Cinematic Jesus Only Part of the Story

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hThfoBzWxw

Official Trailer of The Bible

The newest instalment to cinematic Jesus, The Bible showing on the History Channel in USA, is advertised as "an epic... the story everyone knows told like never before". Proving to be a zeitgeist our current era, the above trailer draws on action sequences rather than lyrical content of the Bible canonical text. "The real Bible is a layered, often lyrical epic in which personal journeys are intertwined with collective ones, and human failings bump up against human strivings" (Genzlinger, 2013) and hence the mini-series appears to miss the spiritual elements that the Bible holds for Christians.

Typical of film media, the viewer is a passive recipient of Burnett and Downey's production. Unlike literary texts, where there is space for the reader to use their interpretations (Miller, 2005), in cinema the images are thrust upon us. Film adaptation has difficulty with any text to live up to readers' expectations as the production teams views diverge from the readers' individual perception of the text. The texts are also manipulated in order to reflect the era in which they were produced.

So, for example, In Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, Mr Darcy does not jump in a lake or participate in fencing, but in the 1995 BBC mini-series the screenwriters need the male character to be less stiff and more active to be considered a man of the 1990s, so voila, the scenes were produced.

The Lake scene from Andrew Davies 1995 Pride and Prejudice 

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hasKmDr1yrA

Jesus, however, is a difficult character to capture for a Christian audience because He is not only a man but one third of the Trinity, God (Greydanus, 2010). A cinematic principle of making Him a man of the times does prevail with Diogo Morgado's portrayal being compassionate and physically attractive. Although this may seem an unreachable combination to many a husband-hunter, it does little to depict the incomprehensibility of divinity. Instead it says more about what is alluring in contemporary culture: sexiness in men, and personal relationship with God. 

In contrast, the Islamic tradition does not allow images of Allah or his prophet Mohammed (pbuh). Without these images, there will be no epic blockbuster of the Qur'an and Islam does not conform to popular cinematic culture. Indeed, the locus of control here lies with the believer being able to construct his own faith, not based on someone elses image of their personal divinity. The mystery and intangibility of the sacred remains intact.

While cinema does allow for cultural expression of religion, the suspension of disbelief required does confound believers. Faith is a personal experience that transcends adaptation of canonical text. So while the producers of The Bible may use their talents as an evangelical tool, it only tells the action sequences rather than mysterious experiences of spirituality.

works cited:

Greydanus S.2010. The Last Temptation of Christ: An Essay in Film Criticism and Faith.  http://www.decentfilms.com/articles/lasttemptation.html   

Genzlinger, Neil "God's Word the Greatly Abridges Version The New York Times. 2013. http://tv.nytimes.com/2013/03/02/arts/television/the-bible-mini-series-on-history-channel.html?_r=0. Web. 

Miller, J. Hillis, “How to Read Literature” in J. Hillis Miller Reader. Stanford: Stanford University Press, c2005, ch.12, pp.251-258. Online. 23^rd July 2012.