[68skylark]

I know a lot of people here have very strong feelings about this movie -- because of the way it's been attacked -- and I don't want to wade into an emotional argument if I shouldn't. But can I ask Freepers what they think of the first point of this article -- about the breakdown of previous prohibitions on movie violence?

Seems to me that other movie makers are now going to push the same boundaries, with motives that are FAR less pure than the makers of this movie. I'm not arguing that the movie shouldn't have been made -- but it DOES seem like a legitimate concern anyway.

[onyx]

Huge difference. The violent death of Jesus Christ actually happened, and until Mel's film, His suffering has been sanitized.

[Dr. Frank fan]

But can I ask Freepers what they think of the first point of this article -- about the breakdown of previous prohibitions on movie violence?

Actually I thought Mr. Boteach's first point was astute. I do think the existence of The Passion.. will (rightly or wrongly) lessen the ability of "Christian conservative" types to complain about movie violence.

I've never been all that bothered by movie violence per se, so I don't really have a dog in that hunt, but I think it's a fair point, which is why I really had nothing to add to it...

[zechariah]

Seems to me that other movie makers are now going to push the same boundaries, with motives that are FAR less pure than the makers of this movie. I'm not arguing that the movie shouldn't have been made -- but it DOES seem like a legitimate concern anyway.

Personally, I think movies like Schindler's List and The Passion are in a completely seperate class from movies that portray violence as entertainment. Schindler's List and The Passion are not entertainment. They are hard, serious films that deal with hard, serious issues and I think they have a legitimate place in our society. (I think we could use a good film adaptation of Solzhenitzyn's Archipelago Gulag too--it would probably include the passage from the book where the testicles of male "suspects" are stepped on and crushed by the "investigator".)

At the same time, I think you are probably right that some people will attempt to use graphic nature of serious films as an excuse to present violence and immorality as entertainment.

Even so, I think we need films like Schindler's List and The Passion.

[z]

[Mamzelle]

Movie violence in re Passion--

I think yours a reasonable observation. Gibson did not try to avoid the R-rating, and frankly said that it deserved it.

As someone not from a Catholic background, but with an interest in art, it was quite shocking to me (as a child) the medieval and renaissance artwork I would come across in the hefty volumes found in public libraries--the Ecstacy of St. Teresa, and the Martyrdom of St. Gerome (hope I got his name right, the one always shown bristling with arrows). This artwork was made and displayed in church property for the education of an otherwise illiterate public.

It was surely hard to take, R-rated art, but I came to accept it as part of a tradition of graphic portrayal of martyrdom.

I believe the Passion very much in that tradition--I thought about those works of art when I watched the movie.

Different, but not exactly what I'd call gratuitous. Not that I don't enjoy a "blowed-em-up" action movie now and then, but this is quite a thing apart.