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Mel Gibson Responds to Passion Question - What's Up With the Ugly Baby?
Christianity Today ^
| March 3, 2004
| Mark Moring
Posted on 03/04/2004 9:43:15 AM PST by NYer
"Please explain the symbolism in the scene showing Satan holding a bald baby. Thank you."
Rosalinda Celentano as Satan
|
That's just one of dozens of e-mails we've received in the last few days, asking about a surreal scene in The Passion of The Christ where Satan is shown cradling a hideous baby who looks like he's about 40 years old.
The scene occurs during the flogging of Christ. Satan is passing through a crowd of onlookers, cradling an infant in his arms. The baby turns to face the camera, revealing a sinister infant, creeping out audiences everywhere.
We took your questions straight to the source, e-mailing Mel Gibson's publicist for an answer.
When asked why he portrayed Satanan androgynous, almost beautiful being played by Rosalinda Celentanothe way he did, Gibson replied: "I believe the Devil is real, but I don't believe he shows up too often with horns and smoke and a forked tail. The devil is smarter than that. Evil is alluring, attractive. It looks almost normal, almost goodbut not quite.
"That's what I tried to do with the Devil in the film. The actor's face is symmetric, beautiful in a certain sense, but not completely. For example, we shaved her eyebrows. Then we shot her almost in slow motion so you don't see her blinkthat's not normal. We dubbed in a man's voice in Gethsemane even though the actor is a woman
That's what evil is about, taking something that's good and twisting it a little bit."
But what about the ugly baby?
"Again," said Gibson, "it's evil distorting what's good. What is more tender and beautiful than a mother and a child? So the Devil takes that and distorts it just a little bit. Instead of a normal mother and child you have an androgynous figure holding a 40-year-old 'baby' with hair on his back. It is weird, it is shocking, it's almost too muchjust like turning Jesus over to continue scourging him on his chest is shocking and almost too much, which is the exact moment when this appearance of the Devil and the baby takes place."
TOPICS: Business/Economy; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: evil; gibson; passion; satan; thepassion
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To: NYer
It is weird, it is shocking, it's almost too muchjust like turning Jesus over to continue scourging him on his chest is shocking and almost too much, which is the exact moment when this appearance of the Devil and the baby takes place." I needed that "too-muchness." I let my emotional defenses down, and the act of turning Jesus over broke right through them. It hit me right in the heart. It hit me at a very visceral level, and it was very necessary. I'll never forget that scene. It has forever changed my mental image of the scourging.
21
posted on
03/04/2004 10:13:37 AM PST
by
Aquinasfan
(Isaiah 22:22, Rev 3:7, Mat 16:19)
To: NYer
No wonder Andrew Sullivan HATES this movie. Androgyny is a particularly suitable way of depicting evil? What a proposition for our culture to digest!
To: NYer
What's Up With the Ugly Baby?I didn't know Helen Thomas had a cameo in this movie??!
23
posted on
03/04/2004 10:16:17 AM PST
by
ItsOurTimeNow
("By all that we hold dear on this Earth I bid you stand, men of the West!")
To: JustPlainJoe
(Hillary was the ugly, hairy-backed baby who was along for the ride...)Another photo-op for the evil pair !
24
posted on
03/04/2004 10:16:19 AM PST
by
smokeyb
To: Agnes Heep
I bet The Stations of the Cross will get more close attention this year than any year in the past 100.
25
posted on
03/04/2004 10:17:44 AM PST
by
AFPhys
(My Passion review: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1089021/posts?page=13#13)
To: NYer; Dataman
It'd be silly to argue with Gibson about his own meaning, but I took it to refer to the seed of the serpent in Genesis 3;15 (to which the film's opening scenes already alluded), as Satan mockingly watches the Seed of the woman.
Dan
26
posted on
03/04/2004 10:18:30 AM PST
by
BibChr
("...behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom is in them?" [Jer. 8:9])
To: NYer
That's what evil is about, taking something that's good and twisting it a little bit."A perfect description of the queer-marriage thing.
27
posted on
03/04/2004 10:22:04 AM PST
by
fella
To: NYer
Gibson: "... That's what evil is about, taking something that's good and twisting it a little bit."
I don't know about twisted, but does swollen with evil count?
28
posted on
03/04/2004 10:27:20 AM PST
by
upchuck
(I am upchuck and I approved this message because... well, just because.)
To: RaceBannon; Coleus; truthandlife
ping!
29
posted on
03/04/2004 10:31:24 AM PST
by
nutmeg
(Why vote for Bush? Imagine Commander in Chief John F’in Kerry)
To: NYer
he portrayed Satan [as] androgynous ... Evil is alluring, attractive. It looks almost normal, almost goodbut not quite ... That's what evil is about, taking something that's good and twisting it a little bit.A fitting description of the homosexual lobby
30
posted on
03/04/2004 10:32:13 AM PST
by
SpyGuy
To: BibChr
I took it to refer to the seed of the serpent in Genesis 3;15 (to which the film's opening scenes already alluded), as Satan mockingly watches the Seed of the woman. That's what I thought, a sort of premature declaration of victory while adding to the pain with mockery. I'm not sure Gibson's comment rules us out.
BTW, it was great to see the devil in this movie because it testifies -against its own will- to the importance and deity of Christ. In the same way, the critics who are seething mad, who manufacture charges against the movie, and who decry the violence are also testifying -against their own will- to the importance and deity of the Central Figure.
31
posted on
03/04/2004 10:42:40 AM PST
by
Dataman
To: NYer
Good post - thanks!
32
posted on
03/04/2004 10:43:13 AM PST
by
talleyman
(Satan is the Father of Lies - Satan is a Democrat)
To: upchuck
swollen with evil Good pic, good description.
33
posted on
03/04/2004 10:43:30 AM PST
by
Dataman
To: BibChr
You may want to look at the FR thread entitled "Gibson's Passion" posted by yours truly this AM. Your take is similar to the thought of the reviewer(s) in that article.
34
posted on
03/04/2004 10:57:14 AM PST
by
ninenot
(Minister of Membership, TomasTorquemadaGentlemen'sClub)
To: NYer
When asked why he portrayed Satanan androgynous, almost beautiful being played by Rosalinda Celentano... Hmmm, Rosalinda Celentano...Celentano...I always enjoyed their cheese raviolis when I was growing up in NJ...
35
posted on
03/04/2004 11:07:02 AM PST
by
MrConfettiMan
(Worry is only anxiety over something that may never happen. So why bother?)
To: NYer
Thank you for this exquisite image ...
36
posted on
03/04/2004 11:12:04 AM PST
by
LibertyLight
(Grateful for Free Rebublic)
To: Eala
Revelation 13:11-18. The Spawn of Satan
37
posted on
03/04/2004 11:13:43 AM PST
by
pankot
To: NYer
Bump......to stop any urban legends cropping up .....which I'm sure many are already.
To: Arthur McGowan
And Ellsworth Toohey?
39
posted on
03/04/2004 11:17:14 AM PST
by
pankot
To: NYer; All
I have a question of my own about the movie. What is the point or significance of Mary and Mary Magdalene sopping up Christ's blood after the scourging?
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