Religion and Hollywood

Another article written for someone else, I decided to take a look at the huge craze in religious based films coming to theaters near you. I also addressed the claim that Hollywood is  a "godless" town. How can a town seen as "godless" produce so much pro-god content?

If you ever spend any amount of time listening to a Christian Conservative speak, not an activity I can ever recommend, at some point you will here them reference the sinful and godlessness of Hollywood. Tinseltown, the Land of Dreams, all elicit comparisons from the Right as modern day Sodom. But while Hollywood may be an easy target for condemnation and ridicule, the truth is The Religious Right is just as imbedded in the Entertainment industry as it is in the hallowed halls of government. The proof is right there on the Silver Screen.

As I sit typing this, the film Son of God is playing at the Cineplex across the street. If the title confuses you, the movie is about Jesus Christ. Yes, THAT son of God. Certainly one religious movie can be viewed as a fluke in Atheist ruled Hollywood, except Darren Aronofsky’s Noah is debuting at the end of the month. So even though Christians will picket Harry Potter as promoting witchcraft to our children, they’ll gladly get the grosses up on a film if it based on the Bible.

And this year is seeing a flood (no pun intended, Noah) of religious themed films hitting the American Box Office. One such film that I actually find offensive is the film God’s Not Dead. While there should be nothing wrong with a film where someone confirms their faith, it seems like this film only does so by bashing Atheists. The main antagonist of the film (played by Kevin Sorbo, of Hercules fame) is such a negative portrayal of Atheism he almost should be twirling a mustache in every scene. And the protagonist’s horrible arguments for his faith are only believable to the already devout and should not work on changing the antagonists mind. It’s Christian propaganda masquerading as a coming of age film that’s been done better in any number of films that never needed to resort to name calling (Good Will Hunting is a thousand times better and never once insults the believer or nonbeliever).

But God’s Not Dead is far from the only religious themed film taking potshots at Atheism. The film I Origins also feels the need to take a character who is a nonbeliever and at every turn bombard him with fictitious reasons why he needs to believe. Because as you will learn if you talk to most religious people about Atheists, all atheists are “miserable and depressed with no meaning to their lives.” So therefore if a character is an atheist in a religious film, the only way for him to achieve happiness is to find religion.

The simple truth is that the surge in religious features has nothing to do with an increase in spirituality; it is simply a moneymaking tactic. The best example of this are the commercials for the film Heaven is For Real. Unlike most trailers for other films that are out in theatres, this film has a number you can call to book group showings. Why? Because church groups will rent out a theatre and see this film, about a young boy who briefly dies and is revived claiming to have seen Heaven. This same tactic of religious groups attending a film is what led The Passion of the Christ to be one of highest grossing films of all time (I sadly doubt that Heaven is for Real will reach the same level, but it will certainly make its money back). While I am sure the filmmakers initial aim was to make a film that was meant to be a touching emotional spiritual tale, they are not above exploiting the faith of the audience to sell a product. And as many arguments are made about the importance of art, art is a product. The selling of that product allows more art to be produced and so on and so on.

Now while one could argue that Heaven is For Real and God Is Not Dead are fringe films due to their low budget, one can certainly not make that argument for Noah. Nor can the argument be made for Exodus which is coming out later this year or Left Behind which comes out shortly after that, starring Christian Bale and Nicholas Cage respectively. Both of those films are large budget films with religious overtones. They are produced within the studio system that so many conservatives claim to be godless and against religion. So against religion that there are nearly as many religious movies coming out as movies based on comic books

But making religious themed films is not a new concept for Hollywood. Lots of films have been produced over the years that have been based on religious texts or had a religious overtone (primarily these films are Christian as they are trying to appeal to an American audience which is also mostly Christian). The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston is still to this day one of the greatest films ever made, and was at the time one of the most monumental cinematic undertakings of its time. Studios would not have invested that much time and effort if they were anti-religion. The Passion of the Christ is one of the most financially successful films of all time and gave Mel Gibson the clout to do pretty much whatever project he wanted (and escape numerous personal scandals). Even religious films that try to lightly mock religion like Life of Brian, Dogma, or Bruce Almighty do so with only the most tongue in cheek of mockery and ultimately give more respect to the source material than the so called extremist Christians who denounce such films.

The simple truth is that Hollywood is completely pro-religion. The town itself is bursting with churches and centers of all sorts of different belief systems. Someone once said a new church is built daily in Los Angeles and driving around it certainly seems to be true. The simple fact is as long as there are people willing to see a film about religion there will be people in Hollywood trying to make those films. It is the audience that dictates the subject that is produced. Demand creates supply, not the other way around.