Passion of the Christ

[metternich1815]

I would not consider it horror, possibly a historical movie, assuming that the Bible is an accurate historical account of the death of Jesus (granted, the miracles and stuff is debatable). Personally, I approached it as a historical movie (I ignored the religious aspects, I know difficult to do). I am not Christian, so I do not get anything out of it in that way.

[Kandarian Demon]

Originally Posted by Giganticface

It would be similar (although not in a religious sense) to a Jew watching a very explicit, violent dramatization of the horrible things that happened during the Holocaust. They shouldn't feel pressured to watch it, but if they chose to, may feel a strong appreciation and remembrance of the horrible events by doing so. (I also don't think people would be as quick to criticize that movie.)

If it was made in a similar way, then yes, I would be very critical.

The reason that movie got so much attention was because of the controversy over how brutal is is. It was the gore that created all the media attention, and both directly and indirectly made most people go see it. Had it just been another movie about the story of Christ, then it would simply not have had the same audience.

They had a great hit movie, not by telling the story of Jesus, but by getting attention for showing a religious icon being tortured non stop for 2 hours.

I totally respect that you have a different opinion about the movie, but I don't really get why you seem to insinuate in both of your posts that I am critical because it's a Christian movie, when in fact I am saying that I find it disrespectful. I don't personally believe in Christ, but if I did I would find it very offensive that someone made money from his suffering by using it for shock value. Just as, by the way, I find it tasteless when they make gorefests out of certain real life events (and I know that to you and many other people, the Passion of the Christ IS the story of a real life event).

But if YOU got something positive out of the movie, great! I'm not saying you're wrong because of that, I'm just saying how the movie made ME feel, and why I, in the post you first replied to, called it "brainless violence". It was in no way said to be disrespectful to your faith, if anything it was the opposite.

Other than that, I agree with the rest of your post.

[Giganticface]

Originally Posted by Kandarian Demon

It was in no way said to be disrespectful to your faith, if anything it was the opposite.

I appreciate that. I didn't take it that way, but I appreciate you going out of your way to say that. At the same time, I don't want anyone to feel bad if they were jabbing me for my faith. I'm sorta asking for it, professing my faith in a horror forum. :) I spent 6 years or so in a doom metal chat room and I don't think I encountered a single other Christian there, but I did get a lot of flames about how stupid I was. (BTW: Straker, your response was hilarious. :D )

Originally Posted by Kandarian Demon

If it was made in a similar way, then yes, I would be very critical.

That's cool. Certainly a lot of people would agree. Maybe a good real-life example is Men Behind the Sun. I assume you would not like that movie, and even believe that making the movie was a bad idea. (Ignoring the cat scene, which the director states was a special effect, but many believe to be real.) Certain folks -- perhaps the grandchild of a person killed in that concentration camp -- might find some value in watching the movie. Criticizing it for being exploitative, however, is totally legit, and you'd have every right to that opinion.

Originally Posted by Kandarian Demon

I don't really get why you seem to insinuate in both of your posts that I am critical because it's a Christian movie, when in fact I am saying that I find it disrespectful.

I didn't say that, and I didn't mean to insinuate it. I apologize if that's the conclusion you drew. There are a lot of reasons to be critical of the movie, many of which have been discussed. It also doesn't help that Mel Gibson keeps repeatedly makes the news for being a bigot and a jackass. I was only pointing out that it's easy and popular to be critical of it.

[Kandarian Demon]

Originally Posted by Giganticface

I appreciate that. I didn't take it that way, but I appreciate you going out of your way to say that. At the same time, I don't want anyone to feel bad if they were jabbing me for my faith. I'm sorta asking for it, professing my faith in a horror forum. :) I spent 6 years or so in a doom metal chat room and I don't think I encountered a single other Christian there, but I did get a lot of flames about how stupid I was.

Yeah, I understand that. I suppose it's because horror and metal fans are used to being judged for being "ungodly". Which is actually pretty silly if you ask me - so many horror movies are about "good vs. evil", and I think that really goes for many metal lyrics too (and some of them are just pure fantasy). I used to be a Christian and loved horror and metal then as much as I do now, so I know how you can get kind of caught in the middle and feel like everyone is picking on you from both sides.

Originally Posted by Giganticface

Maybe a good real-life example is Men Behind the Sun. I assume you would not like that movie, and even believe that making the movie was a bad idea. (Ignoring the cat scene, which the director states was a special effect, but many believe to be real.) Certain folks -- perhaps the grandchild of a person killed in that concentration camp -- might find some value in watching the movie. Criticizing it for being exploitative, however, is totally legit, and you'd have every right to that opinion.

I haven't seen that particular movie (I've heard about it though), so I can't comment on that. But - I watched "Schindlers List" once, I don't really want to ever watch it again, but even though some of the scenes were brutal and unpleasant, I think they added something important to the story telling. It was a very unpleasant movie to watch, but I think it was tastefully done and got the message through. I am not totally against making movies based on real life events, or against having violent or disturbing scenes in them. It's when it seems to be more about gore than it's about telling the victims stories that it starts to bother me.

Originally Posted by Giganticface

I didn't say that, and I didn't mean to insinuate it. I apologize if that's the conclusion you drew. There are a lot of reasons to be critical of the movie, many of which have been discussed. It also doesn't help that Mel Gibson keeps repeatedly makes the news for being a bigot and a jackass. I was only pointing out that it's easy and popular to be critical of it.

I'm sorry if I misunderstood you, then :) But yeah, I guess as with any controversial movie, it's easy to point the finger at it.