This has been a rough week for anti-Christian Hollywood.
First, a virulently anti-Catholic movie called “The Perfect Family” netted a whopping $14,301. That’s right. $14,301. Kirk Cameron movies make more than that. I think Mel Gibson’s “The Beaver” made more than that.
Hollywood must be stunned. Who’d a thunk that a movie that mocks Catholics and has all the star power that made VI Warshawski such a big hit, would become a failure.
And then the nasty “GCB” which, of course, stands for “Good Christian B*tches” got cancelled for dismal ratings. For those who didn’t get to know GCB because they had less “episodes” than Lindsey Lohan, it was a lot like “Desperate Houswives” but without the redeeming values.
You’d almost start to think that Hollywood would start getting a clue that making a mockery of Christianity isn’t the way to financial success.
But you’ve got to read a bit about this movie to really appreicate how absurd it really was. The Catholic Sentinel wrote about it:
The film’s opening scene sets the perplexing and often sacrilegious tone.
Eileen Cleary (Kathleen Turner), supermom and “ultimate Catholic,” is the altar server at Mass, assisting Msgr. Murphy (Richard Chamberlain, channeling his Father de Bricassart role from “The Thorn Birds”). It’s time for Communion, and Eileen holds a platter of consecrated hosts. The monsignor turns to her, takes a host, then turns to the communicant and offers the Eucharist.
That detail — entirely alien, of course, to the reality of Catholic liturgy — is a pretty good hint that no one involved in this bilious project has any familiarity whatever with the life of the church they’re attacking.
Distracted, Eileen brushes lint from her server’s robe, jostles the platter, and several hosts fall to the ground. She proceeds to kick the body of Christ under the altar so the monsignor will not notice what’s happened.
“The Perfect Family” sinks even lower. The parish announces the “Catholic Woman of the Year Award,” setting up a vicious rivalry between Eileen and a den of superficially pious vipers. The award will be presented by the archbishop of Dublin, who will bestow the “prayer of absolution” on the winner, wiping away all her sins.
Here’s the thing – if you’re going to make fun of us, at least do it in an intelligent manner. At least make it funny because it’s true, not funny because it’s mocking a caricature that the elites conjure up in order to make it easy to dismiss them.
Note to the elites: If you read Jen Fulwiler, Simcha, Sherry Antonetti or LarryD you know that Catholicism can be funny. If you want to make fun of us, make fun of US, not a straw man. ‘Cause I’ll be honest. We make fun of you guys all the time.
May 17, 2012 at 4:38 pm
Sorry, I didn't mean for the last comment to be sassy, but I just really don't like the jabs at people with such sad lives.
May 17, 2012 at 4:57 pm
As a scientist and teacher for 40 years, I have been horrified at how many of the current generation and many of their icons makes up their own reality. The first problem is that as they make up their own reality, they believe that all reality is made up by people like themselves. Therefore there is not delineation between reality and fantasy. The second problem is in the past, they were seen as crackpots or misinformed; today they generate scores of followers thanks to internet proliferation. Good case in point, it took me three months to convince one of my students that there are not the soccerball-sized robotic spiders crawling on the moon that he saw in a Sci-fi movie. The first move was to convince him that there is a difference between Science and Sci-fi.
May 17, 2012 at 10:38 pm
Richard Chamberlain? Really? 'nuff said.
May 18, 2012 at 2:24 am
@Anonymous 9:33 AM: So easy to bash people by saying "So easy to (insert exaggeration here)." Much easier than writing a substantive rebuttal demonstrating how really well-written and knowledgeable the movie was. So easy to inflate the actual content of the mockery by putting words in the author's mouth. And, of course, it's so easy to trot out the "blind obedience" trope, because it always gets a laugh among free-thinking non-Catholics. (Gets a laugh out of us Catholics, too, for different reasons.)
I could go on like this all day, but I would rather have a steak to go with that whine.
May 18, 2012 at 2:59 pm
The movie made $53,000 !!!! Yes, it did, go to imdb if you don't believe… Incredible it made so much money. 😉
May 18, 2012 at 8:51 pm
When I hear of something like this, I let them know how I feel. IMDB.com: 1 star. rottentomatoes.com 1/2 star.
May 18, 2012 at 10:36 pm
@Anthony S. Layne
No, I didn't laugh at Catholic people when I watched the movie.
And I never took Turner's character to represent all Catholic people. It's one character in one movie.
Because, in every group (not only about religion, but sports, science, families…) there are good and bad people, and a lot right in between.
But it puzzles me to see many of the Catholic people who review the movie bash it because of Turner's character and because it shows priests… who are not ultra conservative (interpretated as something negative by those same Catholic reviewers).
I guess they completely forget what Catholics did when persecuting people and making them give up their own religions to become Catholic, just because they thought Catholicism was superior and the only way. Which seriously does not give me a good opinion about Catholicism.
But this is the opposite with the movie, because of the reactions of the priest/bishop… and because the family is united again, even with their differences about religion and points of views, they can be there for each other. Which is, to me, a nice message.
But I guess it's not enough when I read those reviews and comments.
May 18, 2012 at 11:47 pm
In my novel "The World's Funniest Atheist" I tried to make sure the main character made fun of truly Catholic practices and beliefs. And them, much to his horror, he's suddenly given the gift of faith. N-o-o-o-o-o-o!
Available on Kindle
May 23, 2012 at 5:46 am
"I guess they completely forget what Catholics did when persecuting people and making them give up their own religions to become Catholic, just because they thought Catholicism was superior and the only way."
–Coward of 5:36 PM
I agree you're guessing. Go ahead, if what you claim was ever so common then name ten such Catholics and ten of their forced converts. You can't can you?
"Which seriously does not give me a good opinion about Catholicism."
-ibid.
You certainly haven't got a well informed opinion about Catholicism. And that's not good.