Day: February 27, 2004

More response to the issue about Mel Gibson’s flick, from my buddy Elayne. No word on whether she plans to watch Club Dread this weekend.

First, I am still stunned that Signs did not shut down all serious discussion of Mel Gibson, period. But since I was mistaken about that, I think we now must admit it: there are several “constant variables” in the world and one is that Mel Gibson is a wack-job. A full-on nutter, by the looks of it. The Catholic sect that his father runs is populated by a Holocaust-denying bunch of evangelicals and, as Christopher Hitchens points out, in the aforementioned film he plays an ex-minister who “recovers his faith after seeing little green men.” He releases this new and, from what I can gather, searingly sadistic exercise on ASH WEDNESDAY. The pretension of that alone gives one pause. So I am coming out as oppossed to Mel Gibson, and on principle.

The film itself: Who cares if the film is anti-Semitic? That isn’t the point, really. The point is that the conception of the film most certainly is. And, again with a nod to Mr. Razor [Hitchens], it appears anti-Christian as well. If you go around bemoaning the crucifixion, what kind of God-damned Christian are you? I am not Christian. If I died and woke to find myself in Heaven, I would puke. But it seems just ever-so-fundamental that the crucifixion is the central necessity for the continuation of that religion itself. So this is puzzling. I have a list of things to do this week… get my hair cut, give my friend Kelly a call, go shopping. Watch Christ die, in real time, is not on that list. Whose list is it on? People who still rewind their 9-11 videos for hours on end. People who go to the web looking for photos of the jumpers from that day–still. It is simply (?) an investment in “the horror” of man, of our never-quite-graspable attraction, no, drooling lust, for the bloodfeast. I don’t knock it, but I think that is behind it, at least in part. And so the “lacerating detail” of Gibson’s film is in an ideological cuddle with the alarming propaganda behind the entire project.

And people want Christianity to win out. They don’t like the fact that a significant sector of the world’s population believes they will get to fuck a bunch of virgins if they die a martyr. That freaks us out, and it should. But folks prefer to identify with the predictable o drama of hanging on a cross (cuz you have nails in your hands) so you can save mankind from the trouble that apple let fly. So The Passion is tapping into that, but only because of Gibson. The other films on Christ have mostly faded from view, and Scorsese’s film is only ever watched anymore so people can laugh at Harvey Keitel’s accent. It is Gibson’s persona that is selling the film. Whether or not he is well-suited to inaugurate this new dawn of aestheticized, vengeful, ignorant, and scared Hollywood worship is not a question Joe Six-Pack is probably asking himself. He is probably just glad it wasn’t Danny Glover.

I dunno. Maybe Hitch put it best when he said “If the Jewish leadership had any guts, it would turn on all those who taunt it with ‘Christ-killing’ and say, ‘Yeah, all right, since you keep mentioning it, we did you a favor. Judas too. Where would your faith be without us?’ This would have the effect, however, of giving away the open secret that religion is man-made. For some reason, we are assumed to need protection from such a revelation.”

When what we really need is to be protected from Mel Gibson. And ourselves.

By next week, I hope to get a “comments” function added to VM. Until then, I’ll post any e-mailed responses people have to the blog. This one comes from someone I don’t know. One of my coworkers has forwarded my Passion Play to some people, and it’s begun meme-ing around:

Mel Gibson is no more Mad Max than this guy Gil is Jesus Christ. Perhaps the “Kingdom of God within you” includes the tolerance and wisdom that acknowledges the human inside the actor. That wisdom would also allow that the relationship to worship starts with the idolizer — not the idol. Gil seeing these celebrities as idols and not humans is his problem — don’t you think?

And a long response just showed up this very minute:

Lighten up! It’s only a movie. Haven’t seen it yet but it’s on my list, especially after the crowds dwindle. Mel became MY theologian with the first Mad Max movie. The second Lethal Wepon solidified his position along side St. Augustine, Geoffrey of Monmouth, and the Reverends Jerry Falwell and Al Sharpton.

And since when are whores a bad thing? Profitable business acumen, usually. Highly motivated, usually. And victimless, usually. Besides, who’s to complain if Brittany Spears wants to stick her tongue down the appropriately monikered Madonna’s throat? Certainly not the NASCAR Dads.

After all, the denial-of-sex-as-a-natural, biological function – especially as it pertains to the two women-twins concept – dominates the entire Bush Administration psyche. To wit, John Ashcroft’s throwing a sheet over the Statue of Justice. After reading the Patriot Act, that drapping, his first official act as Attorney General, is highly symbolic and evocative of his trampling on America’s civil rights, not to mention his part in the usurpation Christ’s Kingdom here on Earth.

Gil, I was born American with a French, Scot, and Native American heritage. I was raised Catholic (I’m Lapsed at the moment); I wasn’t born one and I’m horrified by ALL Born Again bigots. Never in my parents home did I hear ANYTHING that suggested that Jews were responsible for Christ’s death. To the contrary, what I was taught both at home and at the mandatory religious classes from first-through-twelfth grades was this: Jesus was a Jewish carpenter who died for the sins of mankind. True or not, what’s not to admire?

It’s clear that you — with the entire Bush cohort — have missed the point. For now, at least, we have the ability to view, read, hear, feel, experience — or not — pretty much everything. Choose as you will, rail against whatever you will.

My suggestion for you, Gil, is to focus on matters that really count: your loss of civil liberties under the guise of Homeland Security, for example. Or to understand what Junior (who should be tried in the Hague for Crimes Against Humanity), Cheney, Ashcroft, Rice, Perle, Wolfowitz, and sadly Colin Powell — are really doing. I do not want to live in a prison, even one as vast as the continental United States; for reference please read Kafka’s “Metamorphosis.”

So, please don’t do anything harsh to my friend, [who forwarded your post to me], or anyone else for that matter. Whether or not my God is within me, I do my best to find the Almighty in a good glass-or-three-or-four of beer, as, apparently, should you. If, however, drinking to excess doesn’t work for you, perhaps another movie that opens this weekend may work: Club Dread. My daughter, who lives in Mexico where this was filmed, has a minor role in it.

Hasta manana,

Pablo Incognito

As my friend, who forwarded this over to me, writes, “I don’t think he’s read anything else you’ve written, Gil.”

And, in the midst of posting that e-mail, here comes one from a buddy I met back in grad school:

good entry.

couldn’t the same thing be said for celebs who become sociopolitical theorists and soapbox firebrands every election year?

It doesn’t really matter, anyway. I’m hoping Club Dread (from the makers of Super Troopers) will dwarf what I like to call “the passion the of the christ” at the box office this weekend.

So it appears the jury is in! If Club Dread manages to bring in more box office than Mel Gibson, I’ll have somehow triumphed. I think. GodDAMN is this a confusing world.

Anyway, in response to Pablo Incognito, be assured that I’m all about frivolous entertainment. It seems to me that this movie (the Jesus one) doesn’t qualify as frivolous. It’s not a free speech issue at all. I’m not calling for the movie to be banned. I’m calling for people to find their interpretation of religion somewhere other than on a movie screen. And if watching someone’s flesh get flayed for an hour is your idea of frivolous entertainment, you should probably seek therapy.