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A Caption to End Controversy or to Spark One?
February 2004
Rows on anti-Semitism have plagued "The Passion of the Christ" right from its inception. This has worked to increase publicity for the film, but it has overshadowed the project. Now a caption at the end of the film has been suggested to remove the controversy. This caption, however, is no disclaimer of any form, but in fact reads: "During the Roman occupation, 250,000 Jews were crucified by the Romans, but only one rose from the dead.".
This caption has been suggested by Mike Evans, a spokesman for a group of Evangelical Christians, as part of a longer response following a screening of Gibson's film 1. Gibson is reported to have spoken in favour of this caption. This development may have come too late, but if the caption is added will it remove the controversy or simply ensure that the last message given to the audience before they leave the theatre is that Jesus rose from the dead?
The film's message has always been clear. The plot of the movie would always have been based upon a literal interpretation of the Biblical account. The revolutionary elements of Christianity have expressed that the "Resurrection" can be viewed as a lot more than simply a literal event. Scholar Elaine Pagels, interviewed as part of the the BBC documentary "Did Jesus Die?" stated:
"Today,
it seems to me that there are many people that will strongly defend the
literal truth of the Resurrection, many others believe that perhaps, you
know, those who die maybe alive in some way, that Jesus who died might
be in some sense alive, whatever one means by that"
The resurrection, in today's environment is something that has differing meanings to differing peoples. Elaine Pagels herself expands upon her interpretation of the resurrection by stating:
"My own working assumption is that Jesus' followers were scattered and discouraged as they said, and that some of them became convinced that he was actually alive. I don't know how that happened, but certainly it does happen even today. That many people with a sudden, or not sudden loss.. bereavement.. become convinced that the person that they thought they had lost is somehow alive, and that conviction, apparently, was very powerful for some of these people, and then it spread."
The resurrection has been an event that fewer and fewer Christians are prepared to interpret literally as an historical event. As reported in December, upon this site, despite more liberal interpretations of the Resurrection, there still exists core groups of people that strongly defend the literal truth of the account.
Despite Gibson's film being based on the literal narrative of the Gospels, there would still have been scope for different people to interpret the events for themselves. Often events in films can represent dreams, visions, spiritual messages, and this particularly applies to the ending. Films such as Memento, 25th Hour, Pi, Fight Club and in particular Matrix Revolutions all have endings that are very open to interpretation. The viewers of the films are free to decide for themselves how best to interpret the story. The deeper inner meaning or gnosis hidden beneath the layers of the narrative are left for the viewer to find and interpret.
"The
Passion of the Christ" could potentially have had this property.
It could speak to people on different levels. For proponents of the idea
that Jesus survived the Crucifixion it could have brought comfort that
Jesus was delivered from his persecutors, for those convinced the story
was allegorical it could have brought a deeper knowledge of the glory
of God.
This polymorphic property is totally destroyed with a caption at the end testifying:
""During the Roman occupation, 250,000 Jews were crucified by the Romans, but only one rose from the dead."
With this caption the stamp of the official Church line is strongly placed upon the film. The film moves towards something more of a propaganda tool rather than a piece of art. The very late potential introduction of this "caption" may officially have come around by consultation and discussions with groups, but it seems strange that something suggested so late on, two weeks before the film premiers, should receive a positive response from Mel Gibson. His response to the suggestion is reported to have been:
"I've been looking for something like this and I'm going to do it."
Gibson may well have been searching for something such as this at the end of his movie. It appears, however, not related to removing anti-Semitic feelings at all, but rather an affirmation of the Christian faith, dogma, and Church.
References
[1] "In brief: Gibson 'mulls caption' to end Passion controversy" UK Guardian, Thursday February 12th 2004