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Parsing the passion over Mel Gibson's movie Date published: 2/29/2004
THE MOVIE "The Passion of the Christ" has certainly stirred America's passion. Hardly a newscast has occurred in the last two weeks that had not produced a segment on Mel Gibson's controversial film. In fact, the controversy began months ago when Jewish leaders, according to the media, voiced their disapproval of the project on grounds that it was anti-Semitic. If you would believe television news--and sometimes I don't--the Jewish community is outraged because the film portrays the Jewish people in a bad light. The movie suggests that it was the crowd outside and not Pilate who really condemned Christ to the cross. Of those interviewed after seeing "The Passion of the Christ," not one has called the movie anti-Semitic. What most have complained about is the graphic violence. As I have said before, we are a society that does not like to deal with unpleasantries, and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ was an unpleasantry. Instead of anguish, we would much rather view the biblical incident through the eyes of an Old Master's painting, with only a trickle of blood on Jesus' brow and a splotch of red on his side. We want to see a polite crucifixion, one that fits our lifestyle. We don't want to see actual pain and suffering, only symbols of those unpleasantries. Some biblical experts say "The Passion of the Christ" closely follows New Testament accounts of Jesus' execution. So why all the controversy? Perhaps it is because we live in a revisionist era where we tend to rewrite history so that there are no bad guys. We don't want to lower anyone's self-esteem, you know. The Japanese, for example, have become World War II victims (at least in the eyes of some) despite the fact that they bombed Pearl Harbor and committed untold atrocities in China. America dropped the atomic bomb, so we are the bad guys. Do we now absolve the Jews of any complicity in Christ's crucifixion? Do we disregard biblical accounts and create our own story? Why not? We twist the Bible to suit our other needs. Why not rewrite the crucifixion in the modern American image?
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