You know how often Hollywood calls itself “brave.” It’s by far the most overused adjective the night of the Oscars. I love when they call an actor “brave” or “fearless” for putting on twenty pounds for a role. Heck, I put on twenty pounds last year and nobody called me brave. They call me fat.
But they love facing down the “assault” of press releases from Christian groups. They eat it up when they are able to “stand up” in the face of a “barrage of criticism” from some evangelist group.
Well, to let you know how brave Hollywood really is, check out the brave director Roland Emmerich. In his new movie 2012 Emmerich shows the dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican rolling on top of a crowd of churchgoers, bishops have the roof fall in on their mitred noggins. The arms of the Jesus the Redeemer statue in Rio De Janiero fall off right before the whole thing falls over and goes boom.
And Emmerich also decided to demolish something else…but he didn’t. Wanna’ guess why?
Yahoo reports:
For “2012,” Emmerich set his sites on destroying the some biggest landmarks around the world, from Rome to Rio. But there’s one place that Emmerich wanted to demolish but didn’t: the Kaaba, the cube-shaped structure located in the center of Mecca. It’s the focus of prayers and the site of the Hajj, the biggest, most important pilgrimage in Islam.
“Well, I wanted to do that, I have to admit,” the filmmaker told scifiwire.com. “But my co-writer Harald [Kloser] said, ‘I will not have a fatwa on my head because of a movie.’ And he was right.”
Emmerich went on: “We have to all, in the western world, think about this. You can actually let Christian symbols fall apart, but if you would do this with [an] Arab symbol, you would have … a fatwa, and that sounds a little bit like what the state of this world is. So it’s just something which I kind of didn’t [think] was [an] important element, anyway, in the film, so I kind of left it out.”
He kinda’ left it out. But it was crucial to the story to have a bunch of bishops crushed?
I love the part where he generalizes his own cowardice into a worldwide problem. Now, of course, he’s right in the sense that “2012” is not worth dying over. It’s not even worth the ten dollars it would cost to see it.
But the next time Hollywood thinks about praising itself itself for being brave in the face of a William Donahue press release from The Catholic League, just spare me.
I’m so upset by this that I’m going to go bravely eat some hot dogs and bravely get fat.
November 5, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Matthew – I won't call you brave for getting fat. I would, however, call you brave for getting a fatwa.
November 5, 2009 at 4:36 pm
Does anyone know a blogger that critized Islam who was either non-anonymous or (and) was not the subject of a fatwa? To what extent was the critique in each case?
Thanks.
gbm3
November 5, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Remember, that Hollywood needs your prayers.
Check out the Fraternity of St Genesius http://www.stgenesius.com a catholic organisation dedicated to prayer and sacrifice for those involved in theater, cinema and the arts.
Become a member, and commit to a few minutes of daily prayer. (It is as easy as it sounds!)
If you believe in the power of prayer, join us, and begin renewing culture, one prayer at a time!
November 5, 2009 at 5:30 pm
LarryD,
That's really clever.
November 5, 2009 at 6:42 pm
Well, speaking of movies, this guy may have a Democratic Fatwa on his head now (which entails never being invited to a pool party at Alec Baldwin's house).
November 5, 2009 at 7:45 pm
Just shows one of the differences between Islam & Christianity. One rules with fear, the other love. One beheads, the other turns the other cheek. One starts a circle of violence, one crosses out the circle of hate. One produces subservience, the other obedience. One submits like a servant, the other obeys like a Son.
November 5, 2009 at 7:52 pm
"Does anyone know a blogger that critized Islam who was either non-anonymous or (and) was not the subject of a fatwa?"
Yeah. Me.
November 5, 2009 at 7:55 pm
man with black hat: Losing My Religion
November 5, 2009 at 8:09 pm
If we want an explanation of the "bravery" of hollywood when it comes to trashing Christianity and its symbols, we have only to look within. We have become soft, effeminate, pacifist appeasers who whine a lot when poked, but our discomfiture rarely tanslates into action. We got no fatwa, people. Until we do, expect precisely this treatment from the world.
November 5, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Whether they show it or not, the point of the movie is that all religion is wrong, so Muslims would actually have just as much reason to get offended.
Luckily it does seem that the sheer awfulness of this movie is drowning out all interest in it. Though I'm not looking forward to the usual "Come on you guys, we have to support ALL art that insults us! Don't make up your mind until after you've spent your money!" threads at Big Hollywood.
November 6, 2009 at 12:07 am
Hah, Anon, I think you're misunderstanding the very nature and meaning of Christianity. When one of Christ's own Apostles slashed off the ear of one of the Romans coming for him in Gethsemane (great time as any to issue a warrant for violent defence of the faith- when our very Lord's life was on the line), Jesus corrected the Apostle (the Zealot? Can't remember which it was) and healed the Roman's ear.
Jesus could have clearly condoned the use of violence in defence of what is most sacred to us- namely the Body and Blood of our Lord and Savior- but instead chose loving correction and healing to be the way of defense of the faith.
So we should probably take the Lord's example in this and lovingly correct the twisted people responsible for the mudraking our faith has taken. That's how we'll heal the damage done.
To do otherwise and issue a "fatwa" of our own would not be Christ-like and only continue the perversions of Islam.
November 6, 2009 at 3:29 pm
Bravely bold Sir Roland
Made films in Hollywood.
He was not afraid of Christians,
O brave Sir Roland.
He was not afraid of a bishop or a Pope,
Brave, brave, brave, brave Sir Roland!
He was not in the least bit scared of a ruler-wielding nun,
Or to see a crucifix, or to smell the incense,
To hear Gregorian chant, or a Rosary or two,
To get splashed with holy water, brave Sir Roland!
Though the Catholics prayed that he might be saved
And the Calvinists said he was quite depraved
And the Amish laughed and the Lutherans wept
And the Methodists sang and the Anglicans slept,
He said, "I shan't ever change my tune!"
And he dropped his trous —
But…
Brave Sir Roland ran away,
Bravely ran away, away!
To dodge a fatwa on his head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled.
He took, when faced with Moslem wrath,
A most courageous rearward path.
They searched for him in vain, for he
Had donned a burka gallantly.
Bravest of the brave, Sir Roland!
He is packing it in and packing it up
And sneaking away and buggering off
And chickening out and pissing off home,
Yes, bravely he is throwing in the sponge…
November 6, 2009 at 6:29 pm
Dude, Bob the Ape. Awesome.