I'm sure everyone by now has heard about the big Mel Gibson DUI arrest and the not-too nice things he said about the Jewish people. If you haven't, check out this handy link. I would describe the trajectory of my feelings on this matter as shock--disappointment--disgust--pity. Then a couple of days ago I received an email from a friend -- we'll call him Chewy -- concerning the incident. Prior to the email I did not discuss this matter with him. I would like to make a few points of note concerning the Mel Gibson arrest and Chewy's subsequent missive.
Chewy's email:
"I was a wacko lib for pointing out the anti-Semitic tone of "Passion", and when I reminded people that Gibson's dad to this day is a Holocaust denier, and Mel has never called him an idiot, so therefore probably agrees with him, I was told that I was just mad b/c Mel Gibson had countered "Farhenheit 911" with a movie for the right that had a wholesome message and needed to get over it... Apology accepted."
1) Apologies to Chewy. I do not recall the aforementioned 'Passion vs. Fahrenheit' conversation. It may have happened, but I have never felt that 'Passion' was a counterpoint to Michael Moore's movie and therefore this doesn't sound like me. Maybe the convo was with someone else. Pay attention Chewy; it's the only apology you will get from me over this.
2) It's nice to know for someone like me that someone like Mel Gibson, a Hollywood icon and multi-millionaire who seemingly has everything going for him, can also believe that his "life is fucked."
3) Hutton Gibson is an idiot. Anyone who denies the Holocaust or seeks to undermine the true extent of it is beyond lunacy. Especially when there are mountains of physical evidence and eyewitness testimony that more than back up the fact that it existed. I've been to Dachau. I've seen the barracks, the gas chambers, and the ovens first hand. Open a history book moron! At least we live in a world where guys like this don't get to be president and make policy aimed at "wip[ing] Israel off the map." Oh wait, nevermind.
4) I'm not sure that Mel is an anti-Semite to the extreme that his father is. That doesn't mean I'm rushing to defend him. His actions are both shameful and despicable, especially for someone who claims so strongly to be a Christian. As a Christian and fellow Catholic myself, Gibson's comments really sadden me. I hope in his heart he does not truly believe those things to be true. Hell, even Dr. Phil said on Jay Leno that people shouldn't condemn Gibson for some drunken rants. One way or another thought, the guy definitely needs some help.
5) Just because Mel Gibson hasn't publicy discredited his father's beliefs doesn't necessarily make him as bad as his father. Hutton Gibson is clearly stupid and wrong. But is that enough for a son to publicly throw his father under the bus? If your dad 100% believed that the world was flat and was the center of the universe and went around preaching that to the masses he would be without a doubt wrong. You would privately take him aside and tell him he's an idiot and that you don't agree with him, but you wouldn't hold a press conference and belittle him in public more than he has already done to himself. He's still your dad; no matter how stupid he is.
6) Whether Mel Gibson is an anti-Semite or not is kinda of a moot point for what I feel is the true heart of this argument. Is 'Passion' an anti-Semitic film? I have to reply with a resounding NO. I've seen the film multiple times and I've never seen anything in it that is overwhelmingly hateful or derogatory towards Jews. It simply depicts the last day of Christ as told to us through the medium of the Holy Gospels (I went back and reread the four Gospels to make sure there were no glaring omissions or insertions in the movie). Mel didn't insert any new lines for Jesus to say like, "All you Jews die and go to Hell." If it seems like the Jews in the movie are out to get Jesus, well, they sort of are. That is what historically happened. Jesus broke certain Talmudic laws, taught things which could be considered blasphemous back then, and spoke out against Roman rule. This created problems for the Jewish authorities and Pharisees trying to get by in a Roman world and they felt Jesus should be taken out of the picture. In short he was a revolutionary. They killed Che Guevara for being a revolutionary. They killed Nathan Hale for being a revolutionary. So Chewy I don't really see how you think that the movie is anti-Semitic. I would argue it paints the Romans in a much worse light. I could also add that prior to the release of this film I read a lot of Jewish opinions concerning it. It was screened for numerous Jewish groups and individuals and for every opinion I read that the film was anti-Semitic I saw 10 more that felt it wasn't in any way and was nothing more than a beautiful, engaging human story. So if Jews don't find it offensive or anti-Semitic, who are you and I to say that it is?
Could Mel Gibson -- the director of 'Passion' -- be an anti-Semite? The answer is yes, he could be. I'm willing to say that he probably is. But I don't feel you can take this movie and use it as an example of his feelings towards Jews or the Jewish race or faith. If this was brought before us in a court case I don't think 'Passion' would hold up as Exhibit A.
7) I'm sick to death of having everything in this country that smacks of religion or faith being labeled as radical right-wing crazy conservatism. We are not all crazy. It's unfortunate that people like Gibson and the dumbass evangelical fundamentalists who deny evolution, ban books, and hold up signs going into Sanford Stadium give everybody else a bad name. It's very sad to me that for most people religion is seen as a bad thing thanks to a few bad apples. I am very religious and very moderate conservative. With each and every day that passes I grow more and more purple. My religion has nothing to do with my politics and vice versa. Chewy, don't ever make that fucking connection or assumption with me again. Assumption is the mother of all fuck-ups.
8) 'Fahrenheit 9/11' is a terrible film. I used to love Michael Moore before anyone else had ever heard of him. But his "documentary" (and I use that term very loosely) is a whole lot of propaganda and twisted truths. If he's so concerned with rooting out the lies of the government and administration, maybe he should turn the mirror on himself. And then maybe he won't have war vets suing him for doctoring their words to further his goals.
9) I chose the name of this post carefully. It seems that everyone is in uproar about this guy who was arrested and said some stupid things. Everyday I get on the internet and there is a new update in the story. And meanwhile the real anti-Semitic crisis is going on right now in Iran and Lebanon. But that's not nearly as important to Americans as some Hollywood celeb. I've been arrested for a DUI and I've said some dumb things while drunk before. I just wish I got the same kind of attention.
So I guess my only question is this: Did Chewy go into the movie objectively and come to the conclusion that it was anti-Semitic by himself or did he listen to a lot of the controversy surrounding it, the filmmaker, and his father and allow that to color his judgement of the film? Did he want to see an anti-Semitic movie in order to bolster his belief that evil Christian Republicans are everything that is wrong with this country? I know I'm interested.
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2 comments:
For confirmation, I sent this e-mail to a majority of my friends via e-mail, so it was not a direct address to any individual, but to the right as a whole. As far as "fahrenheit 911" being a "terrible" movie, I believe the whole point of the film was exposing the alterior motives the administation had for invading Iraq, while manipulating the "War on Terror" to scare people into going. I believe that every day that passes, the film gains credibility, as more and more Americans are waking up to the fact that we were scammed. I've also recieved other responses from friends about the e-mail, and this is a response to the following e-mail. It should suffice for now. And to specifically respond to this point: "Everyday I get on the internet and there is a new update in the story. And meanwhile the real anti-Semitic crisis is going on right now in Iran and Lebanon. But that's not nearly as important to Americans as some Hollywood celeb. I've been arrested for a DUI and I've said some dumb things while drunk before. I just wish I got the same kind of attention", I believe you're the one that just wrote a nine point entry on your blog regarding the matter. I searched throughout your entire blog to find at least that much space being committed to "the real anti-Semitic crisis going on right now in Iran and Lebanon". I found one sentence in point regarding the matter, in point 9.
One friend's response to chewy's original e-mail:
I read that article the other day. man, he must have been really f&^%$# up. you know that these guys always are on a straight and narrow, and for him to say all those things, and basically ruin his career and reputation, he must have been in pretty bad shape. i dont think this has any relevance to his prior film, potc, bc many historians have said that the movie was very accurate. if the movie had any antisemitism, thats bc it is what it is. its a movie about them torturring an innocent man. it is sad though, now that we know what the real mel is like. i never would have dreamed him to ever think things like that. i used to really like him, but now, in my eyes, he is on the same level as a dirtball in the kkk from south ga.
Chewy's re-response:
I don't know what "historians" you're talking about. That's a huge problem with the bible to start with is it's historical accurateness is nearly impossible to confirm in so many cases. After very little effort, I found some nuggets that if you're really interested in finding out how accurate the film is, you'll check out(below rant). I really don't even care if the nut is anti-semitic. It doesn't have any relevance to how I view films like, "What Women Want" or "Lethal Weapon". It is disturbing as hell though, knowing what we know now(that he actually is a bigot right along with his Daddy) to look back at the making of that movie. He wasn't making a movie about fast cars a New York banker...He was making a movie about JEWISH PEOPLE! How anyone could think that his views about Jews had no influence in how he made that movie is to me absurd. Millions of people saw that movie, a movie that took great liberty in how it potrayed Jews, by a dude who hates Jews! I don't know how many ways to put it, and I don't know how people can look back on that movie and not see it as a disgrace. You're the straight talkin' guy, so I'll sum it up with this. If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's a duck...Passion looks anti-semitic, quacks anti-semitism...but until Mel got a little truth serum in him, nobody could prove it. It's poetic justice. Just like everyone is gonna see Barry Bond's records as tainted whether or not there's an asterisk next to his name, future generations won't be able to take this movie seriously, and for damn good reason. Sorry to ramble on, but this thing just really struck a chord with me, and how Christians react to this, and how they view the movie from now on will say a lot. People try to deny that prejudice still exists, that we outgrew it after the 60's or something, but people all over think just like this asshole. I mean, the KKK STILL EXISTS! Nobody died from the making of that movie, but it definitely set the clock back on how Christians(especially willfully ignorant ones, which in my opinion is a vast majority) view the Jewish community. You just know that there's tons of people across the country right now, who won't say it out loud, but are thinking in their heads,(thick redneck accent enter here)"Damn if he ain't right. Fuckin' Jews, Niggers, and Wetbacks fuckin' everything up. Shit man, you tell 'em Mel!" If you don't think that they're there, then nothing I say is gonna change your mind. It's real easy to grow up in the majority and not see this stuff b/c you never really have to experience it, but that don't mean it ain't there. Maybe our all American boy Mel woke some people up to that fact.
Probably not.
I limited it to 3 non-bias selections. Obviously you could go to hard left or right sights and get them to tell you anything you want, but I refrained from that temptation.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/february04/passion6.html
"In response to your question about the source of Gibson's historical evidence, I would say that other than its bloodiness, the film does not reflect much historical awareness. This is because it is primarily based on the writings of Anne Catherine Emmerich who blended the Gospels without regard for their historical contexts."
Here's another.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0402/11/lt.03.html
"KAGAN: I'm sorry, so let me just ask you this -- so what exactly do scholars know about that time and about that period?
SCHAM: Well, we do have a lot of historical records, specifically Josephesis (ph) is considered to be a very good source for the period."
and another:
http://www.facingthechallenge.org/passion_historical.htmlthough
"'The Passion' is based on the accounts of Jesus' trial and execution in the Biblical Gospels, some of the additional material comes from a book called 'The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ' by Anne Catherine Emmerich. Emmerich (1774-1824) was an Augustinian nun at the Convent of Agnetenberg, in Germany. She had many visions, and 'The Dolorous Passion' contains her visions of the sufferings of Christ.
If her visions were accepted as nothing more than imaginative reconstructions of what Christ's sufferings might have been like, there might not be a problem. But many people see them as
revealing to us more information about the Life of Jesus Christ besides what we read of Him in the Bible. (A direct quotation from the Emmerich web site.)"
Apologies for the above entry for it's grammatical errors and such. I really didn't anticipate my original e-mail causing such a raucous, and there's only 24 hours in a day, so things like responding to someone's online blog take a backseat to work, school, social life, etc. While I assume that any sane person will see Tim's 1st point as anything but an apology, I would like to seriously apolgize also for a mistake on my part, as I have seen more commentary on his site committed to "the real anti-Semitic crisis going on right now in Iran and Lebanon." There is one more sentence regarding the situation in point 3.
As far as your main question, I have never sat down to watch "Passion of the Christ" in its entirety. Why? Simply b/c I'm not interested. I'm not a Christian, and this movie, just like "Sweet Home Alabama" is a chick flick, was obviously geared towards a Christian audience. If I really wanted to watch a bloobath for 2 hours, I would play Grand Theft Auto. For non-Christians, the movie has about as much value as an indoor umbrella. But the movie made big news, and I was interested in that commentary. Hearing Jewish leaders and non-Christians complaining about its historical inaccurateness and its treatment of Jews disturbed me, and you know how most Christian leaders responded? By dismissing these objectors as simply being upset that "Passion" had "revealed the true Christian spirit deep within the American landscape" or whatever b.s. They simply tried to pretend it wasn't there, that these people were just crazy. Then I learned more about Mel's Dad and thought,"Man, that's screwed up. If Mel feels the same way as his Dad, there's no way to rationalize that his movie was not skewed by his views." I then developed my own opinion on the matter from all that I had seen of the movie, and read from its opponents and supporters. I thought though, that after this very revealing incident(I've been really drunk before many times, and not even once have I transformed into a Jew hater), people would really turn around and say,"Wow, I really liked the "Passion" and believed those who said that there was no anti-semitic influence, but now, obviously my view was wrong." I thought that was a fairly logical conclusion to come to(maybe TOO logical). But you know what, opinions are like assholes... everyone's got one and everyone thinks everyone else's stinks. I really intended my original e-mail to be nothing more than a clever jab that would be dismissed by friends with a chuckle and a maybe a similarly quick witted response. Quite frankly, I am shocked that my asshole caused such a stink. If I had known, I would have kept my pants on...
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