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Varieties of Jesus Christ Narratives in Commercial Cinema Master´S Diploma Thesis

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Varieties of Jesus Christ Narratives in Commercial Cinema Master´S Diploma Thesis Masaryk University Faculty of Arts Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature Bc. Martina Hejčová The Unusual Christ: Varieties of Jesus Christ Narratives in Commercial Cinema Master´s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Ph.D. 2018 I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Acknowledgement I would like to thank my supervisor doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Ph.D. for his valuable advice, sincere guidance and encouragement. Also, I would like to thank my partner and my family for their support. Table of Contents 1. Introduction and Methodology ..................................................................................... 1 2. Religion in the Movies .................................................................................................. 4 3. Historical vs. Biblical Figure of Jesus .......................................................................... 9 4. The Last Temptation of Christ ..................................................................................... 15 5. The Passion of the Christ ............................................................................................ 22 6. Monty Python´s Life of Brian ...................................................................................... 26 7. Jesus of Montreal ........................................................................................................ 30 8. Jesus Christ Superstar ................................................................................................ 36 9. The Da Vinci Code ...................................................................................................... 39 10. The Man from Earth .................................................................................................. 43 11. Common Aspects ...................................................................................................... 48 12. Marketing Strategy ................................................................................................... 53 13. Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 60 Works Cited .................................................................................................................... 63 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 67 Shrnutí ............................................................................................................................. 68 1. Introduction and Methodology The Bible is the most important book for the entire Western world. This book is the foundation for Christianity – the most widespread world religion – which has a constituency of more than 2 billion believers. “The Bible was foundational for the Western literary canon, and so persists, post-Christendom, as the text that is most widely) alluded to in Western literature.” (Wright 7) Biblical stories and figures do not have only religious importance, they are already an integral part of our lives and culture. Biblical statements and characters have become part of our language over time, whether in the form of interjections and swearing, comparisons (like a pillar of salt), but also archetypes for various situations (Judas – traitor, Doubting Thomas, washing hands of the matter, the first to throw stones). In particular the New Testament story of Jesus Christ became the subject of many artworks, paintings, portraits, poems, songs and novels. In this enumeration, of course, the media typical of the twentieth century, film and television cannot be ignored. It is important to note that this story occurs almost in almost every genre. According to Eric Lundegaard´s research on IMDB.com, Jesus Christ is the third most portrayed character in film and television (only Satan and Santa Claus are portrayed more often). Therefore, almost every human being who is familiar with culture and history knows the name Jesus of Nazareth. My Master´s thesis “The Unusual Christ: Varieties of Jesus Christ Narratives in Commercial Cinema” will focus on various forms of narratives in the films portraying Jesus Christ. My thesis presents the idea that it is important for the commercial success of the film to stand out, to differentiate itself, to attract attention, whether positive or negative. The Bible story of Jesus Christ is the ideal theme - most of the Western world knows the story. The creators of the films that I´ve selected for analysis in my thesis, used this “greatest story ever told” to show it in a different light, with specific approach, 1 using various types of narratives and changes in the original Biblical story. Some of these films were even presented as “the most authentic” story of Jesus Christ (The Passion of the Christ) or story based on the true historical facts (The Da Vinci Code). In general, all of them are different and arouse controversy on many different levels. I will deal with seven films in my analysis. Each of these films is based on the Jesus Christ story, either presenting his story directly or drawing an important plot from it. The Last Temptation of Christ by Martin Scorsese and Mel Gibson´s The Passion of the Christ represent films that are directly portraying the story of Jesus Christ. The remaining films Monty Python´s Life of Brian, Jesus of Montreal by Dennis Arcand, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Da Vinci Code and The Man from Earth represent the films that portray this story indirectly, whether through theater performance in the movie (Jesus Christ Superstar, Jesus of Montreal), through parody of the original biblical story (Monty Python´s Life of Brian) or through the narrative of various film characters. From the countless number of films that portray Jesus, these in their form and content differ from the others. These films have the forms of a Biblical drama, satirical comedy, musical, theatrical performance within a film, sci-fi and Hollywood blockbuster. Films of American, Canadian and British origin, filmed in different time periods. The portrayal of Christ in these films also differs from the generally known concept of this biblical figure (e.g. by excluding Christ´s divinity and accenting his humanity, moving the story to the contemporary 20th century or telling the story from today´s point of view with respect to recent scientific discoveries concerning Christ´s life, presenting the story in a shocking visual way, or using the story as the basis for comic satire or even a science-fiction story). I will provide thematic analysis of each of these films with the emphasis on the portrayal of Christ, the differences from the original story in the Bible and on the form 2 of narration. I will focus on the questions of his origin, especially as the Bible itself is not consistent in this aspect (he is often called the prophet, the son of God, the Messiah, or the pre-existent God). Anyway, most of the aforementioned films suggest another explanation of who Jesus was or where he came from (no matter which of his personifications in the Bible we choose) or offers further interpretations of his story. There are numerous books, anthologies and academic works written on the subject of religion in film, as well as a wide range of publications dealing directly with the portrayal of the figure of Jesus in film, e.g. The Religion and Film Reader by S. Brent Plate, Bible and Cinema: Fifty Key Films by Adele Reinhartz (five films of my selection appear in this anthology) or Screen Jesus: Portrayals of Christ in Television and Film by Peter Malone. I will use these works and encyclopedias as sources of information on the film theory, list of films on this topic and generally known approaches to the Biblical and religious theme. Furthermore, interviews with the directors and reviews and critics from the newspapers and magazines will serve as the source of the overview of the intentions that led to the filming of these movies in the way they were filmed and analysis of the critical and audience reception. I will deal with official movie trailers and posters in order to analyze the promotional and marketing strategy of these films. The New International Version (NIV) of the Bible will be my source for the Bible quotations. In the first part of my thesis, I will present the Jesus figure within the cultural and Biblical context and provide a survey of the portrayal of religion in the movies, with the emphasis on the Jesus figure. A list of the aforementioned films and their detailed characteristics (form, narrative, content, director´s intentions and cultural context) will be provided too. In the second part, I will make the thematic comparison of the films based on the narrative, common signs and their marketing strategy and its 3 influence on audience reception. 2. Religion in the Movies From the beginning of the film era, from silent films to contemporary cinema with Hollywood blockbusters and independent movies, religion has always been a popular topic for the cinema. “Already in the first five years of its existence, the new art form [cinematography] produced at least six films, all brief, as were all films in those early days, whose subject was the life and passion of Jesus the Christ” (Baugh viii). Religion and film are discussed in various publications, studies and scholarly works from different point of views. Questions of film´s fidelity to
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