contemplation/passion
On Sunday (when else?) I received an e-mail from my grandmother, containing - without comment - a forwarded review (
this one) of Mel Gibson's upcoming movie
The Passion. (All recipient(s) of this message were bcc'd, so I can't tell if it went to other potentially interested parties or just to her most liberal hellbound grandson.)
The thing is, even without (in spite of?) this encouragement, I
really want to see this movie. It's the only movie I'm likely to see with a significant amount of dialogue rendered in unsubtitled Latin, and as such my inner classics geek
demands I see it.
However, it's worth taking into account that this movie is being
sold as an offensive in the culture wars on behalf of right-wing Christianity. (Funny how only conservative political figures were invited to the early screenings.) With this in mind, I can't just go in and increase their box-office performance (by a whole $8.50, sure, but it's the principle that's important), and I certainly don't want to contribute, however inadvertently, a single cent of my ticket payment to the scary "traditionalist" Christian sect that Mel is associated with. This is, of course, not a big problem unless they're checking tickets at the door of the auditorium itself. "One for, uh,
Kill Bill, please."
Speaking of which, wouldn't Quentin Tarantino's
The Passion be so much cooler? "He was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. But three days later the tomb was empty. He is risen - and he wants
revenge!" (Insert footage of Jesus sword-fighting with hordes of Roman soldiers.)
And assuming Tarantino would follow Gibson in including Latin dialogue, I fully expect
this song to be performed. You might say my inner classics geek
demands it.
Posted by Arcane Gazebo at October 14, 2003 3:15 PM | Tags: