the Christ (2004)

5. Inherit the Wind
Spencer Tracy
plays
Clarence Darrow;
Frederic March
plays
William Jennings
Bryan in movie
about the
teaching of
evolution
in Tennessee in
1925

6. Last Temptation of Christ
 The film depicts the life of Jesus
Christ, and its central thesis is that
Jesus, while free from sin, was still
subject to every form of temptation
that humans face, including fear,
doubt, depression, reluctance and
lust.
 The book and film depicted Christ
being tempted by imagining himself
engaged in sexual activities, a notion
that caused outrage from some
Christians.

7. Controversy over Dogma
 The filmmakers received over 300,000
pieces of hate mail, which Kevin Smith
posted on his website. The Catholic
League in particular attacked Disney and
Miramax, the original distributors, for
being anti-Catholic. The film was
originally scheduled to come out in
November of 1998, but was pushed back
to November of 1999 in the hopes the
controversy would die down. When that
didn't work, Disney sold the film's
distribution rights to Lions Gate Films.

8. Katha Pollitt in The Nation
 "Gibson has violated just about every precept of the
(United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)
conference's own 1988 "Criteria" for the portrayal of
Jews in dramatizations of the Passion (no bloodthirsty
Jews, no rabble, no use of Scripture that reinforces
negative stereotypes of Jews, etc.)".
 Source:
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20040329/pollitt

9. The King of Kings vs. The Passion of the
Christ
 Compare portrayal of the Priest Caiaphas in
movie directed by Cecil B. DeMille with that in
Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ
 Caiaphas was portrayed in The King of Kings as
an appointee of the Roman Empire and not a
representative of the Jewish people
 Caiaphas was portrayed in The Passion of the
Christ as a Jewish leader capable of bringing
about a successful rebellion against the Romans

10. Is Mel Gibson Anti-Semitic?
 DUI arrest in 2006 in Malibu
 Made anti-semitic remarks to
Jewish police officer who
arrested him
 Later apologized for remarks
and sought help for
alcoholism

11. Hollywood at War with Islam?
 The Siege
 Executive Decision
 Little Drummer Girl
 True Lies

12. Hollywood in Love with Tibetan
Buddhism?
 Seven Years in Tibet
 Kundun
 Richard Gere (Red Corner)