If you're an evangelical Christian wondering about how you're being perceived in popular culture these days, you might be planning to see "Jesus Camp." Change your plans. Watch "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" next Monday night instead."Jesus Camp," with its stark representation of Christian fundamentalists at the margins of mainstream evangelicalism, offers an intriguing but uninformed view of Bible believers in America. Aaron Sorkin's engrossing "Studio 60" offers something far more complex. Not only does Sorkin have a bigger stage and a longer reach, but--if the first three episodes are any indication--his views on evangelicals are more comprehensive, substantial, and intelligently critical than anything in "Jesus Camp."
In the series pilot, the narrative about the show-within-the-show is launched when a studio executive orders a skit called "Crazy Christians" to be cut so as not to offend (crazy) Christian viewers. The show's producer responds with an on-air tirade against the neutering of culture at the hands of these conservative religious sensibilities. In come our heroes, Jordan McDeere (Amanda Peet), Matt Albie (Matthew Perry), and Dannie Tripp (Bradley Whitford), whose heroism lies not just in their creativity and willpower to rescue the show-within-the-show, but also in their willingness to stand up to the Christian conservatives who have scared the show into a stupor. By the third episode of "Studio 60," our heroes have aired the offending skit, called the bluff of a Christian boycott, and been rewarded with an unprecedented gain in Nielson ratings.
Some viewers have complained that we never actually see the skit "Crazy Christians," but really, we don't need to. Crazy Christians are fore-grounded again and again in "Studio 60" as we learn that part of the daily grind of a television executive is putting up with the conservative Christian press (Rapture Magazine!), Christian affiliates, and Christian picketers outside the studio lot. Crazy Christians are referenced routinely in the show's smug dialogue:
Jordan: "I wanna know how Rapture Magazine gets credentialed for an NBS press conference!"Dialogue like this is a Crazy Christians skit. Again and again in "Studio 60," we're reminded that crazy Christians are a part--an annoying and unavoidable part--of American life.
Shelly: "You think it should be the policy of this network to exclude religious publications?"
Jordan: "We're not talking about the Christian Science Monitor. How many whack-jobs read Rapture Magazine?"
Shelly: "It has a circulation four times the size of Vanity Fair."
Jordan: "Are you kidding?"
Shelly: "No, I'm not."
Jack: "I'm a little surprised myself, Shelly."
Shelly: "You shouldn’t be."
Jack: "The rapture is what I think it is, right? The world comes to an end, believers go up in a spaceship?
Jordan: "It's not a spaceship; it's Jesus Christ."
But "Studio 60" contains a giant caveat to its ongoing critique of evangelicals: Harriet Hayes (Sarah Paulson), the evangelical Christian star of the show-within-the-show. She's hip, she's hot, and she's hilarious. She's a credible, likable character, and she's a Christian. When, on last week's show, Harriet argued to Matt that a particular joke should be taken off the air so as not to offend the small town that was the joke's butt, I wanted to stand and cheer. That's the kind of thing a good person--not just a good evangelical--would do. And letting an evangelical be a good person and a good character... well, it's enough to make us think that Sorkin might have talked to a Christian or two rather than just read about them in the newspaper.
More importantly, Harriet is an accurate representation of a fact rarely mentioned: Evangelicals aren't just (and aren't all) politically active home-schoolers and megachurch-goers. They are also people who live and work in every aspect of the marketplace, including (gasp!) the entertainment media. That's right: When you're watching "That '70s Show," attending a Broadway play, and listening to a favorite indie pop song, you're often being entertained by evangelicals, unawares.
I mention this not as a triumph of evangelicalism (perish the thought), but just to note that Sorkin is making sense of the poles of religion in American life. What seems aggravatingly abnormal in some instances--crazy Christians--has an astonishingly familiar, and more congenial, face in other instances. Sorkin seems to understand that evangelicalism is more than the sum of its parts. Thus far in "Studio 60," he's achieving something resembling a fair representation of evangelicals: They are those boycotters, those megaphones of moral values; but they are also men and women whose personal expressions of faith are more complicated and nuanced than the big picture reveals.
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"Anybody who would say that they are killing for Jesus Christ aren't Christians" Num 31:17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.
Num 31:18 But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
Yet Jesus (as the preincarnate Godhead) told the His people Israel to do the above.
TAKEN from WIKIPEDIA: A Christian is a follower of Jesus of Nazareth, referred to as Christ. Christians believe Jesus to be the Son of God, who lived a life befitting that of the creator of the universe, free of sin and full of love, who at the end of his earthly life was crucified, and then on the third day, rose from the dead, and later ascended into heaven. These beliefs are held by the vast majority of Christian denominations. Christians believe that Jesus offers salvation, and that it is only possible because of him. Apart from Jesus Christ, there is no salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 states that "It is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God that no one should boast" (NIV). Humans cannot save themselves through good works, but only Jesus can. Good works, however, are a result of living according to the Word of God. Christians identify themselves as monotheistic, believing that there is one God. Most sects incorporate God as a perichoresis of three persons: Father (the Source, the Eternal Majesty); the Son (the eternal Logos or Word, incarnate as Jesus of Nazareth); and the Holy Spirit (the Paraclete or advocate). Today, it is estimated that there are around 2.1 billion Christians in the world making up 33% of the world population, with the largest Christian denomination being Roman Catholicism.[1] Some Christians or denominations do not necessarily hold the above beliefs, see Liberal Christianity.
Why is it cool to put people down? Should we not respect people's religious beliefs? Can't they write something entertaining without it being critical or injurious of others? In my opinion. I feel like everyone is saying the same lines - it feels like a bad Woody Allen movie. And, it would be nice if I could be entertained instead of having to decifer whether or not my children should watch. Please, entertain me! Stop trying to do religion stuff - you are as patronizing as some religious people. A Christian
I love Studio 60. For being smart, intelligent, witty and real. And because Aaron Sorkin added in a liberal Christian character. You say in your blog "Sorkin might have talked to a Christian or two." In actuality, Sorkin has admitted outright that the character of Harriet is based not-so-loosely on his recent relationship with Kristin Chenoweth, Broadway star and West Wing alum who is not shy about admitting her Christianity, stating that she is a "liberal Christian". There are many parallels in the relationship between Matt and Harriet that are publicly acknowledged about Aaron and Kristin.
Be that as it may, I love Harriet's character. It has angered me that the ultra-conservative judgemental Christian persona has been perpetuated in the media for a long time now. No one pays attention to the more moderate or liberal Christians (or even the conservatives that are doing good things in the name of Christ). It is refreshing for me to tune in to "Studio 60" every Monday night, and have not only a great show, but a great character, presented to me by NBC. It saddens me to no end that this show has not gotten a larger audience, and I sincerely hope that changes with time. I hope that people will realize that not all Christians are crazy or judgemental. Jesus certainly wasn't. It's nice to see a character out there that reflects honest, true belief in a complex world.
you seem offended ; Jesus Camp blows that fiction crap out of the water. the point of the doc is NOT to convince the world that all christians are nutjobs. but you seem to think Sorkins crapola makes you feel better about christians. ok fine, have it your way.
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