December 7th, 2004




From the people who brought you CrushKerry.com, comes . . . Passion for Fairness. The site seems dedicated to influencing Academy members to vote for The Passion of the Christ for Best Picture over Fahrenheit 9/11.

In fairness, I haven’t seen The Passion–and I don’t plan to. If some audiences have felt enriched by it, then good for them. But it looks to me like a graphic, prolonged snuff film. And that’s not really my thing.

  1. misterdasher December 8, 2004 at 12:19 am

    You’re not the first person to compare Gibson’s The Passion to a snuff film. IIRC, this isn’t even the first time you yourself have drawn the comparison. (I’d Google to check, but that’s too much like cheating.)I know I won’t change your mind, but I’ll point out a couple of things that I’m not the first person to point out. Let alone the fact that I’m not saying anything that I haven’t said before, either.First, snuff films are designed to excite perverse, morbid sexual desires. The power of the Passion, as an event or as a film, lies in its power to humble and awe.Second, this humbling power stems from the nature of the story itself. In a snuff film – and, admittedly, my knowledge of them comes from another movie, 8MM, and is therefore limited; even, experientially speaking, nonexistent – no one is eternally transformed by suffering and death. In the Passion, whether as Gibson tells it or as one reads it in the Gospels, Christ’s suffering is purposeful. Horrible, yes; extensive, yes; excruciating and unbearable, yes. But Christ suffered freely, not against his will. And his suffering served a purpose far greater than to further the perverse titillation of a murderous sexual release.That is why the story of the Passion continues to be told. The same story, generation after generation. And why that story continues to convert adherents around the globe. Unlike porn flicks, you don’t see a proliferation of Passions – “The Passion II: Crucified in Crimea” or “The Passion XLVII: Suffering in Samarra”.So what did you think of “The Last Temptation of Christ”?

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