Catholics Media and Culture

Mother Teresa, the Nobel Prize-winning Catholic nun who died in 1997 and whose life-long devotion to the poor is respected by almost everyone not named Christopher Hitchens, would have been 100 years old this coming August 26th.

In honor of that event, the Catholic League made a formal request to honor her life on that date with a special blue and white light display atop New York’s landmark Empire State Building.  Instead, it is now organizing a protest of Malkin Holdings (the building’s owner) to deny the request.

At first the company issued the denial with no comment and then later invoked rules that supposedly prohibit honoring religious institutions or, apparently, the people associated with them. Although,  according to company president Anthony E. Malkin, the building does maintain a tradition of religious holidays such as Easter, Ramadan, Chanukah and Christmas.

But Bill Donohue, the head of the Catholic League, points out that
religious figures and  organizations have been honored in the past (including
the late Cardinal O’Connor of New York, Pope John Paul II, Rev. Martin
Luther  King and the Salvation Army).

It would seem to me that, supposed restrictions aside, that honoring the request to commemorate the life of Mother Teresa would be a bit of a no-brainer.  After all, similar events have been held honor everything from the Chinese revolution (hardly worth celebrating when you consider the millions believed to murdered under Mao’s communist regime), to United Nations World Oceans Day to the Belmont Stakes. You can check last year’s lighting schedule here.  I thank blogger Jennifer Rosenberg for locating that.

Malkin Holdings also recently refused a request for a lighting event honoring the birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps.

Of course, Malkin Holdings is a private company.  It is free to honor or not honor any person, group or event it chooses. But its recent decisions does raise questions about what the heck is going on in their corporate heads.

The Catholic League protest will held outside the Empire State Building on August 26th. The group is also urging supporters of its position to make their voices known to Anthony Malkin by writing him at Malkin
Properties, One Grand Central Place, 60 E. 42nd St., NY, NY 10165.

Did she or didn’t she…exist?

Based on a novel that is itself based on a legend that won’t go away, the new German film Pope Joan tells the story of a ninth century young woman who, frustrated by a lack of opportunities for women (the 9th century was, after all, pre-Title 9), allegedly disguised herself as a guy so that she could enter a Benedictine monastery.

As the story goes, she actually rose to the top job and was only discovered when she went into a labor while riding a horse during a procession.  That would be a sure giveaway. I mean Catholics aren’t stupid.

In any event, this isn’t the first cinematic attempt to bring the story of Pope Joan to life.  In 1972 Norwegian actress Liv Ullman played the role in a movie that is even more forgotten than the legend it purported to chronicle.  By the way, would that make the current film “Pope Joan II”?  Just asking.

Personally, I’d have no problem with a woman pope. Of course, if you were to ask me, I think there should be woman priests.  But nobody’s asking me.

I guess the biggest problem I would have with a woman pope would be that the word pope is latin for papa, or father.  So that would just seem kinda weird. And would we call a female parish priest father? It would be so confusing.  

Come to think of it, I’ve never made a big issue of it but, as someone who understands very little, I’ve often wondered why we call priests “father” since in the Gospel of Matthew Jesus is quoted as saying “Do not call anyone on earth you father. Only one is your father, the One in heaven.”  For an explanation of that one, click here.

But I digress.

For the record, the Catholic Church says the legend of St. Joan is bogus, no more real than The Da Vinci Code (which, of course, some people have taken seriously).

One more digression:  I never read the novel but I saw the film version of “The Da Vinci Code.”  To me the plot had holes big enough to drive a Popemobile through.  For one thing, if I understood the story correctly (and it’s always possible I didn’t particularly since I may have dozed off), wasn’t the big to-do about the discovery of DNA evidence linked to the bones of Mary Magdalene that supposedly proved that she and Jesus had a baby together. I understand the plot also involved the discovery of ancient documents suggesting such a relationship but, come on, in the age of CSI that’s not the same as DNA.   

I could see how Mary Magdalene’s DNA might prove that she had a child and that could be controversial but how would that actually prove anything pertaining to a supposed sexual relationship with Jesus?  Wouldn’t you need Jesus’ DNA for that? I don’t think Mary Magdalene having a baby would rock the foundation of the Church.  I mean someone should have told that albino monk to chill.

The Wrap notes that last weekend’s number 1 of Toy Story 3 marks the eleventh straight number one opening for the animation studio that could.  

Beginning with the original Toy Story in 1995 and including such classics as Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Wall-E and Up the company has had an unequaled string of success powered mostly by non-sequels.

The question is why?  What have the powers that be over there figured out and mastered that the rest of the industry could learn from?

Well, of course, there’s the fact that the movies are technically well made.  But, in truth, most movies that enter wide release are technically proficient.

The fact that the movies are aimed at all ages has something to do with it in that a wider net will bring in more fish.  But that’s not the whole story. 

There are a lot (particularly animated) films that purport to be for all ages by offering cuddly characters for the kids and snarky (sometimes sexually-tinged) dialogue that supposedly goes over their heads while also supposedly appealing to the grown ups. Pixar films, from my experience, offer minimal double entendre (to their credit, in my book).

But they’re more than merely clean — because, when that is the only or primary goal of a family film, the result is a boring family film.  They have truly creative and original storylines and captivating characters — but even that doesn’t fully explain their success.

Of course, marketing is important – and the movies are very well marketed.  That’s a feat made easier by the fact that the public has come to await new Pixar movies in a way that they don’t the next big film from, say, Universal or even Disney (its parent company).

I think what sets Pixar films apart is that they can be counted on to offer stories of genuine heart that remind us all of life’s most basic lessons — about the importance of love, loyalty and appreciation of what we have.  I believe audiences yearn for such stories — and for an escape from a world that can be all too edgy.

Pixar movies work like modern CGI parables.  It might actually be interesting to see their take on The Good Samaritan.  

In what might be described as the Catholic equivalent of being chosen one of the best movies of all-time by the American Film Institute, the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano has announced that The Blues Brothers, the1980 slapstick comedy starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd has been named a “Catholic classic.”

The designation reportedly places it alongside more traditionally “religious” films such as Cecil B. DeMille’s The 10 Commandments, Victor Fleming’s Joan of Arc, Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ and, my personal favorite Jesus biopic, Franco Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth.

While I’m probably one of the few guys of my generation who never actually caught The Blues Brothers  in its entirety, the plot follows Belushi and Aykroyd as Jake and Elwood Blues, blues-performing siblings they originally portrayed on Saturday Night Live, on a “mission from God” to save the Catholic orphanage that raised them from foreclosure — while somehow running afoul of a band of neo-Nazis.  

BTW, lest you think I spent all my time studying in college, I did see Belushi in his other iconic movie Animal House, which has been honored by the AFI as one of the 100 funniest American films of all time and is credited by Wikipedia with launching the gross-out comedy sub-genre.  If I were to guess, that one probably won’t be nailing the Vatican’s “classic” designation any time soon.

But The Blues Brothers isn’t as out of place as it may seem.  The Vatican’s list of best movies also includes such mainstream classics as Gandhi, Chariots of Fire, It’s a Wonderful Life, Schindler’s List and On the Waterfront.  Also, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Citizen Kane, Stagecoach, Fantasia and The Wizard of Oz.

Okay, maybe it is a bit out of place.  But I actually applaud the Vatican for opening up the box with regard to what constitutes valuable entertainment.  A genuinely funny comedy with an undertone of heart that has been embraced by audiences through generations (I feel old) probably does deserve to be on the list.  It’s also a good idea for the Church to enunciate the kind of entertainment it’s for rather than seeming to be always being in the position of denouncing things.

So, in that spirit, I’d like to also nominate a few of comedies for the Vatican’s list that I actually have seen:

Joe Versus the Volcano -  Written and directed by John Patrick Shanley, who also gave us the excellent Catholic-themed Doubt, it was not a huge hit (though it does have a following). The fantasy/comedy follows the exploits of Joe Banks (Tom Hanks) who, after being diagnosed as having contracted a terminal “brain cloud,” quits his hellish job and is hired by a mysterious rich man (Lloyd Bridges) to travel to a remote island and jump into a volcano which its inhabitants believe must be appeased with a human sacrifice once every 100 years.  Needless to say, no one on the island actually wants to do that, so the locals have agreed to turn over valuable mineral rights to the businessman if he can provide a willing leaper.  Enter Joe who figures he has nothing to lose but ends up learning to appreciate his life along the way. It really is a great tale of faith and gratitude.

Planes, Trains & Automobiles – From the late writer/director John Hughes, PT&A stars Steve Martin as an advertising executive racing to get home from business in New York City in time to have Thanksgiving dinner with his family in Chicago. His plans are disrupted every step of the way when fate pairs him with a calamity-prone shower curtain ring salesman portrayed by John Candy.  It’s literally one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen and it’s ending actually does say something simple, yet profoundly touching, about the meaning of Thanksgiving.

Ferris Bueller’s Day Off – Also from Hughes, Matthew Broderick’s iconic character provides a very funny — and true — lesson in the genuine importance of smelling the roses and, occasionally, taking some time to just have some fun.

As co-star Ben Stein is quoted as saying by Wikipedia, “It will never die, because it responds to and calls forth such human
emotions. It isn’t dirty. There’s nothing mean-spirited about it.
There’s nothing sneering or sniggering about it. It’s just wholesome.
We want to be free. We want to have a good time. We know we’re not
going to be able to all our lives. We know we’re going to have to
buckle down and work. We know we’re going to have to eventually become
family men and women, and have responsibilities and pay our bills. But
just give us a couple of good days that we can look back on.”

So, if you’re of a mind to and have the time today, I’d recommend renting or downloading (or whatever the latest viewing method is) one of these movies. I would myself — if I didn’t have so much work to do.