Culture: February 2004 Archive Page

At Home

What do the marketing droids think the audience that comes to see Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" will want to spend money on? What previews will I have to sit through?

I stayed home with the kids while my wife went to see an afternoon showing. Soon it will be my turn. She suggests I go early, to get a good seat. I charge up my PDA before I go.

In the Lobby

The few benches in the lobby are occupied by pods of teens on this Friday night. The line for The Passion is obvious -- few boxes of popcorn or JuJubes are being consumed there. People in this line aren't just hanging out. They look older than your typical movie crowd, though the only movies I've seen in theatres for years have been Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, so maybe I'm just used to seeing younger crowds. Up ahead, a kid with spiked hair and multiple ear piercings chats with a couple in their thirties; another kid has a baseball cap, but is wearing it with the brim forwards -- a rare sight these days.

A table off to one side has a display sponsored by the mall's Christian store. I can pick up a free Gospel of John if I want to know, "What is Truth?" My ticket stub is worth $8 off the soundtrack to The Passion.

The Catholic tradition has a long history of putting special devotional emphasis on the physical sufferings endured by a very human Christ. The sorrowful mysteries of the rosary and the narrative content of the Stations of the Cross are contemporary examples. In the middle ages, the faithful were encouraged to meditate upon artistic interpretations of the events leading up to the crucifixion; these devotions, which nurtured a vivid religious imagination, included narrative material that is not scriptural, such as the miraculous appearance of the image appearing on Veronica's cloth when she wiped Christ's face.

Still in the Lobby

While most media attention has focused on the movie's alleged anti-semitism (a charge dismissed by Maia Morgenstern, the Jewish actress who plays Mary), I've been personally more interested in the way some Protestant churches are responding to what may be their first real encounter with this particular tradition in Catholic devotion.

Informed by a version of the Bible that presents a prohibition against the making of graven images as one of the Ten Commandments (the Bible doesn?t actually number the commandments individually; what is in the King James Bible a stand-alone prohibition of the making of images under any circumstances is considered by Catholics to be a continuation of the first commandment, a warning against the worship of false gods).

The Catholic theological emphasis on the Body of Christ leads to the artistic attention paid to the Crucifixion. Note to self: before posting to blog, copy and paste something here about Affective Piety.

Religious devotion which encourages the faithful to meditate deeply upon the physical and emotional sufferings of holy figures is called "affective piety." ... In their private chambers, using a picture, a statue, or spoken prayers to feed their spiritual imagination, the devout entered into the suffering of Christ, a martyr or some other holy figure with a psychological totality that we today would probably describe as a very extreme form of method acting.

Many modern Christians may be tempted to dismiss or ridicule such devotional practices, yet these same critics may have no problem with the idea of responding with powerful emotion to contemporary religious music or extemporaneous spoken prayer. Meanwhile secular culture provides many opportunities for people to cry over the imaginary troubles of soap opera characters, or to cheer or curse a televised sporting event.

-- "Religious, Political, Economic and Artistic Contexts of the York Corpus Christi Play"

Protestant churches emphasize the Word of God, and prefer their artwork to be more cheerful -- a cross in a Protestant church represents the Resurrection - Christ is no longer on the cross. The Biblical emphasis placed upon Mary in the Passion narrative has also been an historically sore spot. I'm curious as to how Gibson will use Mary in this film.

The lobby is packed now, and the noise level suggests that whatever somberness I detected when I first got here is gone. A forward push begins -- people who have been facing every which way and milling about all take a half step towards the bowtie-wearing ticket kid. But according to flashing overhead signs, all the other shows that start at 9:30 (in two minutes) are seating now , but we are asked to remain n the lobby.

Remember, everyone, the last shall be first. We wait -- locked together in a kind of gel that oozes forwards.

I haven't gotten around to cutting me hair in several months... but as I look at the shaggy manes and thick eyeglass frames on the ushers I have to wonder.... is 70s hair back?

In the Theatre

The first preview is a spoof of Caddyshack that turns out to be a American Express commercial. The audience laughs.

Next is a Coke commercial with a racecar theme.

Next is the movie chain?s computer-animated ?branding? intro.

At 9:45 is the touchy-feely "don't download movies because you'll hurt a stunt guy's feeling" promo.

And the movie previews begin. Yawn.

The historical horse-race adventure Hidalgo.

Robert Redford as the kidnapped half of an older couple in The Clearing.

It?s 9:51 now. Patience is a virtue, but this sucks.

Two Brothers (an animal adventure).

Miracle (the Disney movie about the US Olympics hockey team, back when the Russians were the Evil Empire).

Madison (something about boat racing in a blue-collar town).

Okay, so that?s sports, old love in a pinch, heartwarming animal adventure, more sports, and more sports. That?s how Hollywood is marketing to the audience for The Passion. All the promos try to be intense (really, how intense can a heartwarming movie about brotherly love in animals be?), but they appear to be marketing The Passion as an action film. Go figure.

9:57

After 27 minutes of what I didn?t pay to see, what I paid to see starts.Watch One Hour With Me?In the Lobby: Waiting for Mel Gibson?s ?The Passion of The Christ?Jerz's Literacy Weblog)

I wrote this on my PDA on Friday, Feb 27, but didn't get it online until after midnight. I'll blog about the movie itself soon...

I can still taste the beer.

I say this is a whole new kind of tired not because of the physical effects of my hangover. Believe me, that's not new at all. What's new is that I'm tired of this kind of tired. I'm tired of being fuzzy for the first half of each day. I'm tired of feeling like hell and looking out at a class full of students, wondering how I'll be able to pull off a lecture. I'm tired of a routine of drinking that I no longer enjoy, but feel compelled to do anyway. And I'm tired of throwing away my career a pint at a time.

At this point, you're probably thinking that this essay is another self-indulgent litany bred by our current culture of confession. And that's fine. Maybe it is. But there's a point to what I'm saying that bears directly upon the world of academe. --"James Waite" --Hung Over Again (Chronicle)

I don't know what I think about this article... it certainly got my heart pounding, but someone who can write so eloquently about his problem, yet who still feels helpless about it, is probably in some degree of denial.

Seton Hill University doesn't have a reputation as a party school, which is something that attracted me to it... it's hard to do my job when the students come to class hungover or drunk -- and if that does happen here at SHU, the students are discreet enough that it hasn't yet disrupted my classroom.

But this article examines what happens when the professor is the one going through the day in a haze. I personally don't drink; I never did in college because I was too busy, and I don't now because I'm too busy. But I have gone to class sick and sleep-deprived -- sometimes from cleaning up baby vomit (good excuse) and sometimes from becoming obsessed about a software bug (bad excuse). I really miss programming, but I really haven't had time for it at all (especially now that scholarship in both weblogs and game studies has taken off -- there's too much for me to keep up on).

As for the hungover professor, I think some students would jokingly say, "Well, as long as he gives As, that's fine with me," but "Waite" admits his ability to teach is suffering. Hmm... maybe the next time I'm really ill, I'll call in sick. I tell myself that if I cancel a class, both the students and I will have even more stress trying to catch up. And with two small kids at home, it's often more relaxing for me to come in to the office -- but maybe that's just the workaholic in me making excuses.

At any rate, I hope Waite writes again with an update.

All of this carrying on is fine, but if Spike really wants shows men like to watch, they've missed a few great concepts. Here are ten new programs that appeal to real men:

• The Explosion Show - Every week, the hosts fill some interesting object with black powder and then, well, you get the idea...
  
• Crank Callers - Contestants harass strangers and win prizes
  
• Celebrity Mud Wrestling - The name says it all
  
• Target Practice - Like those hunting shows on the Outdoor channel, except that the big game they're after is the neighbor's lawn ornaments
  
• Psycho Friends Network - Wisecracking comedians staff fortune-telling phone service
  
• Pick-Up Truckers - This is our reality show: Blue collar guys are taken to a real bar and compete to see who can be the first to convince a female patron to come home with them
  
• Mug Shot Makeover - Fashion experts visit the drunk tank with timely grooming advice
  
• Riding Lawnmower Demolition Derby - OK, it's sort of a sport, but it's not on ESPN
  
• Cheer Factor - Adult cheerleader routines are rated by regular guys with number cards
  
• Simian Nightly News - The events of the day are reviewed by chimpanzees dressed in designer suits

Are you listening, Spike?
--Driving the Spike [Scroll down a bit] (Every Fool's Guide to the Universe)

This site seems to archive only by page, so I can't send you to the entry I'm quoting from. It's the one posted at 9:58PM.

She asked how I was adjusting to the "difficult" corporate world after coming from the "less stressful" academic world. It was all I could do to keep from bursting out laughing.

Let's see: I'm only working five days a week. At night, I am not furiously preparing a lecture for the next day. And I actually enjoy weekends without the nagging feeling that I should be working on more revisions and resubmissions. Yeah, I think I've adjusted just fine, thanks. --Robin Moriarty --Finding Nonacademic Work Overseas (Chronicle)

I'm actually quite happy as a college professor, but there were brief moments during the dot-com craze when I wondered why I didn't feel compelled to head for Silicon Valley and see what happens. Actually, the fact that my wife doesn't want to live anywhere near the San Andreas Fault pretty much solved that career crisis, but it was still interesting to daydream, and it's somehow comforting to remind myself that I'm not the only academic who brings home bookbacks bulging with homework. For me tonight, it's about a four-inch stack of papers to grade, a teaching demonstration, and about 20 e-mails connected to a research project that just hit a major setback. Such is the life of an eternal student.

I can't wait until Spring Break -- when I can really get caught up on my work.

With the media opera R.U.R., we want to appreciate the Czech author Karel Capek (Czechia's Goethe) and his importance for the European cultural expression. It is he who in R.U.R. used for the first time the expression robot, derivated of the Russian word "robota" = work. R.U.R. is a classic of science fiction literature and has nothing lost of its formative influence. The latest example is Stephen Spielberg's movie A.I. – Artificial Intelligence which has obviously taken scenes from Capek's play, however keeps quiet about it's source. Central Europe is the "cradle" of the robots and not USA, even if their movie industry want to make us believe that by thousands of pictures.
--R.U.R. OperaMedia Archiv Praque)

Just got this in an e-mail from the Media Archiv Praque, probably because I have a website devoted to the play R.U.R (Rossum's Universal Robots).

Assumption, though, is too mild a word when it comes to the belief in mental health. The taken-for-granted-ness of this idea ranks with God, romantic love, the nuclear family, the goodness of free markets and the wickedness of Communism. For most people, suggesting that mental health might not exist would be like telling the kind of people who read blogs that they could have a meaningful life without the World Wide Web. The reality of mental health gives those of us without it a motivation to keep embracing pain because it builds character, it is part of the healing process, it will make us better people. --John Spurlock --The Myth of Mental Health (The Blue Monkey Review)

The "you have a right to be healthy" meme certainly works against the Church's "human suffering is part of a divine plan" meme, the latter being an important part of a religious outlook that invites the contemplation of Christ's suffering.

Modern society doesn't have many universally accepted rituals for the preservation of order in our lives, but for those who practice the morning jog, the AA session, Friday night poker, or even the communal viewing of a popular TV show (I used to love watching "COPS," which plays out a metanarrative of restoring virtue and honor) -- these rituals serve much the same function.

Ancient catapults were state-of-the-art weapons of unequalled power?but how powerful were the military engineers who created them?... The fearsome machines terrorized battlefields and sieges until the proliferation of gunpowder. Their power was impressive and terrifying. Roman catapults could hurl 60-pound (27-kilogram) boulders some 500 feet (150 meters). Archimedes' machines were said to have been able to throw stones three times as heavy. --Brian Handwerk --Catapult Makers: Rock Stars of Antiquity (National Geographic News)

In these movies, priests are suicidal, corrupt and/or lascivious. Nuns are heartless and sadistic.

Before you run to your keyboard: yes, I'm aware of scandals, past and present, involving the church. And yes, some of the films listed above are powerful, important works based on true stories.

But a lot of this stuff is just exploitative garbage. And no other religious group gets bashed with such frequency. Can you imagine a similar number of films with Jewish leaders playing villains and moral weaklings? --Richard Roeper --Join the clubbed: Catholics know pain of being bashed  (Sun Times)

As a young boy, I found it very easy to spot when an actor was not Catholic. When a Catholic makes the sign of the cross (touching the forehead, chest, and then each shoulder), inside your head you are saying "In the name of the (touch head) Father, and of the Son (touch breast), and of the Holy Spirit." Well, in truth probably most of them shorten it to "'Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit." But there's a little pause when you hold your hand on your chest, before you make the horizontal stroke. When non-Catholics do the sign of the cross, unless they have been coached by someone who knows better, they rush that horizontal motion -- it looks like slashing. So it was always clear to me when an actor was only pretending to be Catholic.

The shooter, officer Richard S. Neri Jr., is white. The victim, Timothy Stansbury Jr., was black. Scientific research has a say here too, probing whether our rawest reflexes can be primed by modern fears based on race. --Erik Baard --Misfire: Why Brain Structure Makes Unintended Shootings Inevitable (The Village Voice)

My mother taught me many things -- how to make wonderful Italian food, how to tend a garden, how to love one's family -- but during the last 48 hours of her life, she taught me the greatest lesson of all: how to die. -Paula A. Treckel --The Taking of My Leave (Chronicle)

While the quote sounds like something schmaltzy out of Reader's Digest, the essay doesn't dwell on the sentiment: "'Go and dig up the f-ing bleeding heart!' he yelled at me from Canada."

A good reminder of our mortality -- and why I should log off my computer now and go home to my family.

Unless we get an influx of suggestions within the next three hours, I'll have no choice but to watch this year's Super Bowl. I write this post from the living room of Vidiot Emeritus Peter Ko, and if the prospect of sparing me from the tedium of this year's game isn't enough to spur your creative suggestions, the least you can do is spare Pete from the tedium of my company. --Super Bowl Weblog XXXVIII (Tee Vee)

An interesting site... the Tee Vee bloggers are commenting on the commericals. (How far did you get in Colossal Cave Adventure, Monty?)

My kids are sick, so Leigh and I planned to go to church separately today. I tried to go to an early mass at a different church, but couldn't find the church... my wife had given me directions that she later admitted weren't very good. So I decided to go to the latest mass in the area -- the 7:00pm service at the cathedral. But apparently the bishop is a football fan -- mass was cancelled.

--wood s lot

A few good finds from this Canadian blog:

• The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy
  E. D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, James Trefil
  Third Edition, 2002

• The Day of the Condour
  or How to be a Propour Canadian Spellour
  Ronald de Sousa
  repost

  I scarcely dare fourmulate this question, lest it be censoured, and--Horrour of horrours!--deter our Honourary Donours. Yet suffour me to exhourt you: four though some may harbour the thought that this minour question is not wourth the furour, or think--in errour--that I speak humourously, this issue is especially impourtant for our langourous juniours to considour -- provided, of course, they have not been savouring liquour priour to pouring over this text, endeavouring to gauge its tenour.

• The Awesome Destructive Power of the Corporate Power Media
  The Black Commentator

  If a mildly progressive, Internet-driven, young white middle class-centered, movement-like campaign such as Dean’s – flush with money derived from unconventional sources, backed by significant sections of labor, reinforced by big name endorsements and surging with upward momentum – can be derailed in a matter of weeks at the whim of corporate media, then all of us are in deep trouble.

  The Dean beat-down should signal an intense reassessment of media’s role in the American power structure.