Malone calls on fellow bishops to oppose ‘Fifty Shades’ film

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Bunny_Rabbit said:
I’m worried that “boycotting” will backfire and attract more attention to it. Many in Hollywood view any publicity as good publicity. Because people often go see a controversial movie just to see what the fuss is.

I think just quietly ignoring the movie is best. But if a friend tells you their going to see it, you could recommend something else. Or to try to keep it from dominating the box office you could go see something else on the day it comes out.
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Sure. But Bishop Malone did not mention anything about boycotting.

I agree that calls for boycotts can backfire. But if the culture is already talking about it, there is an opportunity for us to bring the Catholic voice to a conversation that views sexuality in a decidedly non-Catholic way.
 
Joe, agreed. I have yet to see any evidence of an organized boycott by the Church. That’s seeming like a red herring argument at this point.

The books/movie are world-famous on their own power and have been for 4 years now. To show how deep their level of cultural infiltration is, yesterday I heard commercials on two different radio stations urging guys to buy their ladies 50 Shades of Grey Teddy Bears from the Vermont Teddy Bear Company for Valentine’s Day (“comes with its own mini-handcuffs!”).

If you polled everyone who goes to the movie this weekend, I’d bet less 5% are even aware the Church has said anything about it. Same goes for the 100+ million people who read the books over the last 4 years.
 
Wampa said:
Joe, agreed. I have yet to see any evidence of an organized boycott by the Church. That’s seeming like a red herring argument at this point.

The books/movie are world-famous on their own power and have been for 4 years now. To show how deep their level of cultural infiltration is, yesterday I heard commercials on two different radio stations urging guys to buy their ladies 50 Shades of Grey Teddy Bears from the Vermont Teddy Bear Company for Valentine’s Day (“comes with its own mini-handcuffs!”).

If you polled everyone who goes to the movie this weekend, I’d bet less 5% are even aware the Church has said anything about it. Same goes for the 100+ million people who read the books over the last 4 years.
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Teddy bears with handcuffs? :eek: Oh my. 😦

Yeah, I doubt it would even be as high as 5% that have heard any sort of Catholic response about it. The publicity and buzz are already there. And even though the book and now the movie seem to be pretty universally panned by critics, they will still make loads of money from all the curious people who have to see it for themselves.
 
Timothysis said:
Agreed.

And what, exactly, is your comment about the book? You say it is about sad-masochism. What does that mean? Do you even truly know about BDSM? The objection of those people into BDSM is that this book is a total misrepresentation of what they do. How, then can we comment on it intelligently if we haven’t read it?

With all due respect, your summation of Mein Kempf and City of God doesn’t tell us anything about them. I have read parts of Mein Kempf and it is just socialistic political rambling. No where will you find allusions to world war, deportations and gas chambers. The City of God, true, is a “great and important book about the faith” but that could be said for a great many books. My question is, what would be your reply to a protestant or atheist who, without reading it, simply dismissed The City of God as “garbage,” or “claptrap,” or even “pig’s food.” Would you simply accept their critique knowing that they are personally unfamiliar with it or challenge them for not being able to make an intellectual statement about it?
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Timothysis,Using your logic how do you know what Mein Kamf is about without having read
the entire book?
 
I guess that I’m not the only one with a misguided intellect. Ed Morrisey, writer at HotAir.com, in his article about whether or not the film should be boycotted, has this to say:

“I certainly won’t buy a ticket for it, but I’m loathe to characterize the film too specifically or its audience too broadly without seeing it first.” :eek:

Ed Morrisey is Catholic, is married to the Roman Catholic writer Marcia Morrissey, and covers the news from the Church on HotAir.

hotair.com/archives/2015/02/13/should-50-shades-be-boycotted/
 
Timothysis said:
Are you suggesting that I shouldn’t take my good Catholic friend’s opinion as gospel and let it suffice for my own?
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How about straight from the horses’ mouths’?.The starring actors’ have stated their regret for even getting involved in this trashy movie.The female stated it sends the wrong message to woman.She is in fact so embarrassed by her role,she hopes none of her family and friends actually bother to see it. Not to mention the general public.The male actor concurred .
So,if the Bishop’s warnings,many feminist groups outrage isn’t enough for you,then this should do it!👍
 
Jon_Mallory said:
If someone hasn’t experienced a book or even some work of erotica…you cannot speak on it.
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Isn’t that what I’ve been saying all along?
Jon_Mallory said:
What you’re saying though seems to be akin to saying “if you haven’t gone to antarctica, you can’t say it is cold because you haven’t experienced it”.
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Not in the least. The climate of Antarctica is known by objective meteorological measurement. If the objective facts tell us that Antarctica is cold based on these observations, then we would be foolhardy to question them.

The personal opinion of a book is subjective. What is art to one person can just as easily be porn (“trash”) to another. If we have two conflicting opinions about a work, how are we to arrive at a judgement of its content if we don’t decide for ourselves?
Jon_Mallory said:
I understand that someone can’t critique a book’s literary style without reading it but why not its moral content?
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Then how can you do one but not the other? Assuming you haven’t read it, critique for me, please, the moral content of 50 Shades of Grey. I, myself, couldn’t tell you 3 things about it. Tell me what makes it immoral, “trash” and something that is a danger to the Catholic faith.
Jon_Mallory said:
This position seems to be based on the premise that the individual is his/her own epistemological authority. The only thing the self knows is itself and what it experiences. This kind of thinking rules out faith and reason entirely because the only person that can be trusted is oneself.
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I’m talking about a book, not some great mystical experience.
 
Timothysis said:
Ed,

You’re in the book business. How would you guys react to a review of one of your books that was written by a reviewer who based their opinion, not on actually reading the book, but by relying on what third parties had to say about it, especially if it negatively impacted sales?
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Yes, and Fifty Shades started out as a book. We deal with people in Hollywood as well. I read amazon reviews all the time and as a long-time researcher and history buff, I don’t rely on the “I’m attacking it because I hate the subject” reviews, but those who express themselves in a fair and even tone. Word of mouth is important in selling our books as well as movies. If my buddy says, “It wasn’t worth seeing.” or I’ve read detailed reviews - like for Fifty Shades - it turns my stomach to see a filthy book turned into a filthy movie. And I trust the voice of the Church over book and film critics who let me down 99.8% of the time when they express their admiration about some movies which I’ve actually seen. They too are caught up in a perverse way of thinking. And yes, we have a small but vocal minority, who won’t buy our current books even though they haven’t read them. And others jump on their bandwagon.

So yes, once I know what the book is about, even from a third party, I will not buy it. There is a recent semi-historical book that received glowing reviews but which contained glaring factual errors, as pointed out on amazon, and an assertion that was outrageous. I can get a used hardcover for $1.60 on amazon.

I’ve been in this business long enough to recognize shills, the very to extremely biased, and factual third party comments.

Ed
 
Catholic News Services has now reviewed the movie: catholicnews.com/data/movies/15mv020.htm - rated O.

Note: that means they actually watched it. Their reviews are always delivered in a fair and even tone (to use Ed’s words) and you’ll note the lack of terms like “trash” and “garbage”.

I’ve read enough of their work over the years to consider them a reliable and trustworthy source for Catholics on the nature of a film.
 
Wampa said:
Catholic News Services has now reviewed the movie: catholicnews.com/data/movies/15mv020.htm - rated O.

Note: that means they actually watched it. Their reviews are always delivered in a fair and even tone (to use Ed’s words) and you’ll note the lack of terms like “trash” and “garbage”.

I’ve read enough of their work over the years to consider them a reliable and trustworthy source for Catholics on the nature of a film.
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Morally offensive. That’s all I really need to know. That’s why I might see one or two movies a year. I’m just tired of having my sensibilities offended. However, there are decades worth of movies that I can enjoy that somehow manage to avoid that. Thanks for the link.

Ed
 
Wampa said:
Note: that means they actually watched it. Their reviews are always delivered in a fair and even tone (to use Ed’s words) and you’ll note the lack of terms like “trash” and “garbage”.
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It is refreshing to see a review based on first person experience. While the writer did not use the terms “trash” and “garbage,” it’s too bad that he couldn’t rise above such *banal * phrases as "features a modern-day Marquis de Sade as its male protagonist" or “But we’re on to this dungeon-loving Bruce Wayne’s real identity.” Is this written for Catholic News Services or a high school newspaper? And this,

“Additionally, for those grounded in faith, Ana and Christian’s relationship presents a disturbing case study in the resolute frustration of God’s twin purposes in endowing human beings with the gift of sexuality: Not only is fruitfulness intentionally forestalled in the interest of uncommitted pleasure, spiritual union is displaced for the sake of a disordered exchange of possession and surrender.”

The same could be said for A Streetcar Named Desire or even Gone With The Wind, not to mention a myriad of “classic” movies.

This remark, "The film contains…at least one crude term " will leave me wondering for the rest of my life! Apparently, as a movie, it is pretty bad. It’s too bad the review couldn’t have been better.
 
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