Leslie Kendall - When Jesus Came to Hollywood

When Jesus Cameto Hollywood

by LeslieKendall

(copyright 2012Leslie Kendall)

SmashwordsEdition

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Chapter 1Introduction

Chapter 2Choose Your Jesus

Chapter 3 TheSilent Days

Chapter 4Mid-century revival

Chapter 5Existential Jesus

Chapter 6 WhoseJesus?

Chapter 7Anachronism

Chapter 8 Casestudies

Chapter 9 Whatcan we really say about Jesus?

Chapter 10Christian themes

Chapter 11Deficient Jesus

Chapter 12Jesus, women and sex

Chapter 13Jesus and divinity

Chapter 14 Whatwould Superman do?

Chapter 15Violence

Chapter 16Conclusion

Chapter 17Sources and Filmography

Chapter 1Introduction

Sometimes youhave to wonder if God looks at us and thinks My word, theyvechanged! Just a few centuries ago we knew our place, and we wentto church and did what the clergy told us was required to keep Godhappy. Now we dont much care whether God is happy or not and inmuch of the Christian world regular church attendance is down toa small fraction of the adult population. There are numerousreasons for this, and one of them is the movies. And, of course,television which feeds us an endless diet of movies. Whether thechurches like it or not, modern men and women are not buying intotraditional expressions of faith any more. They think forthemselves, but what images do they see when they think about Godand Jesus? The idea behind this ebook is to look in a non-academicway at what Hollywood has done with Jesus. I think I can safelypromise a few surprises!

Chapter 2Choose your Jesus

Our perceptionof the Almighty and our relationship with him/her/it has beenchanged forever in the 130 or so years that films have been around.Vast numbers of other things went on as well in that time, ofcourse, which have also contributed enormously to our unprecedentedviews about God - not least being two World Wars, numerous regionalconflicts, the Great Depression, and (on a happier note) a muchbetter educated society and more leisure time than ever before inhistory. But when it came to filtering information and perceptions most importantly, perceptions through to the general public, itwas the movies that were at the centre of shaping our understandingand our emotions.

Now when itcomes to romance or adventure or comedy, thats generally fine, butwhen it comes to God, the stakes are a bit higher. From the startHollywood saw everything as fair game for a movie subject,including the Almighty. So just how has God fared as a movie star?Of course, when we talk about God we are talking about something wecant see. But we can see representations of the central characterin Christianity, Jesus. After all, the main claim of the worldsbiggest religion is that 2,000 or so years ago God was incarnatedas the man Jesus and lived and taught in Israel. For Hollywood and to a lesser extent European film-makers that was perfect. Andsince Cecil B Demilles silent and unequalled epic The King ofKings in 1928 Jesus has been a regular visitor to the silverscreen.

Jesus-moviesare a sub-genre of religious cinema, which is not restricted toChristianity or to a particular culture. Most societies exploreaspects of their relationship with God, however understood, andtheir history and culture through the medium of film. But this workis deliberately limited to the development and effects of filmsabout Jesus since the invention of moving pictures in the late 19thcentury. Jesus of Hollywood is not only the title of a verygood book (by Adele Reinhartz) on the subject of Jesus-movies, itis also a phrase that neatly sums up the history of the sub-genreduring the 20th century.

Although quitea few Jesus-movies have been made in Europe and elsewhere, it isHollywood that has dominated the field, and therefore it isAmerican interpretations of Jesus that have had greatestopportunity to influence thought worldwide. Some of the bestresults have been achieved when American know-how and Europeaninterpretation of character and story have come together.

But whicheverway we go, European or American, it is abundantly clear that movieshave reinterpreted Jesus for Christians, the Son of God in waysthat are well outside the biblical parameters and in doing so havestrongly influenced the understanding of him by many millions ofpeople over several generations. Arguably, film has done no morethan continue and intensify a tradition going back over thecenturies of visual and dramatic art. Take a stroll around thegalleries and churches in Florence and it quickly becomes obviousthat visual representations of Jesus have always been used toinfluence the religious beliefs of the mass of the population.

But the sheeravailability of movies, their number and distribution patterns, andabove all their ability to be believable, make this not quite true.A painting or a sculpture is static and must be interpreted; theviewer must use her or his mind and ask themselves what is theartist saying? Movies dispense with the intellectual bit theypersuade the viewer through technique and acting, special effectsand true-to-life colour. On average, a movie about or showing Jesusis made every two years in the US. He remains a box officesuperstar long after the churches have started to wilt under thestrain of social change.

Chapter 3 TheSilent Days

Before lookingat how Jesus fared in the 20th century, his first portrayals backin the late 19th century are well worth exploring. It isconventionally accepted that cinema came into existence in December1895, in France, but within four months America was setting thecinematic pace and has done so ever since.

From thebeginning of film, Christianity particularly the story of Jesus provided compelling storylines for moviemakers on both sides of theAtlantic. But pre-1900 European efforts have all been lost, so theearliest extant Jesus-movies are American productions. Then as now,commercialism and godly respect were often combined in theinterests of entertainment, but without any particular attempt athistorical accuracy.

More than 70movies with Christian or at least biblical themes were made in theUS and Europe before 1914 - the outbreak of World War One sawcinema diverted into other purposes. Several films were made asearly as 1897. At first, certainly in America, the churches sawgreat possibilities in film both for proselytising and forcompeting with secular forms of entertainment. Although earlymovies stuck closely to scripture or showed due reverence in theirown storylines, the relationship with the Church as a whole (andindeed with the Synagogue) soon became uneasy, as institutionalreligion began to see film as a dangerous medium that needed to becontrolled.

Just two yearsafter the first public screening of film in Paris, the firstJesus-movie appeared, also in France. La Vie et la Passion deJesus-Christ was not only the first Jesus-movie but also one ofthe first to use multiple-shot filming. Capitalising on their earlylead in cinema, the French produced three more Jesus-movies in thenext few years: La Vie de Christ (1899), La Vie etpassion du Christ (1900), and La Vie et la Passion deJesus-Christ (1903), which was no relation to the 1895 offeringof the same title. They were all short, as little as 15 minutes insome cases, but the directors were willing to experiment withoriginal story ideas. The Path company produced the first screenversion of Quo Vadis in 1901.s