Movies,
TV
and
The Bible
by DAN CLANTON
From CBS’s "Touched by an Angel" weekly TV show
that looks at God’s presence in our living and dying, to
"The Simpsons" animated TV character, Ned Flanders, who
models Christian living, to larger-than-life movies like
"The Greatest Story Ever Told" and "The 10
Commandments," U.S. popular culture has been and is
intrigued by the Bible.
But why?
Money, stories, characters, intrigue, conflict, ethical
dilemmas -- you name it, it’s in the Bible, and it makes for
good entertainment and engaging media.
Let’s look closer at four reasons why the Bible -- in one
form or another -- is so often seen or referenced on large and
small screen alike:
- Pop culture is fascinated with biblical literature
because stories based on the Bible make money.
Purveyors of pop culture know a majority of folks in the
United States identify with religious traditions that claim the
Bible as their sacred text. When a movie or TV show is made using
biblical materials, the studio or network knows people will pay
to see it and advertisers will buy commercial time.
After all, the Bible continues to be the No. 1 best-selling
book in the United States.
- For many people, the Bible carries authority.
Pop culture references to the Bible build on people’s
regard for the Bible and piggyback on their willingness to accept
what the Bible says as truth.
- The Bible, as a literary library of ancient texts, is
so vast and varied in types of literature and themes, it
provides a wealth of story lines, characters and
situations for pop-culture productions.
It’s easy for pop culture to use biblical materials
because many situations portrayed in film and TV can be
paralleled, accurately or not, to biblical situations.
- With a new millenium just around the corner, the Bible
is fertile ground for pop culture to explore.
Pop culture is intrigued by what the Bible has to say about
the apocalyptic and eschatological -- predictions and
descriptions of impending end times of life on earth as we know
it.
Whenever a new millenium or turn of a century is on the
horizon, people become engulfed in eschatological thinking, as
many perceive the end is near. Pop culture captalizes on this.
The current TV show, "The X-Files," and its recent
movie spinoff of the same title, are examples of pop culture
using eschatological sentiment to capture audiences. The show and
movie center around characters who are enmeshed in situations
that exhibit apocalyptic scenarios. X-Files writers have
homogenized these with elements such as government conspiracies
and alien invasions to create dramatic, edge-of-the-chair
episodes. Whether these shows will continue to be successful
after the year 2000 is anyone's guess.
How the Bible is used
As consumers of pop culture, it is important for us to look at
how biblical material is incorporated by TV and movie writers and
producers. How does pop culture use the Bible? Is the sacred
Jewish and Christian text affirmed or abused in pop-culture
productions?
Let’s look at some examples:
- John Huston’s "The Bible," 1966; both
versions of Cecil B. De Mille’s "The Ten
Commandments," 1923 and 1956; "Jesus Christ,
Superstar" as rock album, stage show and movie, the
late 1960s; and all the TNT (Turner Network Television)
Bible movies, such as "Moses",
"Joseph", "Abraham", and "Samson
and Delilah," 1994 to 1997, are among many
pop-culture productions that appropriate entire biblical
stories or pieces of stories. Some of these tellings are
true to the Bible tellings; many are not.
The most infamous example of appropriating the biblical
text, then alterating it is probably Martin Scorcese's
1988 "The Last Temptation of Christ." It that
film, Jesus leaves the cross before he dies to live out a
normal life before realizing that that life is only one
last temptation by Satan. After this realization, Jesus
crawls back to the cross, assumes his former place and
dies.
Mr. Scorcese has added the temptation, based on the novel
"The Last Temptation of Christ" by Nikos
Kazantazkis, to the crucifixion story from the gospels of
Matthew, Mark and Luke. Church leaders protested the
addition and other interpretations of Scripture in the
movie resulting in pickets outside theaters and
heightened interest in the movie, which drew curious
viewers to the theaters that did not bow to church
pressure and showed the movie.
Even productions that follow the biblical texts interpret
them by who is cast in key roles, design of sets and
amount of time given to portions of stories.
Viewers’ response -- positive or negative -- often
stem from how closely the film or TV makers’ images
parallel the viewers’ own.
- Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film, "Pulp
Fiction," in which the character Jules methodically
and emotionally recites a variant of Ezekiel 25:17 before
executing his targets, and Tim Robbins’ "Dead
Man Walking," 199_, in which biblical symbols and
themes surround the execution of Matthew Poncelet,
demonstrate a second pop-culture use of the Bible --
direct quotation of Scripture and adaptation of themes
from Scripture.
Examples of this also come from TV. For example,
Scripture is woven throughout an episode of "NYPD
Blue" entitled "Lost Israel" in which a
woman discovers that her husband has sexually abused and
then killed their son. Before the husband is revealed as
abuser and killer, one suspect is a mute, homeless man
named Israel who communicates with show regular,
Detective Andy Sippowicz by pointing to passages in his
Bible. When Israel kills himself out of grief over the
boy's death, the detective is shown reading a Psalm from
Israel's Bible to calm the boy's mother.
Writers of an episode of the animated TV show "The
Simpsons," entitled "Hurricane Neddy," use
the book of Job as their model. In the episode, the
show's most Christian character, Ned Flanders, is the
only person whose home is destroyed when a hurricane
sweeps through Springfield, the show's setting. The show
centers around Ned's faith and mental health.
- TV’s "Touched By An Angel" and Oprah
Winfrey’s use of angel symbolism in her "Angel
Network" are examples of a third way pop culture
uses the Bible -- indirectly quoting Scripture or
alluding to biblical language or images.
To be sure, angels are found in the Bible, but they are
found in other sacred texts and myths as well. Pop
culture’s angel references are often so broad
it’s difficult to tell if they are designed to
remind viewers of a biblical passage or simply to play
into a more general belief in spiritual intermediaries.
Responding to pop culture
Those of us who hold the Bible as sacred text have a variety
of responses to pop-culture’s use of it. Such uses can
affirm the great literary quality of the Bible, and may actually
encourage people to read the biblical text. In his recent book,
"The Good Book," Peter J. Gomes says even though most
people can recognize biblical stories, they may not have ever
read them. If pop culture prompts reading, it expands
understanding of the real stories.
When, however, pop culture replaces reading of the Bible,
misinterpretations and understandings can grow.
For example, in the Bible’s Exodus story, Moses' brother
Aaron is an important figure who not only performs some of the
plagues on Egypt but also saves the people on one occasion. In
Mr. DeMille's cinematic telling of this story in "The Ten
Commandments," Aaron is a minor character outside of his
role in the golden-calf scene.
We must approach pop-culture’s use of biblical material
with suspicion because that use almost always fails to do justice
to the enormous complexity of the Bible, both by omission and
addition. That suspicion, however, shouldn't keep us from
enjoying the varied and gratifying biblical-based offerings pop
culture makes available to us.
Dan Clanton is a Ph.D.
candidate at the University of Denver and Illiff School of
Theology, both in Denver, Colo. He is an adjunct faculty member
at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, Colo.