Catholicism in TV and Movies

[Curious]

I had no idea where to put this thread. I’m not sure it belongs here, so it may be moved.

Something has occured to me while watching old re-runs of Law and Order: SVU (I love that show). They have a nun on there called Sister Peg who helps run a shelter, and also provides the “working girls” with condoms. That seemd okay with me until I began learning about Catholicism and it occured to me that handing out condoms was terribly un-Catholic, isn’t it? Are there many un-Catholic representations like this on TV and movies? I’ve not seen much. I was just curious on how accurately Catholicism is portrayed in various shows. If it’s portrayed inaccurately, do you view this as an attempt of the media to push for more “modern” Catholicsm (ex: birth control, handing out condoms).

I’ve also seen a show where a priest broke the seal of confession to help a nail a child molestor.

Maybe I just watch too much TV or something. I just thought I’d open it up for a discussion: what are some shows you’ve seen that do a pretty good job of portraying the accuracy of Catholicsm and what does a horrible job of portraying Catholicsm. TV shows can be so powerful - don’t you think that bad portraying of Catholicsm furthers anti-Catholic sentiment among some, and fosters all sorts of inaccurate “facts” about the Church? But on the other hand, if Catholicism is represented accurately, couldn’t that also be a powerful tool in favor of it?

What say you?

 

[Malachi4U]

Catholics are often NOT portrayed correctly by Hollwierd.

Most writters and actors in Hollywierd are not Catholic. Many only know what they heard about Catholics from sources like the Baptist church or Chick tracts etc… Some are Catholic or lapsed Catholic.

Regardless, when a director wants to make HIS point he puts in what he wants. If the director believes the poor should have condems then the nun will pass them out. The director also takes liberties to make the story more interesting even if facts must morph a bit.

Look at the two movies made about Luther, one in 1974 and one in 2004. (I think the dates are right?) The newer one omits Luthers faults and ignores or gives little time to the Catholic side of the story. It makes Luther look like a great man that he wasn’t. Hitler would look good in a bias, one-sided, white washed movie like this too. The 1974 version was also written by a Protestant but gives a better balance of Luther and his strengths and weaknesses (or insanity and mental disorder? I’m not bias though! ).

Yes, even some Catholics can be bias too so it is just a way of life. We are all human. Watch movies for enjoyment but remember that the truth is found in the Catholic Church, Christs body. Not Hollyweird.

 

[Curious]

Lol - I like that - Hollyweird.

You’re obviously correct in that one shouldn’t base one’s beliefs on how those beliefs are portrayed by Hollywood (Hollyweird - lol). Using myself as an example, I believe I’m perfectly capable of reading books and watching stuff and not necessarily believing everything about it (take ol’ Dan Brown for instance). It just occured to me that since TV and movies and stuff are a powerful tool for spreading just about any message - the falsehoods are a cause for concern, but I’m not sure there is anything anyone can do about it. I had mixed feelings about the movie “The Apostle” for example. Just thought it would make an interesting thread.

 

[MarySon]

If you want to see something different, I would recommend a trip to a Blockbuster store and rent “The Edges of the Lord”.

 

[Karen1996]

There was a show that premiered last fall on CBS called Clubhouse, but unfortunately it was cancelled. Mare Winningham and Christopher Lloyd played in it. It looked to be very promising and Catholic-friendly; I think Mel Gibson was involved in the production.

American Dreams, the Sunday night drama, did a horrible job of portraying a Catholic family living in the 1960’s. No one ever went to Confession, there was disrespect for the nuns and priests at their Catholic school. Of course, they had to throw in an agenda for birth-control in the first season and there was never any mention of Vatican II, even though it was set in the 1960’s. And I think, the only time they ever showed the whole family going to church was on a Christmas episode.

There is a movie called The Maldonado Miracle (it’s only a couple of years old I think) and Salma Hayek directed it (her first directing job). I thought it did a great job of portraying Catholics accurately.

The movie Dominick and Eugene (1988?), although he had a small part, the parish priest was presented in a positive light. The faith of the mentally challenged Dominick was a big part of the movie.

I thought the movie, Return to Me, was excellent. It had many great Catholic values…the grandfather praying, lighting candles for his grandaughter’s surgery, courtship amongst family, lots of children, David Duchovney’s character asking the Minnie Driver’s character permission to hold her hand on their first date, etc.

 

[Nekic]

Has anyone seen “Dogma”?
EXTREMELY funny movie. A bit blasphemous, but all in good humour.
It portrays the Catholic Church very badly. It takes doctrines like papal infallibility to make the plot more plausible, yet defies infallible doctrines like the perpetual virginity of mary.

It’s funny, though.

 

[RyanL]

Anti-Catholicism is rampant - if I focused on it more I would probably see nothing else. This past Wednesday the parish closest to my house (in suburbia) was spray-painted with satanic symbols, and the exterior statue had an inverted cross spray-painted on it.

Yesterday, the preacher at my wife’s church, 2nd Baptist, made an off-hand remark during the sermon about how a “Roman scribe” changed biblical manuscripts to support Petrine primacy. There was no logical connection to anything prior to or anything after that; he just threw it in. My wife and I were both disappointed in the otherwise reasonable man.

I found a rather tame article about anti-Catholicism, which included the following:

Last year, the Los Angeles-based Tom of the Finland Foundation awarded its grand prize for artistic expression to a drawing by Garilyn Brune: it showed a priest performing fellatio on Christ. Just as vulgar was the drawing by a Penn State student. Done for a class assignment, she crafted a huge bloody vagina shaped in grotto-like fashion, complete with human hair, with a statue of Our Blessed Mother placed within it. This “art” was left on display on campus grounds until Catholics complained and the student begrudgingly removed it… Perhaps this has something to do with the veneration that Catholics bestow on a woman and the anger this causes those who brand the Church as anti-woman: Mary provides a target for those who hate the idea that a woman is given such high recognition by an allegedly misogynist institution.

On another site:

Friday, June 03, 2005

Viacom/Showtime bash Mother Theresa

Brent Bozell has the story about a show called “B—S----” that features anti-Catholic rants wrapped in layers of vulgarity (prepare to be offended):

While the episode titled “Holier Than Thou” ends with a few smacks at Mahatma Gandhi and the Dalai Lama, Penn Jillette mostly savaged the world’s most beloved woman of the 20th century by Catholics and non-Catholics alike. The woman beatified by Pope John Paul II and surely to be declared a saint was known as Mother Teresa. On this Viacom/Showtime program she is called “Mother F—ing Teresa.”

The show features notoriously vicious anti-Catholics like Christopher Hitchens and Aroup Chatterjee. Viewers are told that she intentionally let the poor suffer, providing neither beds nor bathroom facilities. “She had the f—king coin and pissed it away on nunneries,” says Penn Jillette.

…and…

"Kingdom of Heaven" stereotypes Christianity as a violent religion

So say a number of Catholic scholars and historians, as this Catholic News Service piece reports:

The main message of the movie is a post-Enlightenment opposition to violence carried out in the name of religion, said Father Leo D. Lefebure, a theology professor at Jesuit-run Fordham University in New York and author of “Revelation, the Religions, and Violence.”

He said the film’s portrayal of the warrior leader Saladin “as a noble Muslim who is generous … is not completely accurate to the historical record, but it’s not completely unfounded, either. There were Crusaders who really respected him as humane and cultured.” By contrast, “the portrayal of the Templars (a Catholic military order) is pretty bad,” he said.

BTW, I found out that after Saladin took the city, he stripped the cross from atop the Church and had it dragged through the streets while he and his men shouted chants of “Allah Akbar!”. Wonder why that wasn’t in the movie!

Finally, there is an article in my local “Scene” paper (concerts, etc.) about a “christian” high school girl who paints pictures of the Blessed Mother - sometimes as a cat, sometimes as a cigarette smoking prostitute, etc., etc. In the paper she is, of course, being lauded for her work.

Go figure.

RyanL

 

[Curious]

Hmm…I may check out some of those movies. We got a brand new blockbuster recently. :dancing:

What about the Sister Act movies? what do you all think of them?

 

[Liberian]

Curious:

… Are there many un-Catholic representations like this on TV and movies? I’ve not seen much. I was just curious on how accurately Catholicism is portrayed in various shows. If it’s portrayed inaccurately, do you view this as an attempt of the media to push for more “modern” Catholicsm (ex: birth control, handing out condoms).

I’ve also seen a show where a priest broke the seal of confession to help a nail a child molestor.

Maybe I just watch too much TV or something. I just thought I’d open it up for a discussion: what are some shows you’ve seen that do a pretty good job of portraying the accuracy of Catholicsm and what does a horrible job of portraying Catholicsm. …

Curious,

I don’t watch much TV (not having one in my house), but from what I have seen and heard Hollywood (1) is strongly anti-Catholic and (2) does not have a clue as to how devout Catholics actually behave. I’ve not heard of a TV show or movie coming out of there in decades that portrayed Catholics in a sympathetic light or that accurately reflected the teachings of the Catholic Church and gave the impression that they should be followed.

As a typical experience, a year or so ago I took my wife to see 'King Arthur." Besides doing violence to history (Pelagius died at least half a century before the movie said he did), the movie portrayed Christians in a uniformly negative light as calculating, cruel, and cowardly by turns. Any religious people who were portrayed sympathetically at all (like Arthur himself) were Pelagian.

• Liberian

 

[steve99]

Yes, generally TV is anti-catholic. There is a tendancy to portray catholics in soaps as a bit odd (well very odd sometimes), priests having affairs - that sort of thing.
They would never dare to portray muslims in this way, but christians , and catholics in particular, seem sto be fair game to the media.

 

[viktor_aleksndr]

i guess the only channel that i am sure that it is a Catholic is the EWTN!

 

[Grace_and_Glory]

I think that some of the older movies made about Catholicism tended to be more friendly. I don’t know if that’s true, but I do know that all the older movies I’ve seen featuring a priest or other Catholic ideas had a very positive portrayal of the Church in general (such as Hitchcock’s I Confess), and all the recent movies I’ve seen portray the Church in a bad light.

 

[Seeks_God]

I’m a huge fan of SVU, but I think Hollywood loves to paint a picture of Catholicism that is far off-beat…but then I remember that Hollywood is big at promoting sex, homosexuality, abortion, Scientology, Self-worship, etc., etc…the list can go on. What I find interesting is the big interest - especially on cable TV- of exploiting the “Priest Sexual Abuse Scandal.” There seems to be an interest in making it look like priests are awaiting their chance to pounce on us. I certainly do not want to lessen the impact of the abuse, because those “priests” certainly were wolves dressed in sheep’s clothing, but there is a general interest in disproving our beliefs and what we hold as sacred and it’s a shame that Satan has found another way of deceiving people…

Just my thoughts…

SG

 

[Rand_Al_Thor]

Peace be with you!

The Exorcist was probably the best portrayal of Catholic priests that I’ve seen. That’s probably because the author of the book took the time to talk with two of the priests involved with the true story and researched the Rituale Romanum and possession in general. I haven’t read the book, but the movie was good to Catholics.

In Christ,
Rand

 

[Curious]

Oh yeah! I forgot about The Exorcist. Heheh…problem is, lots of prots probably looked down at that priest - the boxing priest who was a-smokin’ and a-drinkin! For SHAME!!

 

[Roche42]

I actually heard a sermon at a daily mass once from a visiting priest who was “trained” (not sure of the terminology they use dealing with exorcisms) to perform exorcisms and was present at one once. He was very adament that people should not be watching the Exorcist movies. He didn’t claim it was because they were inaccurate, rather the opposite. He said that we need to realize that the devil is real and exorcisms are far to dangerous to be publicized and portrayed in movies. It was an interesting homily to say the very least.