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REEL FAITH IN POP CULTURE
A roundup of pop culture news from a Christian
Worldview Compiled by Leo Partible (Week of December 15, 2004)
Reel Faith in Pop Culture is newsletter from Fuzebox Media Group that compiles
headlines and resources to inform the Christian community of the growing
impact of Christians in pop culture. To get the full story click on the
link. For questions or comments about this bi-weekly newsletter please
contact Leo Partible at leo@filmpr.com.
Also visit his website at www.dpgvisions.com
CONTENTS QUOTES OF THE WEEK:
*Aviator director Martin Scorsese on the resurrection of Christ
*National Treasure star Nicolas Cage on the influence of Christian faith in his life and in director John Woo’s
*Bono in The New York Times
*Director Oliver Stone on President George W. Bush (from Rolling Stone magazine)
*George Clooney on the moral values of his ‘Ocean’s 12’ co-stars
*Tim Allen on the meaning of Christmas
*Bob Dylan and the last song he wants to hear before he dies
*C.S. Lewis and Kingsley Amis on comic books
*Best-selling novelist Stephen L. Carter (The Emperor of Ocean Park) on what the separation of church and state really means
RECOMMENDED BOOK:
WHO NEEDS A SUPERHERO? by H. Michael Brewer (with a Forward by Leo Partible)
HEADLINES:
*IMAX-Fueled 'Polar Express' Chugs Past $100M
*Denzel Washington – God’s gift to the movies
*Actor Mark Wahlberg on faith – ‘It’s all about Jesus’ *George Clooney and Stephen Soderbergh to produce TV based on the Ten Commandments
*The ‘Ocean’s 12’ stars and their Christian backgrounds
*‘Christmas with the Kranks’ on a marketing trail blazed by the ‘Passion’ *Former Backstreet Boy Brian Litrell signs with a Christian label
*Christian themed songs ‘Jesus Walks’ by Kanye West and Los Lonely Boys’s ‘Heaven’ nominated for Grammy song and record of the year:
*Greil Marcus and Sean Wilentz discuss their amazing new anthology "The Rose & the Briar: Death, Love and
Liberty in the American Ballad," of writing about the American ballad -- and wonder whether Republicans sing better songs of passion and murder than Democrats do *Nick Cave, the most talented romantic Christian poet
rocker in the world, talks to Salon.com about his new record and his return to songwriting form
*The Hollywood Reporter on Mel Gibson: Innovator of the year
*Colin Powell raps for Warren Beatty while Elton John says nice things about President Bush
*Elvis Presley and Christian faith
*The Explosion of faith-based publishing
*Reformed Protestants no longer see images as idolatrous
*Switchfoot’s Christian by faith, not by genre
*Famous Atheist now believes in God *What would Jesus do at Harvard?
QUOTES OF THE WEEK:
Aviator director Martin Scorsese on the resurrection of Christ: I do believe in the Resurrection. I can’t exactly
say what it means, beyond a kind of transcendence. But I prefer to believe
in it, and I believe Jesus is divine. (From Martin Scorsese: A Journey by
Mary Pat Kelley)
National Treasure star Nicolas Cage on the influence of
Christian faith in his life and in director John Woo’s: “It’s interesting
about John (Woo), he’s a devout Christian and he hates guns…what I find I
find very stirring is sort of the spiritual aspect of the film
(Windtalkers)…When I asked Albert Smith, who is one of the actual
codetalkers on the set how he got through, he said the way he got through
it (World War II) was his faith. I think that’s the signature of John Woo,
there’s always some reference to a church in his films…even with all this
death, there’s the notion about being closer to God…I do have faith and I
believe in God and I am a Christian.” (Nicolas Cage interviewed on NPR’s
Fresh Air) "There's cathedrals and the alleyway in our music. I think the
alleyway is usually on the way to the cathedral, where you can hear your
own footsteps and you're slightly nervous and looking over your shoulder
and wondering if there's somebody following you. And then you get there
and you realize there was somebody following you: It's God."
--Bono in The New York Times Director Oliver Stone on President George W. Bush (from
Rolling Stone magazine): And the thing about Bush -- and we have to give
him credit -- he's a fighter. He has proved he had more guts than we
thought. I mean, he went through a tremendous bashing. To be in his shoes,
I would've destroyed myself with doubt. Most of us wouldn't be able to
function. He was able to put it aside and keep going. He's a strong
mother… So I'm not going to belittle Bush. There might be something there
that I didn't see. I'm pulling for Bush. I want to believe in his good
side, like I did in Reagan. With Reagan, I kept saying, "Believe in him,
believe in him," although I kept having nightmares about Nicaragua and
what he was doing abroad.
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/6635541
George Clooney on the moral values of his ‘Ocean’s 12’ co-stars:
"We are, in fact, at times defensive of the idea that there's this disconnect between us and the rest
of the country," Clooney said. "We are actually, all of us, conservative,
not liberal, whatever … We are reflections of that society. And we're a product of it."
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/news/entertainment/120204ap_ent_oceans_twelve.html
Tim Allen on the meaning of Christmas: "It's really about the birth of
Jesus - is what it was," Mr. Allen, who plays the Christmas-dodging Luther
Krank, is quoted as saying about the holiday. "I was a church kid and we
had mangers everywhere. That's what it was about. We were really excited
about that whole story. And on top of that, you had this other ancillary
character about Santa Claus. Eventually, as you get older, you combine the
two. I still think that is a dangerous situation."
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/14/movies/14mark.html?oref=login
Bob Dylan and the last song he wants to hear before he dies: Rolling Stone:
What's the last song you'd like to hear before you die? Bob Dylan: How
'bout "Rock of Ages"?
C.S. Lewis and Kingsley Amis on comic books:
(Note: Contemporary comic books are much more sophisticated than in
Lewis’s day) Brian Amis: I see the comic books that my sons read, and you
have there a terribly vulgar reworking of the themes that science fiction
goes in for. C.S. Lewis: Quite harmless, mind you. This chatter about the
moral danger of the comics is absolute nonsense. The real objection is
against the appalling draughtsmanship. Yet you’ll find the same boy who
reads them also reads Shakespeare or Spenser. (From C.S. Lewis: Of Other
Worlds) Best-selling novelist Stephen L. Carter (The Emperor of Ocean
Park) on what the separation of church and state really means: We know
that for most of the Founding generation the idea of separating church
from state meant protecting the church from the state – not the state from
the church. No one doubted that the churches should and must be harsh
moral critics of politics; but the Founders did not believe that the state
should be engaged in trying to regulate religions. Thus, for example, when
Roger Williams wrote of the “wall of separation between the garden of the
Church and the wilderness of the world,” he was expressing a popular New
England Free Church ideal of toleration and religious plurality, the
ability of the believer to worship without the interference of the state.”
(From The Culture of Disbelief by Stephen L. Carter)
RECOMMENDED BOOK:
WHO NEEDS A SUPERHERO? by H. Michael Brewer
(with a Forward by Leo Partible)
Christian audiences need a resource that will help them
understand the Biblical themes presented in the comic book inspired films
and television shows such as The Incredibles, The Matrix, Spider-Man, The
X-Men, Smallville, Buffy The Slayer, Blade, The Hulk, Daredevil,
Unbreakable, Hellboy, The Punisher, The Road to Perdition, Ghost World,
From Hell, American Splendor, and the upcoming Elektra, Batman Begins, The
Fantastic Four, Star Wars Episode 3: The Revenge of the Sith, and the new
Superman film. From Publishers Weekly -- Brewer, a pastoral theologian
who has been collecting comics for more than four decades, expresses an
unpretentious love and understanding of comics as a window into spiritual
reality. As a devoted fan, Brewer embraces the unambiguous heroism of the
comics: Wonder Woman's passion for truth, Superman's Christ-like ethic of
servanthood. He also appreciates the cautionary tales of flawed heroes:
Batman's obsessive pursuit of revenge as justice, or Iron Man's isolating
addictions to technology and alcohol. But Brewer can also go beyond the
obvious by making unexpected connections. Thor's evolving understanding
of his "secret identity" becomes a surprising parable for Christian
identity, while Captain America and Wolverine represent alternative
pictures of divine protection—the protective shield versus inner strength
and healing. And in perhaps the book's most original intuition, Green
Arrow combines the biblical metaphor of God as divine archer with quirky
humor and an ironic preference for using weakness to overcome strength.
Brewer's style has a distinctively pulpit flavor—several chapters evolved
from sermons—and sometimes he stretches to connect superhero and biblical
universes. Fans of the Hulk will feel he deserves a more sympathetic
portrayal than as a stand-in for the essence of sin. But overall,
Christian comic fans should appreciate Brewer as a genuine comics lover
who communicates the gospel with a spirit of fun and adventure. Order
from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com
HEADLINES:
IMAX-Fueled 'Polar Express' Chugs Past $100M: On its 30th day of release,
the Warner Bros. release crossed the century mark at
the box office with $100.2 million in the till. It's the 14th movie of
star Tom Hanks' career to reach the milestone – more than any other actor
– and the eighth for director Robert Zemeckis, who now has had five in a
row since first teaming with Hanks on Forrest Gump in 1994.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=1603&p=.htm
Denzel Washington
– God’s gift to the movies: "God is first. That's the breath of life," he
almost preaches. "For me, that's why I'm here. I've been blessed with
these abilities. I believe that it's not what you're given, it's what you
do with what you have. I learnt that from the Bible. What are you doing
with what you have?
http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/film/interviews/story.jsp?story=567568
Actor Mark Wahlberg on faith – ‘It’s all about Jesus’: The new
charitable Wahlberg fits into a broader life plan he has for himself. "I
think it's all about Jesus for me now," he says. "I think the more you
know in this life, the more you think, the more pressure you have, and the
crazier you make yourself. That's why I'm trying to get back to church.
It's back to square one for me. "Where I come from, everybody has faith
in God. You drive down the main avenue in my old neighborhood and there's
12 churches within 10 square miles. Of course, there's also 30 bars, but
church and faith are still all around you."
http://www.suntimes.com/output/movies/sho-sunday-wahlberg03.html
‘Ocean’s 12’ stars and their Christian backgrounds: (Brad) Pitt grew up
in Missouri with an upbringing he describes as "Baptist and then a more
nondenominational charismatic kind of movement”… The "Ocean's" stars come
from varied backgrounds. Clooney describes his as Kentucky Methodist:
"Fire and brimstone." The Cuban-born (Andy) Garcia and Welsh actress
Zeta-Jones were raised Catholic. Cheadle is from an African Methodist
Episcopal background. And Boston-bred Damon says his family is Protestant.
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/news/entertainment/120204ap_ent_oceans_twelve.html
George Clooney and Stephen Soderbergh to produce TV based on the Ten
Commandments: FX is teaming with Section Eight principals George Clooney
and Steven Soderbergh on a 10 Commandments-themed event miniseries,
reports Variety. The 10-hour project explores the spiritual and moral
issues faced by modern America as interpreted by 10 different directors.
http://www.comingsoon.net/news.php?id=7157
‘Christmas with the Kranks’ on a marketing trail blazed by the ‘Passion’: When a film gets terrible
reviews, its distributor often cherry-picks a few friendly quotes for
posters and newspaper ads to save face and aid box-office prospects. But
when major movie companies build their national print campaign for a
mainstream farce almost entirely on quotes from Christian- and
family-oriented media, something bigger may be afoot. In a move that
appears to break new ground for Hollywood, Revolution Studios and its
partner, Sony Pictures Entertainment, helped turn their "Christmas With
the Kranks," starring Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis, from a potential
loser into a modest hit by using newspaper ads to highlight endorsements
drawn almost entirely from the conservative televangelist Pat Robertson's
"700 Club"; religious-based broadcasters Good News TV and Family Net; and
the Film Advisory Board, whose aim is to promote family-oriented and
children's entertainment. (Registration required)
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/14/movies/14mark.html?oref=login
Former Backstreet Boy Brian Litrell signs with a Christian label: Backstreet
Boy Brian Littrell has signed a deal with Provident Music Group's Reunion
Records, a Christian music label.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/041206/11/s21u.html
Christian themed songs ‘Jesus Walks’ by Kanye West and Los Lonely Boys’s ‘Heaven’ nominated for
Grammy song and record of the year: (Kanye West’s) “Jesus Walks" will vie
for the song of the year and best rap song honors… Los Lonely Boys join
West in the best new artist column, along with Maroon 5, Joss Stone and
Gretchen Wilson, while the record of the year field is rounded out by the
Black Eyed Peas' "Let's Get It Started" and Los Lonely Boys' "Heaven."
http://www.billboard.com/bb/daily/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000732823
Greil Marcus and Sean Wilentz discuss their amazing new anthology "The
Rose & the Briar: Death, Love and Liberty in the American Ballad," of
writing about the American ballad -- and wonder whether Republicans sing
better songs of passion and murder than Democrats do: Sean Wilenz: Look,
God is part of the language of America. From the first European who
settled here, God was here. So let's be honest about it, what's the point
in running away from it? It's there. Greil often quotes David Thomas'
line, "What the ballad wants, the ballad gets." And what the ballad wants
in part, some ballads, is about God, and about a life of the spirit.
Indeed, it's not even just about God, it's about a Christian God, and you
have to deal with that as part of the language. It's not always there, but
it is there.
http://www.salon.com/books/int/2004/11/17/briar_rose/index.html
Nick Cave, the most talented romantic Christian poet rocker in the world, talks
to Salon.com about his new record and his return to songwriting form: One
of the most intriguing aspects of Cave's lyric writing is his use of
Christian imagery. Modern pop rock songwriting is full of it, but it is
usually used for its aesthetic, rather than religious, potency. Cave's use
of Christian imagery is different in that he is a believer.
http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2004/11/18/cave/index.html
The Hollywood Reporter on Mel Gibson -- Innovator of the year: Whatever one thinks of
it, "Passion" emphatically has reminded moviegoers that there remains a
place for serious filmmaking in the United States -- for pictures that can
move and stir and provoke and outrage -- and that there are still artists
prepared to lay their careers and wallets on the line. But those who have
observed Gibson seem unsurprised that the mainstream film star took such a
bold leap. "He is a risk-taker, and he brings an edge to almost everything he does,"
film critic/historian Leonard Maltin says.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/film/feature_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000719418
Colin Powell raps for Warren Beatty while Elton John says nice things
about President Bush: (Elton) John, who has openly criticized President
Bush's policies, said he had checked his political views at the door and
was "thrilled" about meeting the president on Sunday.
http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2004-12-05-kennedy-center-inside_x.htm
Elvis Presley and Christian faith: Only a few hours before Elvis’s death,
his close friend Rick Stanley heard him reciting a Christian prayer of
repentance. "Dear Lord,"’ he prayed, "Please show me a way. I'm tired and
confused and I need your help" http://spiritofsound.sytes.net/Elvis.htm
The Explosion of faith-based publishing: IF you're already familiar with
Rick Warren, Bruce Wilkinson or Tim LaHaye -- not to mention Max Lucado,
Joel Osteen or John Eldredge -- you can stop reading right now. These
authors of religious books rarely make more than a cameo appearance in
leading American magazines or newspapers, yet each has sold millions of
books in the last few years. Many of those books sold more briskly this
election season than the political books that received much more
attention.
http://www.nytimes.com
Reformed Protestants no longer see images as idolatrous: "Generally
speaking, there has been a visual impoverishment of architecture and in
terms of design across the Protestant spectrum in North America," said
Quentin Schultze, professor of communication at Calvin College and author
of High-Tech Worship? Using Presentational Technologies Wisely. "Now we're
seeing a widespread acceptance of the visual in worship across the
Protestant landscape … and the idea of an austere, pew-lined, wooden-floor
sanctuary is disappearing."
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/149/12.0.html
Switchfoot’s Christian by faith, not by genre: Though they clicked with Christian
rockers, Switchfoot invited suspicion from secular critics, as have other
groups with religious backgrounds, like Creed or Evanescence. "The hardest
part is the pigeonholing," the singer says. "I'm a Christian by faith, not
by genre."
http://www.sun-sentinel.com
Famous Atheist Now Believes in God: A British philosophy professor who has
been a leading champion of atheism for more than a half-century has
changed his mind. He now believes in God more or less based on scientific
evidence, and says so on a video released Thursday. At age 81, after
decades of insisting belief is a mistake, Antony Flew has concluded that
some sort of intelligence or first cause must have created the universe. A
super-intelligence is the only good explanation for the origin of life and
the complexity of nature, Flew said in a telephone interview from England.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=315976
What would Jesus do at Harvard?: "The evangelical conservatives have a point," he (Harvey Cox)
says. "There is something missing in the public discourse about policies
and values and moral choices and so on. . .." But he's wary of any
approach that boils morality down to "hot-button issues, like abortion or
stem cell research, which obscure the larger issues of war and peace and
poverty" that Jesus addressed. Cox worries, though, that progressives
"haven't thoughtfully related their position on issues like poverty to a
larger moral tradition, possibly a religiously informed moral tradition,
in a way that's plausible to people."
http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2004/11/28/what_would_jesus_do_at_harvard/
RESOURCES:
The following is a list of resources to keep you informed of
the latest news regarding Christians involved in the mainstream culture.
Mainstream Entertainment News
Ain’t It Cool News www.aintitcoolnews.com
Cinescape www.cinescape.com
Coming Soon www.comingsoon.net
Dark Horizons www.darkhorizons.com
Media Sharx www.mediasharx.com
Box Office Grosses
Box Office Mojo www.boxofficemojo.com
Box Office Report www.boxofficereport.com
TV Ratings
The Futon Critic www.thefutoncritic.com
Media Week www.mediaweek.com
Zap2It www.zap2it.com
Mainstream Blogs
Matt Drudge www.drudgereport.com
Movie Reviews (national roundup)
Rotten Tomatoes www.rottentomatoes.com
Christian perspective
Christian Online Magazines (Pop culture, entertainment & amp; politics)
CBN www.cbn.org
Christian Post http://www.christianpost.com
Christianity Today www.christianitytoday.com
Cornerstone http://www.cornerstonemag.com/
Faith N’ Film www.faithnfilm.com
Fuse Magazine www.fusemagazine.net
Relevant Magazine www.relevantmagazine.com
Movie Reviews
Hollywood Jesus www.hollywoodjesus.com
Movieguide www.movieguide.org
Crosswalk www.crosswalk.com
Christians in Mainstream Music
Rock Rebel www.rockrebel.com
The Emerging Church and pop culture
The Ooze www.theooze.com
The Voice Behind www.voicebehind.com
National Columns
Terry Mattingly http://tmatt.gospelcom.net
Chuck Colson www.breakpoint.org
Christian Blogs (pop culture, politics, and faith)
Terry Mattingly, Douglas LeBlanc, and Jeremy Lott http://www.getreligion.typepad.com
Steve Beard www.thunderstruck.org
Barbara Nicolosi www.churchofthemasses.blogspot.com
Evangelical Outpost http://www.evangelicaloutpost.com/
Urban Legends Truth Miners http://www.truthminers.com
Christians in the Hollywood Mainstream (Organizations)
Act One Program www.actoneprogram.com
Intermission http://www.inter-mission.net
MasterMedia http://www.mastermediaintl.org
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