I’m a movie guy. I love going to the movies. Don’t get there often but I still check out all the trailers online and plot strategy to get out of the house for those movies I really want to see.
So I just saw the trailer to the new movie 2012. When I first clicked on it my first thought was aren’t we all getting tired of big budget disaster porn but then I paid attention to what I was seeing in the preview and something seemed a little…well you decide:
At the 20 second mark we’ve got the arms of the Jesus the Redeemer statue in Rio De Janiero falling off and then the whole thing falling over completely.
34 seconds in you see like fifty thousand people with candles standing in St. Peter’s Square looking up at the Pope who’s looking down at them.
36 seconds in you’ve got a crowd of people all making the sign of the cross.
Then you get about 12 or so seconds of regular old fireballs from the sky type mayhem.
50 seconds there’s an image of St. Peter’s Basilica toppling.
52 seconds cut to Cardinals inside praying only to look up at the art on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel to see it breaking apart and presumably crushing them.
54 seconds Those people who were praying with candles outside are now screaming and running. Why? Because the dome of St. Peter’s is crashing down on top of them and then rolling over them crushing a few thousand people as it rolls essentially on top of the camera blacking everything out.
(Holy metaphor alert Batman!)
The rest of the trailer is just regular old mayhem and the White House getting destroyed. And at the end it says, “Find out the Truth.”
And I’m just sitting there thinking “I think somebody’s got a problem with Catholicism.” I mean, that makes Ron Howard looks pretty nice by comparison. But then I thought maybe it’s just because Catholics have the big iconic architecture and imagery. I mean what would Protestant mayhem look like anyway? Rick Warren falling over on top of someone.
I don’t like to jump to conclusions so I Googled Roland Emmerich, the director, who, according to numerous sources is openly gay and an activist liberal. But hey, it’s Hollywood, who isn’t?
I wondered if this guy has some sort of distaste for things Catholic. And darn it but what do I find? I warn you this is kinda weird.
In a closet in his house, Mr. Emmerich has a statue of Pope John Paul II laughing while reading his own obituary. That’s right. Pope John Paul II. In a closet. Laughing while reading his own obituary. You don’t believe me, right? Well, look below.
And then it gets a little weirder. I’m not kidding.
According to the Guardian:
Mao and Lenin fill the length of the 25ft living room wall; an old master-style painting of the Crucifixion shows Jesus sporting a Wham T-shirt; in the guest bathroom is a portrait of Saddam Hussein
I always just thought Roland Emmerich was a mediocre director of bad movies with a ginormous budget. That’s still true. But now he’s a mediocre director of bad movies that I’m not going to see.
July 17, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Who knows? It may be about the visions of Catholic mystics on the end time…maybe the movie makes the claim that the Church is right, at least in the movie?
Kind of a "what if my worst nightmares were true?" for the director…
July 17, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Nah…
This is more of a "gotta capitalize on the paranoia about the 'end' of the Mayan calendar" moment for the director.
Images of Catholic iconic figures crumbling Christ in Rio or St. Peter's) do smack of "even God cannot save you now". Or perhaps Emmerich has jumped on Ron Howard's "smear the Catholics, cuz it makes for good box office" train.
PS: Would love to see Ralph McInerny's "Third Revelation" made into a movie. A chiller!
July 17, 2009 at 4:48 pm
From the trailer I saw during Harry Potter, it looked like your usual Dystopia, "Must save certain genetics" with a spaceship and two of each animal and all of that over-done nonsense. None of that "God won't save you now" stuff, I'm happy to say, I don't think I could have handled it.
And I'm sorry, but given the choice between our loving God and Scientists trying to "Preserve Mankind," does this guy really think he has a better chance with the Scientists? Being openly gay and a director of bad movies probably won't win you a spot on Mars.
Maybe that's overly harsh, but I really do hate this kind of stuff.
July 17, 2009 at 5:10 pm
I noticed Muslims in the trailer as well.
I'd say Emmerich is simply anti-God, anti-religion. Catholics and Muslims are easy targets.
July 17, 2009 at 6:01 pm
I saw the same preview during Harry Potter and had similar thoughts. It is becoming common place to see priests and devoted others killed as part of the film and entertainment.
Makes you miss Bill Murray saying "Nobody steps on a Church in my town."
July 17, 2009 at 6:16 pm
"Rick Warren falling over on top of someone." LOL
July 17, 2009 at 6:33 pm
I think anti-Christian is very popular, and Catholics are just the most easily identifiable and clearly Christian.
Mostly 'cus I can't see even folks who hate Catholicism thinking this is cool with the rest of Christianity. Could be a failure of my imagination, though.
July 17, 2009 at 7:38 pm
Roland has . . . how should one say . . . "issues?"
I wouldn't necessarily say that the trailer is anti-Catholic (ditto to what Robert said previously).
However, if anything, this movie–if it makes it big at the box office–will obviously get people talking about the end times. It's a perfect opportunity for all of us Christians to brush up on our eschatology and be prepared with the real truth not Holly-weird's version of the truth.
July 17, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Wow. This is something that I might have seen without reading your post. It's so important that people of faith do their research into who they're monies will be supporting. In this case, Emmerich will get none of mine. Thanks for the enlightment.
Also, as a Protestant, I laughed out loud to this: "I mean what would Protestant mayhem look like anyway? Rick Warren falling over on top of someone."
July 17, 2009 at 8:19 pm
No more anti-Catholic than it's anti-American for showing the White House or Washington Monument pulverized. The bigger it is, the harder it falls. Hollywood likes filming big things fall hard. Catholicism is big. Ergo, Hollywood likes filming Catholicism falling hard. Is that anti-big or pro-big? It's just Hollywood.
July 17, 2009 at 9:08 pm
AAAW, heck, and I just love disaster movies.
comments –
1. End of the "world" as we know it
– The Catholics all go, right to the arms of Jesus, so we don't need the structures.
2. And since "they" don't want us around to mess with the culture of death headonism world view – we can leave
heaven is better than a world defined by "them"
3. I agree with the comment The Vatican going is like the Empire State or … Big defining, makes a big movie splash.
4. Catholics have too much hope, delight and promise, to make disaster movies,
so to see smash, disaster, alien invasion, entertainment, where else can we go?
July 17, 2009 at 9:26 pm
How is this anti-catholic?
The first comment is correct.
July 17, 2009 at 9:37 pm
He's also apparently against John F. Kennedy. Note the final trailer scene where Kennedy destroys the Whitehouse.
July 17, 2009 at 9:52 pm
I was going to make a huge Catholic rant here, but, eh, I'll bump it to the basics. Showing God destroying the Vatican goes back to the most basic of Catholic Tenants, that Jesus gave us His Bride the Church to establish His eternal link to the world. So showing a world where God abandons man by destroying it, especially those in the middle of an act of prayer, is pretty offensive, especially if done "gleefully" as this movie proports to do.
Believe me, even if it was just Rick Warren falling down, I wouldn't see the movie just as much.
July 18, 2009 at 5:26 am
Following the theory that the simplest explanation is the most likely, St Pete's and the White House are just 2 of the most recognizable bits of architecture on the planet.
July 18, 2009 at 6:21 am
The Catholic Church is the most enduring institution on Earth, therefore it is very effective to show it in disaster movies. I dont see anti-Catholicism, instead I see a recognition of the Church as the pinnacle human institutions.
July 18, 2009 at 6:21 am
of course its not merely a human institution…
July 18, 2009 at 3:35 pm
I see anti-Catholicism under every rock, and there is just not enough here to determine that. However, I'll bet 100 silver of Lord of the Rings Online currency that there will be predictable digs at Catholicism and Christianity in the film.
July 18, 2009 at 4:47 pm
"I mean what would Protestant mayhem look like anyway?"
I know it would sound like one hand clapping…
July 18, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Dr. Lacrimosus –
John F. Kennedy was the only Catholic president.