May 7, 2004
WHY CAN'T MORALITY BE MORE "TOLERANT"?:
An Irreverent Comedy Is Seeking Christians: Hollywood is unsure about what kinds of movies will appeal to the Christian audience that emerged in huge numbers to see "The Passion of the Christ." Does "Saved!" fit the bill? (SHARON WAXMAN, 5/06/04, NY Times)
In "Saved!," Mandy Moore and Macaulay Culkin (in a wheelchair) are siblings attending the school, a Midwestern institution where "Jesus loves you" is a mantra — and an order. A giant cutout of Jesus looms over the campus. Pastor Skip, played by Martin Donovan, is the spiritual leader of the school, handsome, hip and given to complimenting his students on being "phat."Jena Malone plays a teenager who becomes pregnant while trying to cure her boyfriend of his homosexuality and save him from damnation. Her mother, a divorcée played by Mary-Louise Parker, is trying to be right with God but has an affair with Pastor Skip.
The movie is complicated, and its message open to interpretation. No one at MGM seems certain of how it will be received.
"I love this movie, but it is so hard to figure out who the audience is," said Peter Adee, president of worldwide marketing at MGM. "It has a certain Christian appeal, but it's also a little irreverent. It has a pure Christian message in the middle, which is tolerant. But on its surface, if you say it's a Christian movie, a lot of people will go, `I'm out.' And religious people will say, `I'm out, because it seems like they're making fun.' "
So MGM executives have been trying what they call the "Hail Mary" approach, throwing every possible hook into the advertising and publicity for the film, working especially hard to reach the Christian audience that turned out for "The Passion of the Christ."
So far the studio has screened "Saved!" for a gay audience, which loved it, MGM marketing executives say, and for religious leaders, who had mixed opinions. On this particular night in late April, the screening — in a private theater in the studio's Century City skyscraper — is for "youth leaders": student council members, athletes, high school activists, many of whom identify themselves as Christian.
They gathered for soft drinks and guacamole after the screening to tell MGM's marketing team what they thought.
"I think it portrayed Christian people as unaccepting, which they are," said Ashley Harvey, an 18-year-old student at Beverly Hills High School. "I'm Christian, and I agree that there are people who are like that, who take it to an extreme."
Boy, Hollywood really doesn't get it do they? Posted by Orrin Judd at May 7, 2004 7:13 AM
One of the things film analysts kept saying about PASSION OF THE CHRIST was that it got some people into theaters who hadn't gone in years - in some cases, hadn't gone ever. The film was presented in a way that took their beliefs seriously, which isn't likely to be the case for a comedy which (by this article) suggests that faith is achieved by coercion. Most people won't pay to see their beliefs ridiculed, which you'd think they had learned from the example of DOGMA.
Posted by: John Barrett Jr. at May 7, 2004 9:33 AMThe comedy is in the whole Hollywood "how do we get those Passion Christians?" There's definitely a hilarious screenplay in that story.
They haven't a clue.
Posted by: NKR at May 7, 2004 10:04 AMIt seems like a wise marketing strategy if you regard all religious people who aren't monsters as stupid sheep.
Posted by: Matt C at May 7, 2004 10:35 AM"This is why I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand."
Boy, did Jesus ever have their number pegged.
Posted by: R.W. at May 7, 2004 11:08 AMIt has a pure Christian message in the middle, which is tolerant.
I'm not sure what this means.
So far the studio has screened "Saved!" for a gay audience, which loved it
This is probably a good indication that a lot (not all but a lot) of the Passion of the Christ moviegoers are not going to like this movie.
Hollywood does seem pretty clueless on this one.
Posted by: pchuck at May 7, 2004 12:13 PMI'd like to hear what hollywoodjesus.com makes of it. They usually have pretty sane reviews.
Posted by: Ken at May 7, 2004 12:36 PMM. Night Shayliman (sp) is doing pretty good business with his religiously themed movies. The Passion is a one-off, you can't apply a formula to replicate it's success. The people who never went to movies until Passion probably won't go to any other movies.
>The Passion is a one-off, you can't apply a formula to replicate it's success.
1. Put someone in charge who is a devout Christian (not devout in the sense that, say, John Kerry is). Let them, not some studio hack, control the movie.
2. Attach someone with a big name, to interest the press and the not-so-devout.
3. Make a serious effort to convince Christians that you respect their beliefs, and are not mocking/ridiculing them.
4. Get the NY Times to attack your movie for nearly a year in advance.
Probably #4 isn't possible anymore, but it sounds like Saved! and The Da Vinci code will fail on all the other counts as well. The quality and sheer box office numbers of The Passion are certainly a special case, but the principles behind it are quite basic and repeatable.
Posted by: at May 7, 2004 1:09 PMThe Passion is a special case because it represents the core message of Christianity. Perhaps Gibson could do a sequel on the Resurrection, but after that all the other story ideas will be secondary. I don't doubt that you could have great success following that formula, but I doubt you will ever recreate the success of this one movie.
Posted by: Robert Duquette at May 7, 2004 1:47 PMI've seen a preview for this movie. If it was targeted for a Christian audience, I can't think of a worse way to do it. From what I caught in the trailer (which one assumes catches the flavor of the movie), Evangelical Christians are portrayed as hypocritical boobies. There is some fair lampooning in the way the film seems to ridicule the ridiculous attempts of some Christians to parallel pop culture; i.e., Christian Punk Rock or Rap, but most of the preview struck me as downright mean-spirited bigotry. If anything, it smacked of a payback for The Passion more than it did an attempt to follow it up.
Posted by: Derek Copold at May 7, 2004 3:52 PMThis is sitcom Christianity, of which the core message is tolerance.
Posted by: David Cohen at May 7, 2004 9:05 PMAnd tolerance, to paraphrase G. K. Chesterton, is the virtue of those who don't believe in anything.
Posted by: John Barrett Jr. at May 7, 2004 9:29 PMI admit I'm feeling stupid tonight, but please explain to me; how is "Saved" a Christian movie, and how does it build upon the trend spotted in the reaction to "The Passion of the Christ"? I must _really_ be missing something here that all these smart people in Hollywood have picked up on.
Posted by: Joe at May 7, 2004 10:30 PM