Well… the theology and film podcast lectures have certainly been an interesting ride so far. To start with, we looked at the medium of film quite broadly and discussed how a theologian might go about reviewing film. Now, in these latest lectures, we begin to look at some of the more specific issues raised by particular films or groups of films.
In lecture four, Dr Shane Clifton discusses Christ films and the cultural influences which have impacted the way in which Christ has been portrayed. Following this, lecture five presents Shane, together with Dreu Harrison, engaging in discussion surrounding the Nietzschean influence on contemporary culture and subsequently on modern and postmodern film. In this discussion they focus specifically on the 1957 classic, The Seventh Seal.
In addition to these podcast lectures there are also film reviews available for you listening pleasure. All of the above lectures and reviews can be found here. Enjoy!
In regards to the assignment for Podcast 4, I didn't notice any other comments in response to the question- "How would you shoot Jesus?" in the context of film. So my answer in this one paragraph is that I would take the approach of shooting him from a distance. I thought it worked really well in "Jesus Of Montreal" and the delivery of the message comes across in my opinion as more of a reality, instead of being "cheesy" as I've seen in other Christian films (such as "Joshua" and this movie I saw on TBN called "Dinner With Jesus"). I think the subtle overtones of portraying the attributes of Jesus (kindness, sacrifice for humanity, love) work really, really well in our contemporary media and as a Christian, it thrills me when I can identify these values in the media.
Posted by: Christie Valentine | August 21, 2007 at 10:03 PM
Podcast Lecture Assignment: "In one paragraph, how would you shoot Jesus?"
What an incredibly hard task!!! I think i would like to "shoot jesus" symbolically. It would be really interesting to explore his humanity and his deity through his encounters with the everyday people of today, and in particular, people of the western world. We are so removed from the culture of that time that i think it could be difficult to portray Jesus in a way people could respond to like the people of Jesus' day did. I would attempt to portray him in his humanity but placing him as the youngest of 5 children in a middle class white American household. He would only have a job cleaning office buildings after hours, and he would be someone who reaches out to the marginalised of society (for example, the homosexual community or the homeless), no matter how controversial he might look. I would portray him as someone who defied conventional/traditional religious mindsets with His radical love for and acceptance of those who were rejected by society. I would portray him as someone who had an incredible ability to engage with and help people. In his divinity, i would attempt to show him as strongwilled yet selfless and compassionate... To be quite honest, the more i write, the more MASSIVE questions come to mind... "What does it mean to be human?"..."What makes God, God?"...anyway, that's where i would start with trying to "shoot Jesus"... I hope this makes sense...
Posted by: Cameron McDonald | August 22, 2007 at 12:16 AM
After reading that first post, i seem to have my thoughts i bit clearer. i really like the idea of "shooting Jesus" in a way that subtly shows his attributes of self sacrifice, love, approachability and even aspects of his humanity like pain, grief and loss would be really really helpful in painting a picture of both the divinity and humanity fo jesus...
Posted by: Cameron McDonald | August 22, 2007 at 12:25 AM
How would i shoot Jesus? Its a pretty hard question. I think that a lot of the Christ movies portray Jesus as an awkward man who walks around touching people and seeing these miracles that come accross as fake or unbelievable. It i was to film him i would focus on who he was, his character, his love for humanity and the reasons why he did what he did. I would try and portray him in his true humanity, as a normal, down to earth, everyday person, but i would emphasize his perfection and holiness. Often Jesus is seen as boring and irrelevant but if i was to film him i would try to show his relevance to everyone's life.
Posted by: Alice McCallum | August 22, 2007 at 12:52 PM
How would I shoot Jesus? I would try to shoot Jesus in the most accurate way possible. I wouldn't allow to change Bible scripture, use all historical evidence as an indicator of how to portray Jesus and try to be completely oblivious of what our culture perceives today as what Jesus should be - in other words: I would put the focus on the Exegesis and skip the Hermeneutics in any way possible - apart from the fact of filming him. I think that it would make it interesting to hear him talk in aramaic (as Mel Gibson chose to portray him) and then let him also speak the scriptures that you can only find in the Bible. The portrayal of an extremely friendly Jesus - like in the DVD set 'Matthew' in which the Book of Matthew is put down word by word as a movie combined with the professionality of Mel Gibson's 'Passion' would be the way I would expect this shooting of Jesus to turn out... (I hope I post this comment in the right section... Please check if you are assessing this and allocate me to the right one if I did that mistake...)
Posted by: Yannick Ulich | August 22, 2007 at 01:41 PM
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