‘The Perfect Family’ Mocks Devout Catholics as Unthinking Bigots

Mockery of religion in general and Catholicism in particular is commonplace in Hollywood– from Showtime’s “The Borgias” to the recent “Three Stooges” movie which features Kate Upton wearing a “nun-kini.” The latest installment of Catholic-bashing, “The Perfect Family,” is slated to come out May 4 – and predictably stereotypes Catholics who believe and practice what their Church teaches as unfeeling busybodies.

The About section for the “The Perfect Family” declares: “Suburban supermom Eileen Cleary (Academy Award® nominee Kathleen Turner) is the ultimate Catholic.” And indeed, the trailer for the movie perfectly reflects Hollywood’s twisted conception of Catholicism. One quote from Turner’s character reflects the view that faithful Catholics are heartless drones: “Well who cares if you’re happy? You’re living in sin!” Another quote is even more explicitly anti-Catholic: “I don’t have to think! I’m a Catholic!”

The plot of “The Perfect Family” is predictable and formulaic. A “devout Catholic” woman, played by Kathleen Turner, is nominated for the “Catholic Woman of the Year” award by her parish. But her “non-traditional”family – a husband who is a recovering alcoholic, a lesbian daughter about to get married to another woman, and a son having an affair – hinders her from attaining that award, which she covets.

Throughout the movie, Turner’s character attempts to “clean up” her family in order to win that award and undercut a rival at the parish. At the end of the movie, she comes to “accept” her family for who they are.

The implication of the movie is obvious: Catholics who dare to follow the teachings of the Church are brainwashed fools who care nothing for the happiness of others.

The command of the Catholic Church to love homosexuals, as expressed by the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is completely ignored by “The Perfect Family:” “The number of men and women who have deep-seated homosexual tendencies is not negligible. This inclination, which is objectively disordered, constitutes for most of them a trial. They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided. These persons are called to fulfill God's will in their lives and, if they are Christians, to unite to the sacrifice of the Lord's Cross the difficulties they may encounter from their condition.”

The overt homosexual activism of “The Perfect Family” was not lost on critics. Variety’s Ronnie Scheib, in his review of the film, wrote: “The pic's main agenda, preaching religious tolerance toward gays, is rarely presented as even remotely humorous.” In his review, Scheib also noted “the pic's graceless lurching from genteel ‘Sister Act’-type humor to impassioned, melodramatic gay-rights advocacy.”

Hollywood’s portrayal of devout Catholics and religious people in general as nasty, unfeeling bigots is becoming increasingly overt – and less and less resembles reality.

I’ve been watching Switched at Birth and although religion is mentioned rarely, it isn’t bashed. One character is an atheist and another (one of the teens) has disdain for religion, but it is offset by other characters’ beliefs.

The refreshing thing about the show is that the “father” isn’t portrayed as a bumbling idiot. He is clearly successful at providing for his family, has a respectful relationship with his wife and has stepped in as a positive father figure for his biological daughter.

It’s a little soapy and predictable, and yes, is aimed at teens, but compared to everything else that’s on it’s not bad in the episodes I have seen so far.

This is what you want to look for at your nearest DVD rental place:

“Original Theatrical Version”: http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Two-Disc-Widescreen-Theatrical/dp/B000FQJAIW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1336129885&sr=8-3

Amazon.com

The 2006 limited-edition two-disc release of George Lucas’s epic space fantasy Star Wars is not only the first time the movie has been officially available by itself on DVD. It marks the first-ever DVD release of Star Wars as it originally played in theaters in 1977. What does that mean exactly? Well, for starters, the initial title crawl proclaims that this is just Star Wars, not Episode IV, A New Hope. Second, the film is without the various “improvements” and enhancements Lucas added for the theatrical rerelease in 1997 as well as the DVD premiere in 2004. So no more critters and droids scurrying around the port of Mos Eisley when Luke and Obi-Wan Kenobi first arrive, no meetings between Han Solo and Jabba the Hut and between Luke and Biggs (extraneous scenes that were cut in 1977), no enhanced explosions during the final reel, and—most importantly to some fans—no more of Greedo shooting first in the bar. Instead Han is free to be the scoundrel and not even let Greedo squeeze off a shot.

What do you lose by watching the 1977 version? Dolby Digital 5.1 EX sound, for one thing (only 2.0 Surround here). Digital cleanup for another—Tatooine looks like it’s been coated with an additional layer of sand cloud. But for home-theater owners, the biggest frustration will be from the non-anamorphic picture. On a widescreen TV, an anamorphically enhanced (16x9) picture at a 2.35:1 aspect ratio will fill the screen with the exception of small black bars on the top and bottom. The original edition of Star Wars, however, is not anamorphically enhanced (sometimes referred to as “4:3 letterbox”), so on a widescreen TV it will have large black bars on the top, the bottom, and the sides unless you stretch the picture (and distort it in the process, especially considering the substandard picture quality). If you’re watching on a standard square-shaped (4:3) TV, though, you won’t notice a difference.

Yes, it’s true that serious home-theater lovers who want spectacular sound and anamorphically enhanced picture can always watch the 2004 version of the movie also included in this set. But chances are good that they already picked up the trilogy edition of all three films, so their decision to buy the 2006 two-disc edition depends on how much they want the original film. The official LucasFilm stance is that this is an individual release of the 2004 version of Star Wars: Episode IV, A New Hope, and the 1977 version of the film is merely a “bonus feature.” Common speculation is that the only reason the original versions are seeing the official light of day at all is to undercut the booming black market for the laserdisc version. Star Wars fans will have to decide for themselves if that’s worth the purchase. —David Horiuchi

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