February 29, 2004

"..guns, fists, tits and smirk"

Time Magazine's Richard Corliss takes the media to task for their selective moral outrage where Mel Gibson's movie, "The Passion of the Christ" is concerned.

The criticisms range from exploitation of Christ's crucifixion for monetary gain, to the film's use of excessive violence. Corliss wonders...

How many millions did Cecil B. DeMille make off his silent-film smash “The King of Kings”? How many billions do the movie and TV moguls make each year portraying, in a manner that doesn’t even attempt to be edifying, human suffering, mutilation and humiliation—for cheap thrills or cheaper laughs?

Certain Hollywood studio executives (who gutlessly have remained anonymous) are now threatening to blacklist Gibson. Corliss remarks:

For some of the industry’s moguls to deny him employment because they don’t like what he said, or because he made a controversial film, would send a creepy message to the public: that a liberal is someone who will defend to the death your right to agree with him.

That sounds about right. At bottom of course, what movie studios care most about is making money. Could the studios learn something from the financial success of the Gibson film?

Religious films could be a tattered genre Hollywood could revive, making a few bucks and a lot of converts to the old magic of movies. At least, it would indicate that liberal Hollywood isn’t afraid of serving up the occasional helping of traditional values alongside its usual smorgasbord of guns, fists, tits and smirk.
Posted by dan at February 29, 2004 12:02 PM