Rabid fans of ABC's "Lost" have many suspicions about the meaning of the show, fueled by their examination of myriad clues in exruciating detail. And while I was just as curious about things like where those numbers came from, I was more interested in knowing about the minds behind this hit show, which tells the story of the survivors of an airplane crash on what seems to be a deserted island.
From its very beginning, ABC's hit has been awash in a sea of faith. Early theories speculated that the mysterious island setting was actually purgatory. The first season introduced us to John Locke, who had been confined to a wheelchair until he miraculously regained the use of his legs following the plane crash. Even the name of the nefarious Dharma Initiative--a project of the Hanso Foundation, which seems to be conducting some form of experiment on the island--and the foundation's logo--a variant on the bagua, a series of eight trigrams often surrounding a yin-yang sign and commonly associated with Taoism--have spiritual connotations.
As fans know, before Season 2 ramped up the collision between Locke, the man of faith, and Jack, the man of science, the show's fundamental spiritual disputes really hadn't crystalized. (And I'm not even going to get into Locke’s faith in fate vs. Mr. Eko’s biblically-based faith.) That's where executive producers, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse come in. Creator J.J. Abrams may have given "Lost" its body, but Lindelof and Cuse have given the show a soul.
According to Entertainment Weekly's "Best of 2005" Issue, the Jack vs. Locke storyline was inspired "by the worldviews of Lindelof (Jewish and empirical-minded) and Cuse (Catholic and willing to leap beyond logic)." EW continues:
"The collision of our perspectives plays out on the show," says Cuse, who cites [C.S. Lewis' "Narnia"] as one touchstone for the kind of fantastical otherworld "Lost" is trying to create. "Both of us are searching for the answers to the bigger questions of how you lead a meaningful life, and we've chosen to use the show to explorethose questions."
Narnia? So that’s where the polar bear came from…. (Yes, yes. I know all about Walt’s comic book.)
You'll have to wait for next week to see our full coverage of NBC's "The Book of Daniel," a drama premiering Jan. 6 about Daniel, an Epsicopal priest dealing with life at home and at his parish. But the inevitable barrage of attacks has begun--the American Family Association is urging the faithful to email NBC to protest the show, saying it "mocks" and "demeans" Christianity--so I figured I'd weigh in now.
After watching a couple of preview episodes, I can say definitively that many people will be offended by "Book of Daniel." Which is not the same as saying the show is insensitive, mean, or inherently offensive. There's no way around offending some people, whenever religion is portrayed in pop-culture. And "Book of Daniel" clearly isn't going for the "Seventh Heaven" or "Touched by an Angel" audience. Its characters--just about all of them, including the clergy members--engage in activities that are decidedly un-Christian. But what seems to have the AFA most riled up is that Christ himself appears as a character; depicted as the cliched long-haired, bearded man in robes, Jesus appears only to Daniel, providing counsel and cracking jokes.
So is "Book of Daniel" insensitive? Does it mock religion? I'm not a Christian, so you can take my opinions with whatever grain of salt you'd like, but I am a person of faith whose job, and passion, focuses on faith and pop-culture. That said, onto "Daniel": I liked it much more than I expected. If you go into it thinking, "Oh good, a show about Christians and a church," than yes, you will be offended. But that's not what the show is; the series may focus on a church community, but it's a soap opera, with all the raunchiness that entails. And as such, it has characters whose problems and behavior are over the top: adultery, drug use, premarital sex, addiction... it's all there in droves.
We all know that even priests are fallible humans, and some of them do bad things (to put it mildly). So simply depicting members of the clergy misbehaving should not be considered inherently offensive. You may say, "In reality, most people of faith are fine, spiritually pure people, but this show implies that all of them are up to no good." Sure, but it's a soap opera. Does Wisteria Lane (of "Desperate Housewives" fame) accurately depict your block? If so, I'd recommend you relocate, quickly, before the murder, adultery, and violence infect you. What sets "Book of Daniel" apart, in my mind, is that these characters strive to do better and to be better. Amidst the absurd soap-opera dramas, they discuss theology, faith, God, relationships, and self-improvement. The world they live in is one of responsibility and consequences, even if they don't live up to their own ideals so much of the time. Who among us does?
As for Jesus, he is intended to be Daniel's image of Christ. The conversations are in his head, and this is his personal relationship with Jesus. You can call it simplistic, even theologically questionable, but isn't every Christian supposed to have a personal relationship with Christ? Daniel's is unabashed, unapologetic, and so real as to be visible to him.
Lastly, to the show's credit, it's not focusing on some unspecified type of Christian community. It's Episcopalian. You can't fault Daniel for welcoming gay parishioners, or even for tacitly endorsing premarital sex in a committed relationship (though it's not yet clear from the
show where he really stands on this). Like so many faith communities, the Episcopal Church has seen intense debate over social issues, and Daniel stands squarely within his denomination, or at least one major part of it. And--again, to its credit--the show depicts internal debate and opposition on these issues.
I'm not trying to say it's a great or sophisticated show, though I do think it's a cut above most of what's out there. But mocking of Christianity? Hardly. "Book of Daniel" takes religion very seriously and treats it respectfully, in the context of soap opera conventions, at least. Its depiction of faith may not reflect how we all see ourselves in the mirror, and setting a soap-opera at a church may be too big of a hurdle for some people. So don't watch it. But let the rest of us enjoy.
Movies are most powerful when they jump off the screen and into our lives. Kris recently recommended several good DVDs for this holiday season, and I'd like to offer my own suggestions. These are a few DVDs that have jumped into the Howe family’s life, sparked real discussions with our kids, and are worthy of rediscovery before making New Year’s resolutions next week. And I've even given you a headstart on what those resolutions might be:
Grow a Less Grinchy Heart. The Grinch (“How the Grinch Stole Christmas”) was unable to receive love, so he had none to give. Eventually, though, the Grinch’s heart grew and he opened himself up to love—and roast beast.
Create Miracles on Your Street. The 1947 classic "Miracle on 34th Street" breathes life and hope into anyone who struggles to have faith in anything...or anyone in my home, my neighborhood, my community, my country?
Reach Out to Those Who Are "Home Alone." Macauley Caulkin’s “Kevin” was alone temporarily due to a comedic family oversight. The beauty of the movie was how he got beyond his fears to share hope and life lessons with the feared old man across the street.
Wow! I've Got "A Wonderful Life." After the singing and the angel who gets his wings, George is still not financially secure like his brother or rich friend. He still hasn’t traveled to see the world. Mr. Potter is still on the Board of the Building & Loan, and still holds the mortgage on most of the town. And George still has a full-time job that nobody wants. All he has is the love and adoration of his wife and children, and the richness of friends.
Love the Scrooges in My Life. We’ve all probably got at least one Ebenezer Scrooge in our lives, if not more. Our boss. Our neighbor. A family member. The redemption of "A Christmas Carol" isn’t simply that Mr. Scrooge is transformed, but that a crippled boy with no material blessings turns out to be the primary agent of change, at least in the human sphere.
The Gift of Time, Not Just Treasure. In 1996’s "Jingle All the Way," Arnold Schwarzenegger embarks on every father’s nightmare: He's promised his son a gift that’s been sold out for weeks, and he lied to his wife by saying he already had it. In the end, he secures the Turbo Man action figure--but discovers that what his son really wanted all along is a relationship with his dad, the real action hero in his life.
The Joy of an Imperfect Christmas."National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" pokes fun at the mishaps in a harried family's holiday celebration.
In a performance-driven, high-efficiency world, it’s good to be reminded that no one is perfect and that love is not conditioned on perfection.
Whatever our movie preferences, we can move past asking “Did I like it?” to asking instead, “How does it speak to my life spiritually?” Perhaps it will lead me to a time of reading or prayer that helps me become the kind of person I long to be, the kind of person movies get made about. Not just a character, but a person of character.
I went 0-for-2 at the box office this week, first sitting through the dreadful “Cheaper by the Dozen 2” and then catching the star-filled, meant-to-be-extremely-clever romantic comedy “Rumor Has It.” This movie is about a 30-something career woman, Sarah Huttinger ( Jennifer Aniston), who returns home with a potential fiancé, Jeff (Mark Ruffalo), to attend her sister’s wedding in Pasadena. The supposedly hilarious twist to this formula is that Sarah--commitment-phobic and ambivalent about her life--discovers that her mother and grandmother were the inspiration for the popular 1960s book and movie, “The Graduate.”
After learning that her grandmother and mother both slept with a mystery man named Beau Burroughs, and that her mother sneaked away a week before her wedding to be with Beau (all details found in the plot of “The Graduate”), Sarah is suddenly convinced that this news explains her present and past unhappiness with her family, her romantic relationships, her career, and anything else she can think of--all because she believes Beau may be her real father. Tracking down the playboy-turned-successful businessman, Sarah soon learns the truth about Beau’s relationship with her mom, but not before she, too, falls under the spell of his charm and ruins her own relationship with Jeff.
The movie fails not just because the plot is convoluted and the jokes fall flat. The movie fails for the same reason many (though not all) romantic comedies fail these days. Today’s romantic comedies are often not really comedies at all, but instead are sociological studies in the three-plus decades of fallout from the so-called sexual revolution of the '60s--when Hollywood began making movies like “Love Story” (if I am in love, do I really never have to say I am sorry?) and “The Graduate.” During the turbulent '60s, romantic comedies switched from focusing on romance and love that precede sex and commitment to focusing on Baby Boomers treating marriage and commitment as concepts to be met with disdain or disbelief. Instead of Cary Grant or Rock Hudson pursuing Doris Day, we suddenly had Robert Redford and Barbara Streisand as mismtached lovers in "The Way We Were." Big difference, though not entirely a bad one, because who ever lived a life like Doris Day's anyway?
However,the result is that today's romantic comedies (think “Eternal Sunshine” or “Garden State” ) more often than not send the message that Gen Xers don't know what romance is, think permanent commitment is a myth, and don’t believe that blood or marriage has anything to do with being a family. Why? Because our Baby Boomer parents who believed in stuff like the messages found in "Love Story" told us so.
Which brings me back to “Rumor.” The one interesting thing about this movie is that Sarah does (finally... after 90 torturous minutes) figure out that yes, in fact, the things she believed about love, marriage, and commitment are all lies. Her grandmother’s raucous '60s lifestyle wasn’t actually that fulfilling. Her mother was not a desperate housewife who gave up the love of her life to marry Sarah’s father. Momentary chemistry can be a poor substitute for lasting happiness. Oh, yeah, and the most important lesson Sarah learns is that she should stop whining and grow up. All points worthy to be found in a movie--unfortunately just not this movie. So
Rumor” could have been worth a watch, but it’s not. Spread the word and let this “Rumor” die a quick death at the box office.
I've been waiting for an excuse to blog about "The Office," some religion angle to rear its satiric head in the NBC sitcom that, like its British namesake, skewers the absurdities of the typical desk job. But aside from a passing mention of one character's Christianity, the show has steered clear of explicit faith-focused storylines. But I can wait no longer, and I've decided it's time to express my love publicly for this brilliant show that suffers from perennially poor ratings.
And who needs a specific angle? The show has soul--or, most often, lack of it, exploring the emptiness and ennui of office life so accurately that it can be downright painful to watch. And through its dead-on depiction of office life and office personalities, it sends the message loud and clear that we as a society too often lose sight of any sense of meaning in our daily lives and fall into routines and roles that sap the life out of us. (NOTE TO MY BOSSES: By "painful to watch" and "sap the life out of us," I am referring, of course, to other people in other offices, since I cannot relate to the show in any personal sense.)
But if satirizing the meaninglessness of work was all that "The Office" offered, it wouldn't be the work of genius it is, no matter how hilarious and on-target that portrayal is. Alongside the show's soullessness it does have a soul, and it's got a heart. And to its credit and our benefit, this season's episodes have displayed more and more of these elements without sacrificing laughs.
It shows in the unspoken romantic longing--expressed in fleeting glances and tiny gestures--between Pam, the receptionist who is nominally engaged to an inattentive guy, and Jim, the young sales rep who, as the one who most often points out the absurdities he sees around him and who tries to bring some levity and camaraderie to the office, embodies the series' heart and soul. And it shows in the occasional but poignant tenderness and kindness that creeps into the dysfunctional relationship between Michael--the hilarious Steve Carrell as the clueless boss who's never had a thought he's left unspoken--and his often-bewildered employees.
Next week, "The Office" is moving from its Tuesday night slot to NBC's newly beefed-up Thursday lineup. Here's hoping it finds success there. May its ratings rise sharply so it can secure its place in primetime for years to come.
I recently watched the 30th anniversary DVD edition of the film "The Message," which is Moustapha Akkad’s groundbreaking Hollywood production of the story of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). In addition to including both the English and Arabic versions of the film, the new DVD edition also has English and Arabic audio commentary from Akkad, as well as a short documentary on how the film was made.
The Prophet's story has always been my absolute favorite. I have read his biography dozens of times, listened to tapes about his life, and have heard countless lectures and Friday sermons about his life and his struggles to bring Islam to the world. Watching "The Message" was a dream comes true.
The film truly takes you back into that time and makes you understand what it was like at the very beginning of the mission of the Prophet. It made me truly understand how painful it was for Ammar ibn Yasser, one of the Prophet's companions, who saw his parents killed before his eyes and then buckled under the pressure of unbearable torture and cursed the Prophet. And the scene of the Prophet entering Medina on his emigration, with all the joyful believers singing and dancing, always brings tears to my eyes.
And this is why my soul burns with anger when I think how Akkad, who did a great service to the world by making this film, died recently in the terrorist bombings of Amman, Jordan. This man, even though he was better known for making the "Halloween" series, had a truly noble goal: to help the West better understand Islam. He knew that the best way to do so was through the silver screen, and that's why he made this marvelous film. And he was killed by "Muslims" who murdered him in their quest to "defend the sanctity of Islam."
What shame, what madness.
My anger grew even stronger when I listened to his audio commentary on the DVD. He explained how difficult it was trying to get this movie shown in theaters across the Arab and Muslim worlds, as well as in America. He worked so hard on this true jihad--spiritual struggle--for the sake of Islam. And he was killed by "holy warriors" who call their satanic act of murder "jihad.”
posted by Hesham Hassaballa @ 12:34 PM | Permalink |
Joining a long line of less-than-memorable sequels based on movies that shouldn’t have made as much money as they did the first time around, “Cheaper by the Dozen 2” opened last weekend just in time to entice kiddies on Christmas break. Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt return to slapstick their way through parenting 12 kids, as the family takes one final family vacation together. At their cabin on Lake Winnetka, overly-competitive dad, Tom, starts a rivalry with the dad of another family, the Murtaughs. Will Tom’s family quit squabbling long enough to pull together to beat those nasty Murtaughs? Will they learn to better appreciate each other along the way?
Oh, and then there’s the biggest question of all: Why should anyone watching this movie care? “Cheaper by the Dozen 2” is mind-numbing entertainment at best, but sadly I predict it will do reasonably well at the box office in spite of numerous negative reviews. Why? Because the few positive reviews it is receiving are coming from conservative Christian organizations with large subscriber bases that tout the movie for its “family friendly” qualities--i.e. there may be no storyline, or decent acting or anything else to commend the film, but hey, it’s also completely inoffensive to our easily offended sensibilities.
Don’t get me wrong. Even though I am not a parent, I understand the desire of parents to be able to take their children to a movie without worrying about lots of profanity or gratuitous sex or other objectionable content. But I think this movie presents a strong case in point for making a cultural paradigm shift in how a “family friendly” movie is defined. Does this family even remotely resemble any family I have ever met? No. Are they dealing with any of the difficult issues a real family would be dealing with? Not a chance.
And what message are groups like Focus on the Family sending when they give praise to this movie in the same breath as the excellently-crafted “Chronicles of Narnia,” while completely panning other family dramas such as--and I am going back a couple of years, I admit--the brilliant, Oscar-nominated “In America”? And why aren't they getting the word out about recent inspirational indie hits, such as "Mad Hot Ballroom," which are completely appropriate for the whole family? It’s time for the church community, which so vehemently wants to have a say in Hollywood, to expect more than “Cheaper” family entertainment at the theater--unless you are just counting the days until you can go see “Cheaper by the Dozen 3” at a cineplex near you.
If you’re burned out on all the classic Christmas movies on the tube and you’ve seen everything worth seeing at the box office, here are a few personal picks for some overlooked but spiritually thought-provoking episodes of TV shows that you can now enjoy on DVD no matter what holiday you are celebrating.
My So-Called Life: “So-Called Angels”: This episode of the angst-filled teen drama always makes me cry. Angela Chase (Claire Danes) and her agnostic family find their spiritual and emotional preconceptions challenged when Angela’s friend Rickie goes missing and the Chases’ search for him lead them to a mysterious encounter with a homeless teen.
Once & Again: “Gingerbread House”: In my opinion, this series--which focused on two divorcees trying to find a way to be in love and blend their families while also dealing with their exes--was one of the best shows ever on television. This episode focuses on mom Lily’s attempt to create a perfect gingerbread house over the holidays as the ultimate metaphor for trying to piece back together her broken life and heal her relationship with new love Rick after a major transgression on her part. Lily learns that trying to achieve reconciliation is neither easy or pretty, always fragile, but always possible. The other touching twist in this episode is the way Lily’s youngest daughter, Zoey, also has some of her own holiday dreams unexpectedly shattered.
X-Files: “5X05 Christmas Carol”: Faith and science collided over and over again on this series, but in this episode the always-skeptical Scully is home for the holidays and begins to have nightmares which she thinks may connect her to a murdered woman’s daughter. As Scully tries to unravel the mystery, she comes face to face with her past. The episode (it’s the first of a two-parter) is not so much about Christmas but about reconnecting with family with some supernatural help. Can’t we all use of that?
So of course these days it’s all about Christmas and Hanukkah and Kwanzaa and Solstice and any other holiday I’ve forgotten to include. And if you watch the seasonal wishes on TV, you’ll see that they make a mention of all relevant holidays... except for the Muslim ones.
So where are the television and radio shows about the Muslim holidays? Why isn’t Yusuf Islam (previously known as Cat Stevens) producing some sort of special bringing Muslim holidays to public attention? Courtesy of a reader who sent a chiding email to Beliefnet, I learned that I’m not the only one who feels that Islamic holidays should receive as much play as the others this time of year.
Sure, Ramadan and the holiday with which that month closes, Eid ul Fitr, are moving steadily farther away from the winter holiday season (since Muslims follow the lunar calendar, which moves the dates approximately 10 days back every year relative to the solar calendar). This year, Ramadan began in early October and ended in the first week of November. But as one holiday moves away from Christmas/Hanukkah/etc., another draws closer: Muslims' second big holiday will fall immediately after the December holiday crush. That holiday is Eid ul Adha.
Eid ul Adha is the second Eid, which comes at the culmination of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. Hajj will, inshallah (God willing), commence on January 9th, which is still close enough in my book to be included in the smorgasbord of holidays celebrated this time of year. Eid ul Adha often is forgotten by the public and private sector in this country. Hajj is a glorious event with deep, spiritual, and historical meaning for Muslims. But since it takes place in the city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, non-Muslims in the U.S. tend to forget that Muslims all over celebrate the spirit of Hajj and the holiday of Eid ul Adha.
So when you’re running through the gamut of religious greetings this time of year, don’t forget to say “Eid Mubarak” or “Happy Eid” along with “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Hanukkah,” etc. And I challenge the “superstars” of Islamic faith to bring attention to this holiday. As Ramadan and Eid ul Fitr moves farther away from the winter holiday season, Hajj and Eid ul Adha will be a part of the giant, multifaith, December celebration for four or five years to come.
Television producers, journalists, public officials, and prominent Muslims, take note: It’s time to reclaim Eid ul Adha and give it the importance it deserves as a holiday celebrated by millions of Americans, not to mention hundreds of millions of Muslims worldwide.
We Jews often whine about the supposed lack of good Hanukkah music. The Hanukkah songs most Jews learned as kids don't hold a candle (so to speak) to such memorable tunes as "Little Drummer Boy" or "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town." Nor do you see Jewish celebrities lining up to make Hanukkah albums, a la the steady stream of Christmas albums by the likes of Regis Philbin and Jethro Tull. Adam Sandler, of course, tried to remedy the situation with "The Hanukkah Song," a witty ditty that was laugh-out-loud funny the first few times I heard it, but which has now been overplayed to death by radio DJs hoping to inject a little diversity into their month-long marathon of Christmas music. (Personally, I think many traditional Hanukkah songs are as beautiful and meaningful as the best Christmas carols, but since they're in Hebrew, they're not about to be played on mainstream radio.)
This Hanukkah, however, how about trying something new? Introducing "The Leevees," a duo comprised of indie rockers Adam Gardner (Guster) and Dave Schneider (the Zambonis). Their debut album, "Hanukkah Rocks" features original songs all about the Festival of Lights--and has received attention by the likes of RollingStone.com and Entertainment Weekly. In sound and lyrical sensibility, their music is reminiscent of a Judaized Barenaked Ladies, with whom The Leevees have toured. The music is catchy, fun, and, well, good. The words are funny without being self-mocking, good-naturedly presenting a celebration of Hanukkah that is neither secularized nor preachy, accessible while still being traditional, and able to laugh at itself without becoming a Borscht Belt self-parody.
"Applesauce Vs. Sour Cream" tackles the ancient potato-latke condiment debate, while "Latke Clan" paints a portrait of a family Hanukkah celebration as sweet and loving as anything Regis dishes out. "Goyim Friends" pokes fun at Jews' envy of Christmas gift-giving and scrumptious holiday feasts ("We will march on, with General Tso and egg foo young...") while also reveling in the abundance of Jewish holidays year round. When was the last time you heard a pop song reference Simchat Torah and Tu Bishvat?
So this Hanukkah, after lighting those candles and frying up those latkes, put away the Adam Sandler, stop whining about how Christmas music is so much better than Hanukkah music, and crank up The Leevees.
As if I even need to remind you.... today is Festivus! The fictional holiday made famous by Jerry Stiller's character Frank Costanza in a 1997 episode of "Seinfeld" is--yes is--observed nationwide by many who crave "a Festivus for the rest of us." Fed up with the commercialism of Christmas--and the toy store battles he found himself embroiled in--Frank defined the holiday with such rituals as the "Airing of Grievances," in which people tell loved ones how they've disappointed them over the past year, and "Feats of Strength," where the head of the household has to pin the other members of the family. There was no Christmas tree necessary: Festivus revelors gather around an unadorned aluminum pole to perform their rituals. Don't have yours yet? Worry not, the website ChosenCulture.com sells a miniature pole that is perfect for table or desktop. Stiller himself is even involved in the life-imitating-art-imitating-life ("Seinfeld" writer Dan O'Keefe's father is said to have invented the holiday in the 1960s). A new book features a forward by Jerry Stiller, as well as Festivus recipes, history, and other surprises.
Would Frank Costanza object to this new commercialization of his beloved Festivus? A good question for debate over pole-skewered shrimp at the Festivus meal, perhaps.
As a lifelong Red Sox fan, (though I now proudly call Yankee territory my home), I am stunned and saddened to report that the Red Sox traded Johnny Damon (JOHNNY DAMON!), a.k.a. Baseball's Jesus, to the New York Yankees in a $52 million dollar deal. The hugely popular Damon earned his nickname--and the immortal WWJDD? T-shirts--because of his shoulder-length hair and beard as well as his role in bringing a World Series championship to Boston after an 86-year drought.
Ted Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals, told Barbara Walters on her "Heaven" show that in heaven we'll be able to eat every kind of food in any quantity without getting fat. Was this a plug for his new book? "The Jerusalem Diet," a regimen for losing weight that has to do with fat-eating days and fruit-and-nut days, is something of a departure for Haggard, whose previous writings are in the vein of "Simple Prayers for a Powerful Life," and "The Life Giving Church." The Random House web page for the book, however, describes Haggard as "a busy pastor who loves food and admits to a lack of self-control when it comes to eating." This raises the sickly question of whether Haggard's preaching on heaven was colored by his own food issues, but first, Rev. Ted, will heaven stock that peanut-encrusted toffee that's been popping up around my office this Christmas season? Cuz if it doesn't I'm not sure I want to go...
If you live outside the NYC metro area, it's possible you don't know there is a major transit strike happening in Gotham, the first in 25 years, and it's bringing the city to it's knees--or rather, to its feet, rollerblades, bicycles, scooters, skateboards, and, of course, cars.
When I heard about the impending transit strike, I worried about big things like the rights of the workers, the people who hold by-the-hour jobs who might miss paychecks because they can't get to their jobs, and whether family would be able to make it in and out of the city for the holidays. But on a smaller scale, I felt a twinge of dismay about the simple absence of a subway ride in my day.
Though some people hate riding the subway, I love it. It's fast. Efficient. I can get anywhere in Brooklyn or Manhattan in under 30 minutes. I have favorite lines like the Q that will get me express to SOHO and the Union Square Farmer's Market on Saturdays, and the A train that takes me all the way up to Harlem in just seven stops. And the subway is one of my favorite places to people watch. Everyone takes the subway, even Mayor Bloomberg. On any given train you can find a microcosm of the city's diversity--ethnic, economic, and otherwise. The fashionable and the functionally attired, parents with children, the old and the young all mingle together like nowhere else in the city. Late one night I even caught a Broadway cast on their way home from Times Square, and was treated to an impromptu show for five stops.
But in the last two days, as I and the rest of the city have made our way whichever way we can, I've seen a lot of anger: angry drivers that can't cross a bridge because they don't fulfill the four-person-per-car restrictions or are stuck in gridlock, people overtired from long treks on foot lasting, sometimes, upwards of five hours. But more than anything else, I've seen and heard about kindness. Cabbies are offering free morning rides so they can make it across police lines with the right number of passengers, drivers are offering total strangers rides across the bridges and living to tell the tale, walkers are handing each other bottles of water just to be nice, and people crowding the bridges are talking and telling stories just to pass the time. In "Thrown Together in a Crisis, Strangers Share Cars and Life Stories," New York Times reporter Alan Feuer asks one driver, owner of a fancy BMW, why she didn't fear inviting strangers into her car, and she gives a Karma/Golden Rule-inspired response: "I didn't even worry when I stopped to give these people a ride... I really believe that when you're nice to people they're going to be nice to you back."
It's rare that people talk to each other on a regular, subway-riding day. And I am looking forward to shorter walks and faster commutes. But for now I'm enjoying watching the Good Samaritans everywhere I turn.
Barbara Walters really covered her ground in last night’s ABC special, “Heaven: Where is it? How Do We Get There?” She, in trademark Barbara fashion, grilled priests, imams, rabbis, Hollywood movie stars, the Dalai Lama, and regular folk who claimed to have had near-death experiences and saw heaven. I was eager to catch this remarkable special, and more specifically to see what my brothers in Islam had to say about heaven. I was especially interested in what Barbara would ask of the failed “Muslim” suicide bomber jailed in an Israeli prison.
Sadly, it was all about those darn 72 virgins.
A little background, if there’s even a remote chance you don’t know of this already: Ever since 9/11, when “Islamic” terrorists gained worldwide notoriety, all we hear about is this notion that suicide terrorists are pursuing some warped version of martyrdom for the promise of 72 virgins in paradise. (By the way--72 virgins? Not stated in the Qu’ran)
It seems--judging from Barbara’s line of questioning--that the promise of 72 virgins is the reason why suicide bombers and terrorists do what they do. But to me, it seems rather far-fetched that this, and not years of radical teachings coupled with a life devoid of a viable future, is what fuels so-called “Muslim” suicide terrorists. Multiple articles written about suicide bombers elicit the same type of information: That many misguided youth who become suicide bombers are indoctrinated by years of radical teachings coupled with a life of chaos, poverty, hate, and constant warfare such that the thought of achieving paradise for being a “martyr” is reason enough strap on the bombs. Are male youth promised 72 virgins? Probably. But is this the promise that gets them to choose a violent death? I doubt it.
I’m not surprised Barbara zeroed in on this tantalizing line of questioning when she sat down with the failed suicide bomber. For all I know she asked a lot of other thoughtful and provocative questions regarding his reasons for doing what he did and what he believes heaven will be like. But journalistic television specials such as this one aim at exploring topics that interest the public in a stimulating, interesting way. People want to know about those darn 72 virgins. And so that’s the part of the interview that made it on the air.
I am so thankful that Barbara turned to Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf of New York City for the counterpoint to this issue of the 72 virgins. He pointed out that 72 is the Arabic equivalent for a nonspecific number, like saying “hundreds and hundreds.” More importantly, he steered the discussion away from those virgins to the important topic of how these bombers who try to be martyrs are not doing what the Qu’ran says of martyrs.
I especially applaud the Imam’s gentle withdrawal from answering the question of whether the suicide bombers will go to heaven. How can I say who goes and who doesn’t? he asked. It’s a mixed up world where “one man’s terrorists is another man’s hero.” Why don’t we try to figure that one out instead of wasting any more time on 72 virgins.
I vowed not to wade into the so-called "War on Christmas," given that (a) the whole idea of Christmas being under attack seems absurd to me aside from the occasional--and often laughably ridiculous--excesses by some people, and (b) even as a traditional Jew who takes no part in any Christmas celebration, I have no problem being wished a "Merry Christmas" by strangers and only say "Happy Holidays" to others when I don't know if they celebrate actually Christmas or not.
Despite my vow, I would be remiss in my duties as an Idol Chatterer if I didn't mention a delicious quote from Fox news loudmouth Bill O'Reilly, whom The New Yorker, in a Talk of the Town piece, calls the Patton of the War on Christmas. Among several representative quotes from Gen. O'Reilly is this gem: "There is no reason on this earth that all of us cannot celebrate a public holiday devoted to generosity, peace, and love together!"
Um, er, I never went to Christmas Eve Mass and spent my impressionable childhood in Jewish schools, but I thought Christmas is not just about peace, love, and understanding, but also about the birth of Christ. If generosity and peace were all there was to it, you could sign me up, and I would swig eggnog and sing carols while downing my potato latkes and lighting my menorah.
But that would be a sad day for Christmas (not to mention my digestive system). This Jew has no desire to see the Christ taken out of Christmas any more than I want miracles and Maccabees taken out of Hanukkah. But in his rush to equate celebrating Christmas with being American, O'Reilly is guilty of doing just that. So for the sake of all the good Christians in America, I beg you, sir: Please put Christ back in Christmas, and don't try to make it a universal holiday that we can all supposedly join in on.
Biblical exegesis meets the Billboard Hot 100 in the January/February issue of Blender magazine. Kelly Clarkson--Blender's Woman of the Year, winner of the first "American Idol," and singer of the ubiquitous and insidiously infectious "Since U Been Gone"--considers herself a Christian, but is no "holy roller," notes Blender. Having a couple of drinks at an after-concert party she says, "I don't sweat it. Jesus drank. It came straight from the Bible that he had a glass of wine. Actually, I don't know if it says he actually drank it, but whatever."
After all, the Bible is a little bit ambiguous about Jesus' highly-debated drinking habits, though he does say to his Disciples at the Last Supper, "Drink this in rememberance of me, or whatever."
Last month NBC’s “Dateline” did a special attempting to answer questions about the birth of Christ, and tonight another newsmagazine, CBS’s "48 Hours Mysteries” will also examine the veracity of the Christmas story. After taking a sneak peak at tonight's show, I have to say that CBS’s treatment is a little more controversial than NBC's, which I'd felt was even-handed if not extremely cautious. As a result, tonight's primetime analysis of Christ’s birth is destined to raise the hackles of many conservative Christians. While “48 Hours” does touch on some of the same questions “Dateline” did--the discrepancies between the Christmas story in the Gospel of Matthew and the Gospel of Luke, where Jesus was actually born, etc.--the show devotes most of its coverage, to my surprise, to questioning the virgin birth of Jesus. Regardless of the fact that this aspect of the birth of Christ is a critical tenet of Christianity, I found this news approach odd simply because it is a question that obviously can never be answered factually approximately 2,000 years later.
The show presents several theories about Jesus’ conception. Articulated by scholars, these range from Mary committing adultery to the Gospel writers borrowing from Greek mythology and Old Testament accounts of the life of Moses to create their own version of a miraculous birth. The only dissenting opinion presented in the program is the voice of Professor Ben Witherington, who makes the point that it would be ridiculous to create an implausible story such as an immaculate conception if you were trying to establish an evangelistic religion in which you hoped to convert large numbers of people.
Another scholar, when pressed in an interview, admits that of course there is no way to know for sure what the circumstances of Jesus’ birth were but that obviously “there was something embarrassing or troubling about the birth of Jesus that caused a lot of questions.” For me, as well as many other Christians, this is exactly the point. From a biblical perspective, Jesus’ life from beginning to end was designed to be troubling and surprising, and to bring forth questions from all who encountered him.
In the words of one of my favorite writers, Flannery O’Conner, religious dogma "is not a set of rules" but something that can affect us "by guaranteeing a respect for mystery." So while I certainly don’t agree with many of the points made in the "48 Hours" program, I would still encourage people of all faiths, especially conservative Christians, to watch the show and allow their perceptions to be challenged--and then to come up with their own questions, as they reflect on the mystery of Christ’s birth.
A thorough and wide-ranging presentation of information regarding how to get to heaven is on your TV screen tonight. It's not led by Billy Graham or Rick Warren or the pope's representatives. Nope, it's Barbara Walters. That’s right, the newswoman and interviewer of the stars has become the High Priestess of the Question of Eternity, at least according to the build-up to tonight’s “Heaven” on ABC.
In my look at an advance copy, she seems to be fair, constrained by her journalistic neutrality. She says little of her own Jewishness, except to acknowledge that her family didn't practice it much. Because of that fact, this may be one of the most neutral presentations of the different views about heaven that you’ll see. If you’d like information without evangelization, this is the show for you.
The show includes traditional religious views and their explanations as well as the near-death experiences described by individuals whose stories transcend religious description. Or you can have both, as in the case of a respected Baptist pastor who claims to have talked with his grandmother from beyond the grave. The Dalai Lama describes reincarnation (an alternative view that doesn’t involve heaven) while Cardinal McCarrick of Washington, D.C., articulates the Catholic Church's position. You can also learn about Protestants and Muslims, who believe there’ll be sex in heaven.
Walters also interviews celebrities, such as Richard Gere, who are associated with this or that faith. Maria Shriver discusses how we ought to talk to our kids about heaven, and it’s interesting to hear her talk of a family that has certainly known death but not talked often about where their loved ones went after that.
There’s also talk of “the other side,” including a failed suicide bomber who believes Barbara (and all of us!) will go to hell for not believing as he does. You may also be surprised at the realistic presentation of an evangelical worldview, which may be more realistic and easy to subscribe to than you’d think.
Barbara Walters told Beliefnet in an interview that her interest in heaven has increased because of doing this show. Even a media-saavy cynic must admit there may be some truth to that statement. For each of us, it stands to reason that if heaven--or anything--exists after we're done here in this world, it's pretty much in our best interest to learn what we can about that and what, if anything, we can do to prepare.
As Time magazine’s “Persons of the Year” edition was hitting newsstands Sunday night, Bono, one of this year’s honorees (along with Bill and Melinda Gates) was on stage in Charlotte, North Carolina, wearing a headband reading "COEXIST" spelled out with the Muslim crescent, Jewish Star of David, Christian cross, and other religious symbols, according to a story in Charlotte News and Observer entitled “Our Minister of Music.”
"Coexist: what a beautiful, simple thought, and it's getting harder to hold onto," Bono reportedly said, adding a prayer "that we do not become a monster in order to defeat a monster."
Bono, considered the world’s most famous rock star, is now perhaps the world’s most famous lay Christian, and could probably give Billy Graham and the pope--what's the new guy's name?--a run for most-famous Christian, period. Bono is on record doubting his own faith, and his activism has come with critiques of organized Christianity. But increasingly his statements about religion endorse Christian theology and practice (see this interview from a recent book in which he says he feels closer than ever to Roman Catholicism and sees grace moving in the world more than karma). His emergence as a religious figure comes to the chagrin of secular folks who love his music but can do without his preaching (see the concert review above), and to church folks who see his criticisms of the church as shallow, not to mention leftist.
Bono’s most pointed critique of American religion, at any rate, is not anything he has said against the Religious Right, but precisely in how he talks to, and has won over, both Blue and Red America. Hours before his Charlotte concert, he visited Jesse Helms, the conservative former North Carolina senator, whom Bono credits with getting AIDS drugs to half a million Africans. "He is doing marvelous things," Dot Helms, the senator’s wife, told the News and Observer. "He is an exceedingly smart man and also a deeply committed Christian.”
I remember going to see Raiders of the Lost Ark in the theater as a kid. As Indiana Jones makes his way through a tunnel of giant tarantulas, outruns a boulder, endures a snake pit, and smartly avoids having his face melt into goo, I was not alone in my white-knuckled, eye-covered screams of "eeww" and "yuck," which I shrieked as much out of solidarity with my fellow movie-goers as a response to whatever fun-filled horrors and suspenseful situations graced the screen. Communing over shared disgust and surprise in a packed theater is, to me, one of the joys of seeing movies at on the big screen and not in the comfort of my own home.
It's been a while since I've had that kind of fun at the cineplex. Then I saw the new "King Kong."
Peter Jackson's homage to the orignal 1933 "King Kong"--which was directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack and is the film that apparently inspired Jackson's interest to get into the movie business in the first place--provides audiences with the ultimate in communal movie-going experiences. (And thank God for Cooper and Schoedsack providing Peter Jackson his muse, as Jackson is proving himself one of the great directors of our time.)
This generation's "King Kong" stars Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Naomi Watts (as Ann Darrow, the woman that works her way into the monster's heart), and, interestingly, Andy Serkis as the man behind the giant gorilla. (He's also the actor who brought Jackson's amazing on-screen interpretation of Gollum to life in his "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.) All of these actors are wonderful in their roles (in particular Naomi Watts) and manage to convincingly move audiences from an initial horror at the beast to tremendous sympathy and even sadness when King Kong is inevitably defeated in that famous seen atop NYC's Empire State Building.
But aside from Jackson delivering a wonderfully acted three-hour adventure film with spectacular special effects, he offers audiences one of those ever rarer "Raiders of the Lost Ark" communal moments. As I, and everyone around me, got deeper and deeper into the story, and as our first glimpse of King Kong became imminent, I found myself "eewwing" and "ohhing" and "yucking" in unison with everyone around me in the packed theater. I covered my eyes when giant worm-like creatures rose up from the waters to suck down humans, and giant cockroaches descended from above, and what looked like the most giant centipedes you've ever seen crawled over human flesh (notice the emphasis here on giant). And as I looked sideways I noticed I was not alone in my gleeful shrinking from the horrors before me. By the middle of the film and onward to the end and the final sad groan of "awww," when King Kong gives his last, mournful look at the love of his life, we, the audience had our own adventure of togetherness as we reacted to the screen in unison.
This is a movie not to be missed on the big screen in a packed theater--so go, and go soon. But one word of advice: As I left the theater, heart racing, feeling like I'd just had a major workout, I thought to myself that if only I had better mindfulness skills, I might have managed to remember to breath regularly during the movie. Steady breathing is truly a skill with that much action going on, both in the audience and on screen.
In the spirit of other dark comedies about dysfunctional families--movies such as “Home for the Holidays” or “The Royal Tenenbaums”--the latest Christmas flick, “The Family Stone,” is, on the surface anyway, a formulaic story about a young couple, Emmett and Meredith (played by Dermot Mulroney and Sarah Jessica Parker), who travel to New England to meet his parents for Christmas. Of course, Meredith is terribly nervous and naturally everything goes wrong, and the family doesn’t like their potential daughter-in-law one bit. But amidst some slapstick laughs, this movie surprises by adding several thoughtful layers to the plot. (Warning: this post contains a few minor spoilers!)
First I think it is worth noting that the movie incorporates a deaf son as one of the characters--the most natural, seamless and intelligent incorporation of someone with a disability in a movie that I can remember in a very long time. Why don’t we see that more often in film, as a life affirming but not maudlin reflection of that oh-so-popular word “diversity”?
Next, as far as romantic comedies go, I loved this story because it does not give the romance(s) in this movie the “Jerry Maguire” treatment. In fact, "The Family Stone" is about just the opposite. This movie points out that someone else can’t complete us or be our sole purpose in life. We have to look deeper inside ourselves to find wholeness.
But the biggest twist in the movie is when the audience discovers, along with certain members of the Stone family, that the mother (brilliantly played by Diane Keaton), Sybil, is trying to keep a dark secret from everyone. The secret suddenly explains a lot of this family’s caustic behavior. Again, this could have turned this movie into some sappy movie-of–the-week cliché, but it didn’t. It is only one more layer of story that leads up to what I saw as the most redemptive moment in the film. Meredith and Emmett’s irreverent brother Ben (played by Owen Wilson) snuggle together on a bed and softly sing over and over the words “repeat the sounding joy” from the carol “Joy to the World," while downstairs Sybil Stone is marveling at the gently falling snow. The message to all of us at this--or any other--season is that joy can be found in the most difficult and unlikely times if we stop to listen to our spirits and embrace what is truly precious... and have a good laugh at ourselves and our frail humanity in the process.
Randal, who was hired by Donald Trump on last night's finale of the fourth season of NBC's The Apprentice, acted like a sore winner, upsetting viewers who have been in his corner all season long.
The highly-educated, kind-hearted, tall and lanky gentleman had achieved something that has eluded contests since the show's inception: nearly universal respect. But at the very end of the 2-hour finale, Donald Trump offered Randal a test of his values which, according to at least one reviewer and several booing audience members, Randal failed. Trump asked Randal, after announcing that he had been hired, whether he thought Rebecca, his fellow finalist, should also be offered a position in the Trump organization. Instead of sharing the glory, Randal replied, "Mr. Trump, I firmly believe that this is 'The Apprentice,' that there is one and only one apprentice, and if you’re going to hire someone tonight, it should be one," Randal said. "It’s not 'The Apprenti,' it’s 'The Apprentice.'"
The boos from the audience said it all. Once you're hired, apparently it's no more Mr. Nice Guy.
Did someone say Christmas albums? One of my many failed ventures is the Annual Roundup of Tolerable Christmas Music, which ran on Beliefnet precisely one annum. For one thing, I found out there’s not enough tolerable Christmas music released each year to round up. (The other thing? I’m lazy.) Let me take this opportunity to clear my only regret: not alerting the world in 2004 to “Joulu” (“Yule”), an album by the Finnish jazz vocal group Ragaton. That the album is completely in Finnish, including the liner notes, only increases the pleasure of this pure escape from mallbound Christmas. I guarantee the Finnish tunes will become your favorites, but for those who must have the stuffing out of the box, they do mum “Jingle Bells,” Mel Torme’s “Christmas Song,” and “Silent Night,” At first you’ll try to sing along, before letting the fleeting Finnish lyrics just flow over you.
Does Christmas seem to get more complicated every year. Online? In-store? Happy holidays? Merry Christmas? Mid-shopping, take time out to review the culture’s excesses with the expert on the topic, John Waters, the auteur of such films as “Hairspray” and other underground film comedies. “I love how it makes people mental,” Waters tells San Diego City Beat in an interview this week, later admitting, “If I hear ‘Little Drummer Boy’ one more time, I feel like I‚m going crazy.” Waters is out flacking his antidote to the Christmas crazies, his 2004 album of kitschy carols, including “Here Comes Fatty Claus” and Tiny Tim’s version of “Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer.” In the interview, Waters muses, "There's no irony in those songs [like] "Happy Birthday Jesus" by Little Cindy. They were all made to be good songs, something just went a little wrong."
"The Producers," the movie based on the Broadway musical based on the classic Mel Brooks movie, opens today in some cities, and that adds yet one more to my quickly accumulating list of must-see new films. The Broadway show was my favorite of recent years, and the original film ain't bad either. But when it comes to blogging the film for Idol Chatter, perhaps the most surprising thing about "The Producers" is that the controversy you might expect to erupt from such an irreverent take on the Holocaust is nonexistent. The Jewish world is not up in arms about the story's making light of the Holocaust and Hitler using the tragedy for laughs. This despite the story's show-within-a-show, "Springtime for Hitler," an absurb and hilarious musical about The Fuhrer himself.
Given recent controversies over imagery and sensitivity in Holocaust art, and the ongoing efforts of the organized Jewish world to educate the world about the Holocaust, you'd think that the Anti-Defamation League would be lining up outside theaters with angry signs, or that newspaper opinion pages would be filled with letters from angry rabbis, educators, and Holocaust survivors. But there are no angry signs that I know of, no letters to the editor, no outcry--at least nothing too visible. I have one friend who was offended by the show's Holocaust-for-laughs theme, and I am sure he's not alone, but I haven't heard much in the way of protest against "The Producers."
Could Jewish leaders have come to realize that humor, even irreverence, can't be equated with disrespect and hate, and that to put the Holocaust off limits to certain means of expression is to take away the language with which we try to process and grasp the unimaginable? I wouldn't bet on it. After all, it wasn't so long ago that many Jews took offense at Roberto Begnini's "Life Is Beautiful," a fairy-tale/comedy set partly in a concentration camp, a movie, in my opinion, that succeeding in dramatizing the tragedy and human loss of the Holocaust in a way that was more sublime and meaningful than many straight tear-jerker drama--only this was hilarious. More recently, an exhibit of Holocaust-themed art at the New York Jewish Museum sparked protests for its supposed insensitivity to survivors, which led to the strange spectre of Jews protesting a major mainstream Jewish institution.
More likely, "The Producers" benefits from the fact that it's been with us, in some form, for a generation, was created by a known quantity--Mel Brooks, who made light of the Holocaust in more than just this movie--and is set not in Nazi-era Europe but in post-war America. Perhaps most importantly, the potentially offensive scenes in "The Producers" are intended to offend; the whole point is the characters' (themselves Jewish) desire to make a Broadway show so egregious that it would be an immediate flop.
And then there's the fact that the story it is absurd, period--clearly not intending to make a point about history or religion or politics, unlike the Jewish Museum exhibit or even "Life Is Beautiful." "The Producers" is all about fun. So sit back and enjoy the dancing gay Hitler who takes Broadway by storm. And try not to think too much about what you're laughing at.
The New York Times catches up with Hanukkah hipsters in its Style section today. The reporter attends a bash in a trendy Manhattan nightclub thrown by Jewcy, a group that promotes Jewish cultural awareness among young Jews, and cites it as evidence that Judaism is experiencing “a Jewish hipster moment,” kicked off by Adam Sandler’s “Hanukkah Song” and prolonged by events like “A Jewcy Chnukah”—featuring SNL’s Rachel Dratch and Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog—and the traveling variety show “What I Like About Jew.” The Jewish revival centers on Hanukkah, says the article, because Jews must have some response to Christian inundation at Christmas. One attendee says he asks gentile friends to imagine “everywhere you go strangers say to you, ‘Merry Ramadan.’ … You can’t get into a store because people are bowing to Mecca. You’d be an angry minority.”
My vote for most annoying Christmas commercial this season should go to Old Navy for its latest cheesy ad campaign featuring “the gifties”--a mock award show highlighting various Old Navy products. However, I can’t bring myself to mock these commercials too much for one big reason: Old Navy was smart enough to hire Kristin Chenoweth as its spokesperson. I have been a fan of the perky singer/actress with the multi-octave vocal range since her Tony-winning role as Sally in “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown.” She has branched out to star on TV (she can occasionally be seen as the new deputy press secretary on "The West Wing") as well as film (she will be in "The Pink Panther" in February).
But the other reason I am a fan of Chenoweth’s is the way she has represented her Christian faith even as her celebrity has grown. At the same time she has taken criticism from the fundamentalist organization Women of Faith (who originally invited Chenoweth to sing at some of their events but then cancelled) for her willingness to sing at gay churches. She is making appearances on shows as diverse as “The 700 Club” and “The David Letterman Show” to promote her current CD “As I Am,” a collection of songs that reflect her gospel roots. So while I realize these over-the-top ridiculous commercials for Old Navy (which happens to be her corporate sponsor for a huge concert in Los Angeles early next year) are not the best addition to Chenoweth’s resume, I still respect the way she refuses to let her talent and her faith be put in a neatly defined box.
It was the buzz about Oscar-worthy performances by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal and a likely Best Picture nomination that got me in the door to see Brokeback Mountain, latest film by Ang Lee ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon"). Based on a short story by Annie Proulx, I was curious to see how these two young Hollywood heartthrobs would pull off a gay romance between two cowboys in the wilderness of Wyoming.
I had also heard the film was beyond sad, an experience I try to avoid at the movies. But this one sounded too good to miss. And it is.
Everything about this story is spare, reserved, understated: the characters of Jack Twist (Gyllenhaal) and Ennis Delmar (Ledger), their dialogue, the window we have into the state of their marriages and lives as parents. Everything, that is, except for the love they have for each other. As Jack and Ennis first meet and work together herding sheep on Brokeback Mountain and later return to life as married men trying to make a living and support their families, I found myself watching as if from a safe emotional distance. It is only when the love between them passionately emerges onto the screen, punctuating the mendacity that begins to haunt their ordinary lives, that I found myself riveted by what is a heart-rending and timeless love story. That it's a gay love story will no doubt leave some viewers upset, but it is a story that desperately needs telling nonetheless--and needs its viewers to grasp the tragedy that these men face because of the simple fact that they are two men in love with each other.
The love affair between Ennis and Jack--tender in some moments, rough in others--is patently forbidden in their world. They are two cowboys living and working in a time and place where love between men is considered inexcusable and virtually unthinkable (and also, not so incidentally, in the same state as the real-life tragedy of Matthew Shepard's brutal murder in more recent times). Adding to the drama, and the heartbreak, is the fact that both men embark on marriages they are destined to betray--their way of maintaining some semblance of what the status quo considers a "normal life."
Shortly before their love affair begins, the "stain" that is brought upon Jack and Ennis is foreshadowed by Ennis's comment that he is too inexperienced in life to have sinned yet. That's followed up by a scene, which takes place after their first night together, in which Ennis discovers the graphic (and symbolic) remains of the first lamb to die on their watch on the mountain. The forbidden nature of their love, so obvious at first glance, grows increasingly senseless and tragic over the course of the story. Their love affair lasts 20 years, and they can only maintain it through two annual trips, precious and secluded--trips that get more painful and filled with yearning with each passing year.
I will stop there with storyline, and end by saying that "Brokeback Mountain," despite the betrayal of marriage that runs throughout, is a difficult film to leave without a sense of forgiveness for these two men who are at once lovers and adulterers. I also can't imagine watching the "Brokeback Mountain" credits roll without feeling a sense of hope that someday our society will
stop legislating about who is allowed to fall in love--and that there will come a time when we stop pretending to know that God's will is for love to happen only between a man and a woman.
Nip/Tuck delivered early Christmas gifts this year, both figuratively and literally. The usually sordid plastic surgery doc-opera revealed a more spiritual side in last night’s episode--while still managing to keep the “ick” factor high.
Mrs. Kringle--one half of a Santa-and-Mrs.-Claus team--comes into the doctors' office to get a little liposuction before the big mall season. The Kringles, who changed their names legally, feel that a fat Santa and Mrs. Claus are sending the wrong health message to America’s children. So they have lost a combined 200 pounds, though now Mrs. Kringle is looking to surgery to shed those last, impossible 15 pounds. But while performing the lipo, Drs. Troy and McNamara run across an anomaly and discover that Mrs. Kringle is carrying a lithokelyphos--a petrified fetus--in her abdomen. After its removal, she asks to see her child and is handed a swaddling blanket that surrounds the specimen jar it’s floating in. It’s an absolutely heartbreaking scene, mirroring, in a sad, round-about way, the Virgin Birth. The Kringles, it turns out, had been told that they would never be able to have kids, leading them to embrace the Claus personas as a way to celebrate the holidays with children.
But there’s a lump of coal in this stocking. As it turns out, Mr. Kringle is the one with the procreation problem, weak sperm; Mrs. Kringle, who was fertile all along, had a one-time fling with Mr. Kringle’s 18-year old assistant some 15 years ago. Mrs. Kringle doesn’t like being jolly all year round, and longs to be a normal, middle-aged, sometimes-grumpy wife, with a man who pays attention to her and not just to all the children who adore him. She and Mr. Kringle end up parting ways, but Mr. K finds himself a 20-something elf who shares his Christmas spirit, whom he rewards with some double-D implants to stuff her stockings, so to speak.
In a different storyline, Julia, ex-wife of Dr. Sean McNamara and owner of the De La Mar spa, finds out she’s pregnant with her ex-husband's baby, and schedules an abortion for Christmas Eve. Sean drives her to the clinic, yet they decide to keep the baby--mirroring the “birth” theme established with the Kringles.
The show keeps the Yuletide 'tude going with its third storyline, which focuses on Matt, the somewhat-estranged son of Julia and Sean (though regular viewers know he's actually Christian Troy's kid). Matt’s white-supremacist girlfriend is disgusted by an African-American crèche displayed at their high school, in which all the figures are dark skinned. She feels they need to “defend” the story of the birth of Jesus. She and Matt--who feels the whole Christmas story is a made-up fairy tale but begrudgingly helps her anyway--kidnap the figurines, paint them white, and return them to the school. The show ends poignantly, with a heavy rain washing the white paint off the members of the nativity.
The "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" has gone wide without a cultural apocalypse. Narnia, it turns out, is pretty ambiguous theologically, and the next few books in Lewis's "Chronicles of Narnia" series are vaguer still. Two sequels hence, in "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," Eustace's transformation into and from a dragon rates mention in sermons, while in "The Silver Chair" we spend a lot of time in a hellish (or purgatorial?) netherworld. But in the final book of the series, "The Last Battle," the politics of the apocalypse get downright hairy. Lewis's End Times scenario plays out as a nasty face-off between Aslan, the good lion who rules over Narnia, and Tash, the god of the Calormenes, who are a desert people "smelling of garlic and onions, their white eyes flashing dreadfully in their brown faces." As this site explains, Lewis argues for justification by works in the end, but let's hope that we're not still trying to patch things up with our Middle Eastern bretheren by the time the movie comes out sometime next decade.
While most of us will enjoy a nice, safe, holiday season with our family and friends, many of the men and women in the armed forces won't be, especially those serving abroad. With this in mind, Townhall.com has started Thank a Solider Week (December 19-25), which encourages Americans to “stop for a moment and give thanks to the men and women risking everything for us.”
Their website challenges us to do four things: send an email to a solider (the site provides an email form); tell a friend about the site so he or she may do the same; say “thank you” to at least one member of the armed forces as you pass him or her on the street; and lastly, make a donation to a charitable organization providing comfort to the troops and their families. The site also provides video of various country music stars--including George Strait, members of Lonestar, Keith Anderson, Brad Paisely, and Miranda Lambert--giving thanks. My personal favorite is a message from Fred "Two Foot Fred" Gill, of the band Big and Rich, which sings "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy," my vote for song title of the decade.
Not sure what to get your honey this holiday season? If you're looking for something faithful yet fun, how about some Christian body cream or Christian bubble bath?
This is what entrepeneurs Zachary and Stacey Adams offer through their company Trinity Cosmetics, a Christian cosmetics company that offers "a divinely inspired beauty collection that is embedded with the teachings of the Christian faith." The couple believe "that true beauty can be found in all of God’s creations"--and can be bought in attractively packaged Milk and Honey body formulas. And all this is not just about cashing in on Americans' love of cosmetics; the CEO couple tithes 10% of all profits to Christian philanthropic organizations.
Stacey Adams, a former employee of the cosmetics powerhouse Clinique, is the inspiration--and beauty brain--behind the company. Following her stint at Clinique, the story goes, "Stacey recognized that God had a much bigger purpose for her life. In fact, she realized that through her past experiences God had laid the groundwork for her true calling, whichwas to create a Christian cosmetics brand. A brand that is synonymous with high quality products, as well as with the Christian community."
Visitors to the company's website are not only treated to images of bubble baths and body scrubs, but also get prayers and words of inspiration. And, the couple writes, "More importantly, our names and package copy are layered with scripture and biblical principles." The most commonly found verse on the site? "Trust in the Lord with all your heart" (Proverbs 3:5). As far as biblically inspired names of products, in addition to Milk and Honey, there is Salt of the Earth, and Revival Treatments. And coming soon (though not in time for this Dec. 25th), the company also will offer a Christian color palette for the face.
If a beauty product could revive the body and faith at once--now that would be impressive.
I was saddened to hear that Richard Pryor died. Most moral leaders would hardly say that the comedian lived an exemplary life, but that doesn't mean he didn’t have inspiring moments. He made me laugh and had a way about him that made him pleasant to watch. He seemed authentic, whether in a live stage show or in movie roles, my favorite of which was as Grover T. Muldoon in "Silver Streak." His on-screen friendship with Gene Wilder--and the fun they had with the differences between white and African-American men--was fun, funny, and refreshing.
On a recent Tonight Show, Jay Leno broke from his traditional monologue to pay an honest and heartfelt tribute to the late comedian. Jay told of how he and other comics would play The Comedy Club in Hollywood, learning to hone their acts and tightening them up over time to get them right. "We'd do the same act each night," he said, "working to find that little adjustment that would make it that much better."
"But Richard," Leno continued, "he would do a brand new act every night. He would ad lib and just make it up live, not only being funny but also commenting about the most important issues of the day, including race."
"It may have been profane," he added, "but it was also profound."
"Rest in peace, Richard,” Leno closed. “We'll miss you." And then he blew a kiss to Richard Pryor in a way that was as manly as it was authentic.
It was a nice tribute, a rare moment on live-for-re-broadcast television from a guy at the top of his game, with no comic soundbite to lessen the intimacy.
Regardless of how you felt about Richard Pryor, I was reminded of how winsome it is to see someone being authentic--even intimate--as Leno was and as Pryor made a habit of being. I made a choice to work on it harder myself, regardless of the risk. It was inspiring.
You’ve probably heard about an important movie with spiritual implications that’s based on a best-selling novel and made an impressive opening this past weekend. Only this one didn’t have anything to do with lions or witches, though wardrobe was front-and-center.
“Memoirs of a Geisha” features a Chinese actress playing a Japanese character in an American author’s fable from the fascinating and exotic geisha world of pre-World War II Japan. The tale is Cinderella-esque but with a more poignant dénouement. The book managed to stay on The New York Times bestseller list for two years. The lavish movie opened this past weekend to the third highest per-screen audience take of all time among non-animated movies, averaging $84,184 per screen in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Toronto. It opens in wider release this weekend.
“Geisha” is the story of a poor girl who’s taken from her family to be a servant in a geisha house where she encounters perfidious rivalries that nearly break her spirit. As an adult she achieves the status of a gorgeous and powerful geisha, but the prestige of having the attention of society’s most powerful men can’t erase her desire for the man she truly loves.
She’s left with the dynamic questions that move from the reflective to the downright perplexing (especially if we’re bold enough to ask them to ourselves):
“What is my highest and best purpose in life?” “What is most fulfilling to me?” “What if what I really want is something different?” “What if what I thought I’ve wanted all this time isn’t enough?”
For those willing to be engaged, “Geisha” poses the compelling questions of destiny vs. desire, achievement vs. attraction, and commitment vs. discovery--questions, in other words, that should weigh deeply on the hearts and minds of the authentic spiritual seeker.
As I promised in my earlier report from the Nashville premiere of “Chronicles of Narnia,” I'd like to pass along snippets of conversations I had with various contemporary Christian music artists who attended the event. Durring the long, long trip home (after two days stranded in the Nashville airport), I came up with a better idea: I am going to hand out the first-ever "Golden Wardrobe Awards" to those who made the biggest impressions on me that evening. And the winners are:
Most Entertaining Interview of the Evening: Ben Cissell of the rock band Audio Adrenaline
Ben kept me in stitches the entire time we talked. My favorite quote: “I loved it. I’m a slacker drummer, so I had never read the book. The only thing I knew about the story was what ‘The Simpsons’ parodied. I had no idea what was coming next (in the movie), and it just blew me away. I may have to go back and read the book now, or at least the Cliff Notes. Yeah, hopefully this movie will inspire people like me to go read books once in awhile.”
The Nicest, Most Talented Rookies Award: Alathea, a pop/bluegrass band
I had never heard of Rockettown’s new girl group, but I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with Cristi Johnson and Mandee Radford, who managed to show up at the screening despite being stranded on the road with a flat tire for several hours as they traveled from their homes in east Tennessee. What did they do while stranded on the road? They finished reading “The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe” in preparation for watching the movie. What did they enjoy about their visit to Narnia? Mandee said, “I think the beautiful thing about this film is that I looked around and there were kids as young as four years old as well as adults of all ages and they were all enjoying this movie. That hardly ever happens anymore.”
Best Idea for a “Narnia” Sequel: Mike Narowki, the voice of Larry the Cucumber from "Veggietales"
When asked how the Christian video series “Veggietales” would do its own version of “Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe,” Mike replied, “We would probably do something like the ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Salad bar.’”
Random Acts of Kindness When You Think No One Is Looking Award: Christian music star Jeremy Camp
As I waited to get in to the movie, I stood in line behind the Dove Award Winner. I don’t want to embarrass anyone involved in a specific little incident prior to the event, but let’s just say I am now convinced that this singer is as down-to-earth and completely non-ego driven offstage as he is onstage.
The Artists Behaving Badly Award: (I'm not naming names, tempting though it is.)
Well... I could name several CCM artists who obviously didn’t know there was someone from the media around them as they pushed, shoved, whined, or shouted on their cell phones as they worked their way down the red carpet, but I won’t. No one’s perfect, but some of these singers need to learn that actions can speak much louder than a Top 40 radio hit any day.
The I’m Going to Say I Knew Him When Award: Child actor Luke Benward
A Sixth grader and busy actor, Luke was all smiles and more than willing than most to talk to reporters about “Narnia” and his movie career.
Luke was in the family movie “Because of Winn Dixie” and has another movie coming out (“How to Eat Fried Worms”) next summer. He might even be starring in the Walden Media adaptation of “A Bridge to Terabithia.” What character in Narnia did he think he was like? “Peter, because my favorite part of the movie is when Peter fought in the battle scenes!”
Who needs family and community on Christmas, when you can just stay home? It falls on a Sunday this year--and who wants to go to Church on Christmas morning anyway? Not the memvbers of some of the nation's biggest megachurches apparently: They're canceling worship services altogether on Christmas Day and encouraging members to stay home and be with family--and use technology to get their Christmas worshipping done at home.
And do what, you wonder? Well, other than unwrap presents and other consumer-culture fare, The New York Times reports that "Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Ill., always a pacesetter among megachurches, is handing out a DVD it produced for the occasion that features a heartwarming contemporary Christmas tale." That is, in lieu of making worshippers don their Sunday best, gather the kids, and get out of the house to be good neighbors on Christmas day, they can all just fire up the DVD player and share the church experience at home.
Other ideas if you are a megapastor and don't feel getting out of those comfy flannels on Christmas? Well, you could pre-record your sermon and stream it online all day on Sunday the 25th, so worshippers can log on and double-click at their leisure, while gathering 'round the computer. That's Bishop Eddie Long's answer, senior pastor at New Birth Missionary Baptist Missionary Church in Georgia.
What about those lacking in family? The single elderly person? The lonely? Or worse, someone who might not, God forbid, own a TV or DVD player or have access to the internet? One hopes they've made other plans, since the big screens may be dark and microphones silent at the megachurch near them. Or, they will simply be out of luck.
Bree Osbourne (Felicity Huffman) is nearing the end of the psychoanalysis required for gender reassignment surgery. She takes hormones, lives as a woman, and tries her best not to stand out. She is a walking, talking contradiction: an ultraconservative woman living in the body of a gender dysphoric man. But that's only the beginning.
Bree was born Stanley. And unbeknownst to Bree, Stanley fathered a son—a detail brought to Bree's attention in the form of a very unexpected phone call. At the direction of her therapist, Bree flies from Los Angeles to New York City to tie up the loose ends of her former life and get her newly discovered teenage son, Toby, out of jail. After posting bail, Bree comes face to face with Toby, who then ironically mistakes her for a Christian missionary intent on introducing him to Jesus. Guilty, ashamed, and understandably bewildered by the situation, she absent-mindedly avoids the truth and adopts her assumed identity. Under her guise of piety, Bree learns a few unsavory details about her son's life and it isn't long before she talks herself into driving him from New York to Los Angeles. As intended, it makes for one bumpy ride.
A rare few films have dealt openly with the effects and process of gender reassignment surgery. HBO's 2003 effort, "Normal," offered an earnest portrayal of a Midwestern family coming to terms with a father's gender identity disorder. The film tackled the reaction of the church, the surgery's impact on friends and relatives, and the toll a decision of this caliber takes on a household and, more specifically, a marriage.
"Transamerica" skirts politics by asserting Bree's deliberate anti-social lifestyle: she is single, lives hundreds of miles from her relatives, and is, for the most part, unreligious. And instead of dealing directly with controversial issues, the film favors a shared focus on strained parent-child relationships, the biological impact of gender reassignment, and the general population's perception of transsexuals. Unfortunately, there are moments in the film when this approach either forces an odd departure from the story or proves too difficult to maintain, leaving three dramatic paths largely unexplored.
But the film isn't entirely serious—after all, it is a dramedy.
In fact, one of the more interesting aspects of the film is that nearly all of its comic moments either make light of Bree's bogus born-again Christian status or make reference to her Judeo-Christian upbringing. For instance, Bree's rebellious sister, Sidney (Carrie Preston), makes a habit of countering every Christian utterance with its Hebrew equivalent, much to the dismay of her easily distressed Christian mom. The resulting nonverbal exchanges between mother and daughter are captured quite nicely.
But there's more to "Transamerica" than terrific comic timing and an awkward story line: The film is packed with superb performances. Felicity Huffman delivers what is undoubtedly her finest work to date, serving up a surprisingly subtle portrayal of an otherwise outlandish character. Kevin Zegers renders disaffected youth with ease as Toby, and Fionnula Flanagan plays Bree's overbearing mother, Elizabeth, with scene-stealing gusto. In other words, despite its story-related shortcomings, the combined talents of Huffman, Flanagan, and the rest of the cast make "Transamerica" worth the price of admission.
After waiting for months to see “The Chronicles of Narnia” (and feeling tortured by the fact that some of my fellow Idol Chatterers have already seen it), I finally had my chance last night to walk through the wardrobe for myself. I was surprised by my journey, but certainly not disappointed. (Note to those who haven’t seen the movie yet: There are spoilers ahead).
While I agree that the special effects were impressive, and the performances were amazing (Georgie Henley as Lucy needs to be nominated for an Oscar), I was surprised by the amount of humor director Andrew Adamson brought to the film to balance the scarier elements of the story (which I think are not as violent as some may expect), particularlarly for younger viewers whom he knew would see this movie. The families sitting around me with children of all ages burst out laughing over and over again at the many great one-liners. Particularly funny were the beaver family’s squabbles and the scene where Edmund commands a horse to gallop--and the horse shocks him by replying, “My name is Philip.”
More surprisingly, the children in the audience--some as young as four or five--did not seem to be bothered by the more intense moments of the film, but seemed to have been prepared in advance by their parents for what was coming.
Adamson made another smart production choice by taking considerable time exploring the strong sibling relationship between the four children and establishing the mystery and beauty of the magical wardrobe (though I heard some around me complain that the beginning of the movie was too slow). If he hadn’t done that, newcomers to Narnia might have found it difficult to make the leap of faith into those snowy woods with talking animals.
I also believe the test of any great movie is whether there are haunting moments in the story, moments that will be remembered for years to come. There are several of those moments in this movie. Personally, I was moved by three specific scenes in particular. I found the conversations between Lucy and Mr. Tumnus--when he tells her he is kidnapping her--deeply affecting. These scenes mirrored my own spiritual life, in which I try to do the right thing but so often feel crippled by the shadow of evil that lurks nearby.
Next, I savored the scene with the most explicit Christian allegory, in which Lucy and Susan walk in the woods with Aslan before he dies. It clearly mirrors Jesus’ time in the Garden of Gethsmane before going to the cross.
And the final heart-rending moment for me is the lingering image of Aslan striding down the beach at the end of the movie. The brave, powerful, yet still loving Aslan is once again on the move, but we will see him again. It is a comforting image for those of us who do see and welcome the Christian symbols in this story.
Though I’ve never been to the Oscars or the Emmys (except in my dreams, where I imagine I am tall, skinny, blonde and my name is Nancy O’Dell), I did finally get to attend my first real red- carpet event for the Nashville premiere of “Chronicles of Narnia.” Since several of the contemporary Christian music artists on the “Inspired by the Chronicles of Narnia” soundtrack live in Nashville, many of them turned out to attend a special sneak peak of the movie last night. And since I lived for a while in Nashville and covered the Christian music scene, I relished a return visit to my old stomping grounds to celebrate the world of Aslan.
The major red-carpet events in places like New York and Los Angeles always looks so glamorous on television, but I discovered that working one of these events is anything but pretty. In fact, this entire evening was more like “red carpet lite”--something akin to broadcasting an award show for your local cable access channel.
First of all, there was no actual red carpet. And people in Nashville tend to dress down for these events, so I wasn’t exactly surrounded by Prada or Monolo Blahniks. But never mind all that. All of these fancy celebrity events offer attendees swag--free gifts from various corporate sponsors--so I scouted out the goodies table as soon as I arrived. However, instead of Godiva chocolates, designer watches, or a little something from Tiffany’s, my swag consisted of a Walden Media tote bag, a mini Narnia poster, and a Narnia “passport”--which was basically just an advertisement to buy a bunch of Narnia-related merchandise and information on where to find Narnia-focused evangelistic resources.
Oh, well, on to the show. After an enjoyable 2 ½-hour adventure, where I was transported into the world beyond the lamppost, it was time to take my position in the press line. I was ready with my sassy Joan Riverish questions and zingy one-liners, only to discover that working a press line is truly a three-ring circus. Everyone is pushing and shouting over each other to get a quote from the same handful of “A-list” artists, while publicists and handlers try to keep other, less-chatty "talent" from slipping out the side door without working the press line at all. And then there are the lesser-known artists who patiently wait for someone to please ask them a question.
Still, I was fortunate enough to talk to several different popular CCM (Contemporary Christian Music) recording artists, who all thoroughly enjoyed movie. But now I've got a flight to catch, so you'll have to wait to hear what they said. Ah--life on the celebrity beat.
Each year on December 13th, Swedes celebrate the feast of Santa Lucia, a festival marked by candlelight (Lucia means light) at one of the darkest times of winter in this northern country. The day still finds young girls donning crowns of lit candles to represent the celebrated saint (a fire hazard waiting to happen, yes, but a nice tradition, at least in theory.)
While I am not partial to the dangers of setting fire to my hair or spending hours in the mirror trying to remove candle wax drippings from the same, the feast of Santa Lucia has a special place in my heart, and I will celebrate it this year in my own way. My mother, an Italian woman named Concetta Lucia (with an Italian accent you pronounce Lucia loo-chee-a--three syllables--as opposed to loo-sha or loo-see-a) liked this particular festival for obvious reasons: Lucia was her saint name.
My Italian interpretation of the festival of Santa Lucia, minus the candlelit crown: This year on December 13th, I will find every candle in the house--all the tea lights, whatever I can find--spread them all throughout the rooms, and spend the evening eating, talking, and reading in this romantic glow, remembering my mother and her patron saint. An excuse for an entire evening by candlelight for religious ritualistic purposes is not to be missed.
For more on Santa Lucia, see “Queen for a Day” in last Sunday’s New York Times.
Hoping to get a push from the "Narnia" release, an Atlanta-based organization called Art Within is "looking for the next C.S. Lewis," according to a press release. The 10-year-old group runs a year-long screenwriting fellowship program, "Art Within Labs," that aims to cultivate Christian screenwriters and playwrights. The ultimate goal is to ensure that mainstream, widely-distributed films with a "faith bent" become "as commonplace as buttered popcorn in American movie theaters."
Think John Lennon and religion, and what springs to mind is his loose-cannon observation in 1966 that “The Beatles are more popular than Jesus” (which led radio stations to sponsor record burnings and others to make death threats) and assorted jibes Lennon took at organized religion in his two books. On the political site Counterpunch today, the editors honor the 25th anniversary of the lead Beatle’s death by unearthing a 1971 interview in which Lennon hints at a deeper religious history. “I used to go around calling myself a Christian Communist,” Lennon says, before recounting how therapy “forced me to have done with all the God s—t.”
"Law & Order" takes such care to get New York right--its people, its cultures, its attitude--that I am always surprised when it messes up the small stuff. Last night's episode revolved around a synagogue that couldn't seem to decide whether it was Orthodox or Reform. Perpetually-yarmulked men and head-covered women who talk like they went to the Jackie Mason school of East European accents, a shul with multiple daily services, the setting in the Lower East Side all point Orthodox. But a grandiose, cathedral-like shul interior and a clean-shaven, smooth talking rabbi who speaks of biblical stories as mere allegories... that screams Reform.
Either way, those denominationally-ambiguous shul-goers were up in arms about a man who entered the synagogue and desecrated a Bible.. and who promptly turned up dead. But while religion might cause frequent conflict in New York, this case was about another top Big Apple angst-inducer: real estate. The building's co-owner was trying to scare the congregation into fleeing for suburbia, so he could sell the building for millions of dollars.
My favorite moment was when Alexandra, the assistant district attorney, subpoenas the entire synagogue membership list, only to be confronted by her boss, the D.A. himself, for failing to show "historical sensitivity." But if it was a church, she protests, they'd subpoena the list. His response: "You can't ask for a list of Jewish names." (In truth, desecration of a printed Bible would be unlikely to induce the level of fear and hurt the episode suggested; next time, the writers may want to consider making it an actual Torah scroll... or would that be too historically insensitive?)
For loyal "L&O" fans, perhaps the most important thing to come out of the episode was another--albeit tantalizingly small--glimpse into some characters' lives. The question "Are you a religious person?" kept recurring, and the answers we got were: Detective Green was raised religious; Jack McCoy, not surprisingly, has no religious inclinations (other than, as the DA points out, his fundamentalist, uncompromising belief in law and the legal process); and Alexandra chimes in to say that she, indeed, is religious... though we're left to guess at what religion that is.
With all of the "Narnia" movie premiere hype going on, which my fellow bloggers have been commenting on eloquently, I had to laugh when my friend--and author of her own book connected to “Chronicles”--Sarah Arthur, sent me an article on Aslan that made my day. Freelance writer Mary Beth Ellis dares to suggest that we should all just lighten up a little when it comes to this debate over symbolism and allegory in Lewis’ beloved tale.
Don’t misunderstand. Ellis is a big fan of Aslan. In fact , she thinks he is ideal as a savior figure. He doesn’t talk too much (Ellis somehow figured out he only speaks 922 words in “Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe”), doesn’t have endless rules, and loves to hang out with Father Christmas. In fact, since Aslan is always "on the move" and "not quite tame," she is convinced he could do anything he wants, including wintering at Palm Springs or hanging out with a celebrity. Obviously, Ellis was being tongue-in-cheek, but her humorous words provided me with yet another reminder of why Aslan is one cool cat whom I want to spend more time with.
So Mel Gibson is making a Holocaust movie. As the New York Times reports, Gibson's production company is in the early stages of producing an ABC miniseries based on the memoirs of a Dutch Jew who was hidden and saved by her Christian neighbors. Though it's not clear how much he'll be involved personally, I'm sure I speak for plenty of Jews when I say, "Thanks, but no thanks, Mel. You've done plenty for us already."
In some ways, though, it's the perfect project: a filmmaker who has graphically, almost lovingly, depicted great acts of violence now making a movie about the ultimate act of human violence. It's also, tragically, a fitting coda to his horrific depiction of Jews in "The Passion of the Christ." That twisted version of Jewish complicity in Christ's crucifixion has been with us almost as long as Christianity itself, and has been responsible for centuries of Christian accusations of Jewish deicide, charges that were used as the excuse for any number of murderous acts throughout the ages, leading up to the Holocaust that Gibson now proposes to depict.
With images of that other movie still fresh in our minds, one pictures this miniseries employing the same kinds of anti-Jewish stereotypes that fed "The Passion": hooked-nosed Jews thirsty for gentile blood, pure gentiles showing (unearned) mercy to their (eternally) condemned neighbors. But then again, Gibson is the son of a vocal and virulent Holocaust denier, who has called the Shoah "fiction." Will Gibson--father or son--consider this miniseries fiction or nonfiction?
For his part, Gibson the Son has said--and this is no joke--that "some of his best friends 'have numbers on their arms,'" according to the Times. The article also quotes him as saying, on the one hand, "The Second World War killed tens of millions of people. Some of them were Jews in concentration camps"--and, on the other hand, that his father had "never lied to me in his life." Let's just say that none of these statements are reassuring to Jews.
I suppose I'm expected to end here with some snide comment about Gibson and his Jewish problem. But I can't help feeling like maybe this will end up being for the good. I, for one, never believed that Gibson is actively anti-Semitic so much as he is inexcusably, perhaps willfully, ignorant of the role that theology, the Church, and anti-Jewish stereotypes have played in the long, bloody history of Christian violence against Jews, leading up to and including the Holocaust. After that epochal event, most of the Christian world took stock of its attitudes toward Jews and--heroically, in my mind--worked to clear the Church of anti-Jewish teachings. But blinded by fervor for his idea of traditional Christianity and his opposition to theological modernizing--which made hateful Passion plays like "The Passion" passe and revolutionized interfaith relations--Gibson stuck to his outmoded vision of Christ's death (as filtered through the anti-Jewish writings of the 19th-century Sister Anne Emmerich) without compassion for, or even the slightest understanding of, the message his version sends and the hate it represents.
Doing a Holocaust film just might clue Gibson into the role Christian theology played in allowing that horror to happen, not to mention teach him that it was more than "some" Jews who died in those concentration camps. Perhaps it will shake him to the core as much as reenacting the crucifixion did.
Talk about your crossover artists! Matisyahu, born Matthew Miller, has been taking the reggae world by storm--which might not be so unusual, except for the fact that he’s a Hasidic Jew who sings/raps about the Jewish experience. Check out the lyric to his hit “King Without a Crown”: "Torah food for my brain let it rain ‘til I drown, Thunder! Let the blessings come down!"
Described as combining the sounds of “Bob Marley and Shlomo Carlebach,” Matisyahu has been enjoying heavy rotation on both MTV2 (MTV’s alternative brother) and MTVu (MTV’s college-going brother) for the past few months. But, last night Matisyahu made it to the big leagues and was the featured artist on the “10 Spot Drop.”
For those of you unfamiliar with “The Drop,” several of the artist’s songs and/or videos are featured as 5-10 second “bumps,” which lead into or out of the main program. In this case that main program was “Real World Austin: The S@#t They Should Have Shown,” which provided a truly surreal experience for the viewer.
Wedged between scenes the "Real World" producers once thought inappropriate to show-- Rachel peeing in her bed while drunk, Melinda running around naked buck-nekked, and Wes being attacked by Johanna while he was on the toilet--were fruit-stripe gum, rasta colored, animated snippets of Matisyahu singing, rapping, and talking about Judaism and Israel. Perhaps the bizarre nature of the evening is best illustrated by the following juxtaposition: A Matisyahu bump, wherein we see him in full Hasidic garb, is followed by an ad for "The Gauntlet," in which one girl starts screaming about how she "manhandled on the island of Tabago.”
Matisyahu’s next album is due in stores at the end of January.
The excitement in the conservative Christian community over the forthcoming movie of C.S. Lewis’s “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” is matched only by the hysterics the “Christianization” of Narnia is causing elsewhere. In Salon today, Laura Miller asks, “Can we still cherish the books without believing in their most obvious message?”
The obvious answer, which Miller herself arrives at, is “yes.” The adventure and magic of the Narnia books stand out from any purported message Lewis implanted in his tale.
Another answer, which Miller also hints at with her quick course in Manicheism, is that Lewis’s books aren’t really, or at least purely, Christian. By all accounts, including his own, Lewis never “intended to teach a form of the gospels,” as Miller would have it, but used the stories to place the Christian story amid the fund of myth and folklore he grew up with (and lived with: he was a pal of J.R.R. Tolkien). Sounds more like a project for Gregory Maguire, whose novel “Wicked,” about the witch in "The Wizard of Oz,” became the Broadway musical.
American conservative Christians, hard up for culture they can accept or call their own, have taken up the movie as a cause celebre, with plenty of encouragement from Disney, because in other books Lewis was a sly, funny Christian apologist. But had Disney commissioned “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” from a high-priced Hollywood scriptwriter, conservative Christians would likely have attacked it as a pack of pagan desecration of the crucifixion. And Miller would likely have seen it opening weekend.
At yesterday's Billboard Music Awards, rapper Kanye West was presented with one of the industry's highest honors, the “Artist Achievement Award.” In his acceptance speech, the “Jesus Walks” superstar said, “When I first came out I was a hot head--I thought I was the greatest. I still think I'm the greatest."
If Jesus was at the show and heard that one, I think he'd go home and remove "Gold Digger" from his iPod. For a full listing of winners, click here.
One of the best movies of the year was not exactly a box office knock-out when it played in theaters this past summer, but the Depression-era rags-to-riches story “Cinderella Man” is now out on DVD, just in time to begin campaigning for Oscar nominations in January. “Cinderella Man” is the true story of boxer James Braddock’s unlikely return to the ring after misfortune and injury to become the world boxing champion over powerhouse slugger Max Baer. The film has everything great sports movies are supposed to have--a likable underdog, realistic athletic sequences, a lovable sidekick/coach, and a loving, patient wife. But it also has something more. The emotional punch in "Cinderella Man" rests not in celebrating Braddock’s success, but in embracing what he learns when everything has been taken away from him.
In the early part of his boxing career, Braddock (played brilliantly by Russell Crowe) fights because he enjoys the sport, the attention, and the money. When the Depression hits and he looses everything through bad business deals, Braddock suddenly finds himself struggling to put food on the table and to keep his family warm. As Braddock and his wife Mae face adversity with integrity--Braddock routinely goes without food so his kids can eat, for example--Braddock’s faith is tested to the point where he admits “he is all prayed out.”
Unexpectedly, Braddock gets a chance, despite his age and broken hand, to enter the ring again. The difference this time is, as he tells reporters, “I know what I am fighting for.” His identity is not tied up in winning a title. He’s simply fighting for enough money to buy milk for his kids. For enough money to pay the electric bill. For enough money to keep his family together instead of sending his children off to live with relatives. But the proud warrior Braddock also learns he cannot fight the fight alone. He needs the help of friends as well as the faith of his wife and a local parish.
“Cinderella Man” is an inspiring reminder of what we all can accomplish when we lose all of our comforts, when everything we think is so important is taken away, when we are forced to ask ourselves the question, “What am I fighting for?” To know with total certainty that what we believe is worth fighting for even when our faith is being tested--and faith is just a warm, fuzzy ideal unless it is tested--is an enormous challenge. And what better time of year than now to look at what is consuming our time, our energy, our spirits, and ask ourselves what we are fighting for?
This Jew's second-favorite Christmas tradition is happening tonight: the Charlie Brown special. (My #1 favorite is Chinese food and a rented movie on Christmas eve.) It's not an exaggeration to say that as a kid, the most meaningful lesson I got on the meaning of this holiday was, year after year, from Charlie Brown's dejection at the commercialism of Christmas, and Linus's moment in the (literal) spotlight, when he reminds his friends--who are bickering over the details of their Christmas pageant--why they mark this special day in the first place.
Several years ago, as one of the editors here at Beliefnet able to work on Christmas, I was assigned the task of writing copy on Christmas morning for the Christianity page. It was a daunting task, to say the least; I needed to sum up in about one sentence the essence of this major holiday. I had years of religion-writing experience, a master's degree in religion, a year of work at Beliefnet under my belt, and, flummoxed by what to write, I turned--you guessed it--to Linus. I used (with a little gender updating) the simple scriptural words he'd used to silence his friends and refocus them on the meaning of Christmas:
... And suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the Highest, and on Earth peace, and good will toward humankind.'
After going on hiatus the last few weeks, “The West Wing” returned last night with an episode that focused once again on presidential candidate Santos’s struggle to incorporate his religious beliefs with the demands of politics--or more specifically, the demands of his political advisors. After courting controversy with the Democratic Party in the past months over his stance on abortion (he believes life starts at conception) and his comments on Intelligent Design (he believes in that, too), Santos put himself in the hot seat once again when he made the difficult decision to visit the tense Los Angeles community where an African-American boy was shot by a Latino police officer.
After much thought, Santos decided to speak at the boy’s funeral--a decision not supported by everyone in his political camp. In fact, in one of the more realistic moments of the season, Santos commented that he'd found a Psalm from the Bible that would be appropriate to share at the service, only to be scolded by one advisor. Her stellar advice to Santos: “People don’t want you to close your eyes and pray. People want you to open your eyes and lead.”
In two sentences, an episode on television once again captured the disconnect between millions of people of faith and politicians in real life. (And no, I will not lower myself to using trite, pointless phrases like “blue state” and “red state” when discussing God and politics.) Why is it perceived by so-called political experts (both fictional and real) that someone who closes his eyes and prays is not showing leadership? Thankfully in this episode, if not always in real life, Santos went against the advice given to him and gave an impassioned speech from the pulpit calling both blacks and Hispanics to move beyond anger to compassion and understanding. As Santos left the church with his head held high, those in the congregation look upon him exactly for what he was--a leader not afraid to close his eyes and pray, and then follow that up prayer by acting out the courage of his convictions.
Elle Macpherson—supermodel, actress, and now lingerie designer and CEO of Elle Macpherson Intimates—is out and about posing for the holidays in her next-to-nothing offerings. (One billboard on the Long Island Expressway—an eight-story high vision of Elle bearing bra and panties—was recently taken down for reasons still a bit unclear. Indecency perhaps?) When she appears in more professional attire to talk about her latest business ventures, Elle is also openly discussing, of all things, what she’s wearing underneath what’s she’s actually wearing and giving out her bra-size (34-B) to curious interviewers.
But in a New York Times holiday magazine article, “Going Undercover,” Elle--discussing the "why"s behind her decision to go into the lingerie business--began sounding almost, almost, like an ecofeminist theologian (check out Sallie McFague if you are curious about ecofeminist theology), going on about how wearing lingerie is good for the earth and is one way that women nourish society and contribute to the health of our environment. I quote fom the article:
I truly believe that women, when they’re empowered—by their femininity, by their Venus, by their sexuality—that it’s so positive for the earth,” she says. “It’s positive for the earth because women are the nurturers of the environment, they’re the givers of love, they are the warmth, the protection, the centeredness of the family. For me, my idea is that if we embrace this femininity, embrace this sexuality, we have a much healthier society.
While second wavers (second-wave feminists, that is), including the theologians among them, would likely take issue with this mixture of empowerment, environment, and tradition-evoking femininity (precisely the kind second-wavers spent their lives critiquing), I have to say a rousing “Cheers!” to Elle for somehow coming up with an ecotheological-sounding (close enough) viewpoint that somehow reconciles the kinds of questions on the lips of all my students and friends: “Can I be a feminist and wear a thong?”
Answer: Yes! You not only can be a feminist and wear a thong, with the right mindset you can be an ecofeminist theologian and wear a thong.
I found an amazingly thoughtful moment of holiday inspiration this week from a completely unexpected source--author and scholar Umberto Eco . His recent op-ed piece in the London paper The Telegraph, entitled “God isn’t big enough for some people,” is a poignant and yet blistering commentary on society’s desire to find something even bigger than a belief in God’s existence--particularly at this time of year.
The main point of Eco’s essay is that we as humans are religious animals, whether we like it or not. Eco believes that it is extremely difficult, not to mention morally dangerous, to attempt to get through life without the hope offered by religion. As Eco explains, “We are supposed to live in a skeptical age. In fact, we live in an age of outrageous credulity. The ‘death of God’... has been accompanied by the birth of a plethora of new idols. They have multiplied like bacteria on the corpse of the Christian Church--from strange pagan cults and sects to the silly, sub-Christian superstitions of ‘The Da Vinci Code.’”
This is one of the times when I would like to sound more intelligent than I actually am by saying that I have read any of Eco’s books (like the bestselling “Name of The Rose”), and that I know all about his contributions to academia, but alas, Eco has not been on my literary radar over the years. I now know this has been my loss. As I try to not turn into a Scrooge while facing the inevitable chaos of this season, Eco’s words brought me back to a wonderful moment of spiritual reflection about God, about Christmas, and about my fellow man. Yes, there is absurdity in all of the commercial excess, pagan worship, P.C. debate, etc., all around me, yet I can still embrace the spiritual traditions of this holiday season without letting them limit my desire to grow in understanding of who God is.
"Saturday Night Live" at its finest is satire, not just comedy. At its satirical and relevant best, it offered some neutered and politically unoffensive versions of "holiday" carols on this week's show. In so doing, one of the most traditionally irreligious shows on television succeeded in displaying the limited value of a neutered holiday. Among the lyrics:
"Silent Night, Regular Night..."
"Away in barn box..."
"The stars in the sky shine down cuz its night, the lamb and a donkey just got in a fight..."
"Oh Tuesday Night, the starts are brightly shining / It is the night to watch tv and play cards... Fall on your knees, and do a jigsaw puzzle /Just stay inside, tonight (big finish here!) Just stay-ay-ay-ay, Insi -ih-ih-ih-ide, Inside tonight. "
The Christmas reading, the Story of the Holiday's Birth, was then delivered by Pastor Donald Trump: "The shepherds were watching their flocks by night when a community civic leader came to inform them that a woman of unknown ethnicity was having a baby in the barn box."
The event then culminated with the Handel's revised "How Ya Doin’" chorus: "Howyadoin’ howyadoin; howarya-doin’."
I was laughing but wasn't doing fine, and made a decision to read the Christmas story as often as possible with my kids this season. I suggest you do the same if Christmas is important in your spiritual journey. Otherwise, "Hark the Sale, Commercials Sing" may be as holiday-ish as it gets for them... and their kids.
Peter Steinfels, in this week's New York Times "Beliefs" column, writes of the latest Hollywood-induced skirmish in the culture wars: "Narnia, it seems, is in danger of becoming a red state." That's because evangelicals nationwide are seeing the film as an amazing opportunity for evangelism, not to mention the best film in a while for their own kids to see and enjoy.
Steinfels writes about "pre-emptive strikes" against the evangelical world coopting the film, focusing in particular on Adam Gopnik's New Yorker essay, which, in part, decries the impetus to see the Chronicles of Narnia as merely a faith allegory, something with which C.S. Lewis himself would have vehemently disagreed. Gopnik makes the provocative argument that, if the Chronicles were truly to be a retelling of the Gospels, Aslan--the lion who stands in for Jesus--should have been a lowly lamb or a donkey, rather than from the King of Beasts. Gopnik goes so far as to say--absurdly, in Steinfels' view and my own--that the more explicitly Christian parts of the Narnia series are less captivating than those segments which steer clearest of theological meaning, such as "The Magician's Nephew."
The debate, fascinating to me, also underscores the (admittedly banal) fact that there is something for everyone to love in Narnia. I, like so many non-Christians--and even many Christians--read the books as a kid, loved them, and remained oblivious to any Christian messages in them. At the same time, I can understand why a Christian parent or Sunday school teacher would relish the day their kids or students became old enough to read the Chronicles and discuss their theological lessons.
But this is what makes me skeptical of those evangelicals who see the film as an opportunity to win souls for Christ. Unlike "The Passion of the Christ," where it was impossible, obviously, to see the movie without engaging with the death and resurrection of Christ--and love it or hate it, the film forced discussion of that core Christian narrative--I suspect Jews,Muslims, Wiccans, and other non-Christians will have the same reaction to the "Narnia" film that they had to the books. They'll find their own spiritual, moral, and magical meanings in the film that are not in opposition to the Christian messages, and which don't explicitly reject the biblical and Christological readings of the story, but which exist parallel to them; in other words, we'll all be watching the same movie but will come away having had entirely different experiences of it, which may make for fascinating and illuminating cross-cultural and interfaith discussions but would not lead too many, if any, non-Christians to muse on--or be moved by--Jesus' sacrifice or the mystery of his resurrection.
Maybe Steinfels is onto something; in the past two elections, it often seemed as if Red Staters and Blue Staters were not part of the same national conversation. So maybe Narnia is both a Red State and a Blue State. Beauty, after all, is in the eye of the beholder.
With the airwaves, web and print media full of the questions about whether our season, trees and greetings are about “Christmas” or “the holidays,” I figure it’s a good time for a little quiz on it. Who has said some of the following? Try it honestly before checking out the answers below.
1. “Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.”
2. “Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail to the exclusion of religious principle.”
3. “Bless O Lord the whole race of mankind, and let the world be filled with the knowledge of Thee and Thy Son, Jesus.”
4. “I hold the precepts of Jesus as delivered by Himself, to be the most pure, benevolent and sublime which have ever been preached to man …”
5. “Whoever shall introduce into public affairs the principles of primitive Christianity will change the face of the world.”.”
6. “The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature by the hand of the Divinity itself.”
7. “Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their only law book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the precepts there contained! … What a Eutopia, what a Paradise would this region be.”
8. “Before any man can be considered as a member of civil society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe. And to the same Divine Author of every good and perfect gift we are indebted for all those privileges and advantages, religious as well as civil, which are so richly enjoyed in this favored land.”
9. “The future and success of America is not in this Constitution, but in the laws of God upon which this Constitution is founded.”
10. "It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God.”
Abraham Lincoln George Washington George Washington Thomas Jefferson. Benjamin Franklin. Alexander Hamilton John Adams James Madison James Madison Abraham Lincoln
Looks like ex-Creed frontman Scott Stapp pulled an "Ashlee." According to Page Six of the New York Post, the Christian singer showed up drunk to Spike TV's "Casino Cinema," where he was to promote his new album, "The Great Divide." While filming witnesses say he went on a cursing spree, dissed Bono and Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, and called "Casino" co-host (and Howard Stern girlfriend) Beth Ostrosky a "bimbo."
This isn't the first time Stapp has made a fool of himself. Among other incidents, in 2001, Stapp punched a man at a Florida nightclub for telling him he "should have stuck with Pearl Jam." In July 2002, the singer was arrested in Florida for "reckless driving." And, in December 2002, the singer was apparently so drunk and/or high at a Chicago show that he was unable to sing.
Religious references are increasingly a mark of authenticity in rap. But Chamillionaire, whose new album, “The Sound of Revenge,” is just out, raises the bar with “Void in My Life,” a meditation on growing up with one Muslim parent and one Christian.
Which faith won out? The rapper--his real name is Hakeem Seriki, but he’s dubbed himself the “Mixtape Messiah”--not only goes to church every Sunday back home in Houston, but tithes, according to an interview in Philadelphia Weekly.
I’ve heard of conversion by sword, but conversion by chainsaw?
As another devoted fan of “Invasion,” I was stunned by last night’s episode, in which Deputy Lewis Sirk is convinced by Sheriff Tom Underlay--who is looking more and more like the head alien--to cut off his miraculously regenerated left arm by telling him that “people don’t like change” and that he was going against God’s plan.
Earlier in the episode we learn that Sirk, who lost his left arm in battle, is a devout Christian. He says he “prayed on” a decision to tell a possibly-murdered girl's birth parents that she was dead. Sheriff Underlay questions why he would do such a thing, why he would go around his authority like that. Sirk responds that he’s “loyal to someone else first," that someone being God. Sure, it’s cliché, but we know which camp he’s in--and it doesn’t seem to involve glowing creatures with acidic blood.
The Sheriff and Sirk meet later that night at an inlet to check out some possible illegal polluting. The Sheriff doesn’t seem too surprised when one of “the lights” (a.k.a. the aliens) grabs Sirk, drags him out to sea, and proceeds to implant its suckers in him. Props to the director for including the gratuitous closeup of the cross around his neck right before he goes under.
The next day Sirk shows up at Underlay’s house dazed and with two arms! The Sheriff doesn’t seem alarmed to see Sirk alive, but is very disconcerted that he has returned with a new limb. Sirk proclaims that it’s a miracle from God. As Sirk joyously shoots basketball hoops, Underlay discusses the “miracle” with Father Scanlon (also an alien?), who heads the creepy survivors-support-group at his church. The Father recommends that Underlay suggest to Sirk that his miracle should be kept to himself, that it is “a private communion with God.” But Sheriff Underlay thinks "a greater sacrifice is needed." Oh no you didn't!
Taking Sirk out to an abandoned poacher’s shack, the Sheriff explains that, ”This isn’t God’s plan... He took your arm for a reason son, to challenge you. It defines who you are now. Wasn’t that his plan?” The Sheriff must certainly be using some kind of alien mind control because any right-minded person would refuse to chop off a brand-new arm, but Sirk falls to his knees crying, looks up to the sky in one final moment of tormented confusion, and then walks into the cabin with the chainsaw revving.
Is Sirk now a born-again, born-again Christian so to speak? And, is the Sheriff scared that the new limb would stir up too much curiosity, or does he really feel that it’s best for Sirk to lose his arm--to stay with God’s original plan, since he knows that the new arm is part of the aliens’ plan and Sirk will become a totally different person? Maybe it’s both.
That’s the beauty of “Invasion,” you’re never quite sure what’s real and what’s not.
To say the Christian world is excited about the 'Narnia' movie is an understatement. Churches are planning mass viewings of the movie, groups have created Narnia-pegged 'outreach tools,' and many Christians see the film as the greatest opportunity for evangelism since "The Passion of the Christ." But strike one name from the list of prominent Christian supporters of putting to film C.S. Lewis's classic tale: Lewis himself.
Of course, Lewis has been dead for 42 years, so we'll never really know if he'd have been gaga over the new Disney film. But in a letter just posted on the web, he leaves little doubts as to his opinion of the notion:
I am absolutely opposed – adamant isn’t in it! – to a TV version. Anthropomorphic animals, when taken out of narrative into actual visibility, always turn into buffoonery or nightmare.
After acknowledging that a cartoon version would be OK, he closes with this: "A human, pantomime, Aslan wld. be to me blasphemy" (emphasis mine).
Despite the vehemence, though, it's still not clear how he'd really feel about the current 'Narnia' craze, of which his stepson, Douglas Gresham, is a producer and vocal booster. Lewis's tirade against live-action Narnia came in 1959, well before the current advances in CGI filmmaking rendered it possible to create a plausible talking lion. As Micheal Flaherty, another 'Narnia' producer, told me in an interview that "the movie couldn't have been made four years ago because the technology simply didn't exist." Is a realistic Aslan still blasphemy in Lewis's eyes? We'll never really know, but we'll have to take Gresham's word for it that his stepfather would have given his blessing to the Disney's new 'Narnia.'
Last night on "Lost," fate and (what looked like) the Bible found their way through the doors of the mysterious underground hatch. In this season's third episode, after the survivors had found their way into the hatch, they were shown a mysterious (and spliced) film created by The Dharma Initiative, an equally mysterious science program funded by The Hanso Foundation. In the film, a scientist warns that for every 108 minutes, six numbers (4-8-15-16-23-42) must be entered into a computer to prevent an unnamed world disaster.
After some of the survivors begin taking shifts to enter the numbers, the film was forgotten about... until last night, when Locke explains the computer by showing the film to Michael and Mr. Eko. While Michael voices his skepticism, Mr. Eko silently walks away, but later reappears with a cloth-wrapped rectangular package and proceeds to tell Locke the cautious tale of Josiah, the King of Judah.
According to 2 Kings 22 and 2 Chronicles 34, Josiah was very pious even though the citizens of Judah persisted in worshipping idols.In the 18th year of his reign, Josiah ordered his secretary to visit the high priest and bring back money for workers to repair the temple of the Lord.Instead of money, the high priest gave the Book of Law (which is interpreted as Deuteronomy, the final book that completed the Torah) to the secretary who read its contents to Josiah.According to 2 Kings, when Josiah heard the contents of the book, which recounted the punishment and destruction that would befall the Israelites if they were disobedient to God, the king was sent into despair.At once, he ordered the destruction of all the idols in his kingdom, going so far as to sacrifice human bones on the idol altars.However, despite purging Judah, God’s judgment was final and Judah was not spared; Josiah was eventually killed by Pharaoh Neco.
After Mr. Eko finishes telling this obscure Biblical story, he presents Locke with a thin leather-bound book (possibly containing the Hebrew Bible) that opens to reveal a square-shaped hole hiding a complete version of the Dharma film.When the full film is finally watched, the missing content is even more mysterious—it warns the survivors not to use the computer for any other purposes than entering those six numbers--or else infiltration by "the outside world" would lead to disaster.
When Locke marvels at the coincidence of possessing the complete Dharma film, Mr. Eko warns: “Don’t confuse coincidence with fate.”At the end of last season, Sun pondered whether fate sent the survivors to the island to be punished for all the wrong they did in their past.While the creators of "Lost" have denied the theory that the survivors are actually stuck in purgatory, trying to find their way to either heaven or hell, Mr. Eko’s recounting of Josiah’s tale is a definite warning for the survivors to keep their wits a
bout them—for they are being tested and punished for the wrongs of their past and have yet to find their way to free their guilty souls.
Welcome to the newly formatted Idol Chatter! If you're looking to read a whole lot more about the spirituality of your favorite shows and celebrities, have no fear; you can access the Idol Chatter archives by clicking here.
Donna Freitas has a Ph.D. in spirituality and is the author of "Becoming A Goddess Of Inner Poise: Spirituality for The Bridget Jones in All of Us."
Douglas Howe is an ordained minister, executive coach, author, and retreat leader.
Paul O'Donnell is the former Culture editor at Beliefnet.
Kris Rasmussen, the author of "WonkaMania," has been a contributing editor to the Christian music magazine CCM and a feature writer for Relevant magazine.
Plus, a number of Beliefnet editors will also be posting to Idol Chatter as the mood strikes.
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