The Vatican reccomends a vampire movie

[Balance]

have been reading a lot of the threads about people disgusted with certain films and wanted to post these links.

Eleven years ago one of the Vatican congregations issued a list of what they called “45 Films of Note” - these are films the Vatican recommends all Catholics consdier watching; films that will edify you and you faith in God.

Thing is, a lot of people in this forum would find the list difficult - because it includes films that show scenes involving sex, violence, immorality, swearing and profanity (and the original Dracula film, Nosferatu) - and the fact people might find the list presents difficulties for them points to a general squeamishness or rigorousness which is unhealthy or unuseful in a faithful Catholic.
Here are the links - easy reading and not that long.

catholic.com/thisrock/2004/0411fea1.asp
this one includes a link to an item on the US Bishops’ website.

and another one is

www.decentfilms.com/sections/articles/2572

What do you think?

We can’t be fearful about such films - fear isn’t an appropriate response. There will always be films, and other artworks, that challenge Christ and challenge the Church. Nor are outrage, disgust, or apathy appropriate responses.
The appropriate response is dialogue with such art and the artists behind it.

 

[Wolseley]

Nosferatu is a good film; it and Vampyr, made ten years later, are both good at illustrating good vs. evil.

Some of the films on the Vatican’s list are curious, to say the least. I mean, 2001, Citizen Kane, and Stagecoach are all good films, but it’s sort of odd that they’d wind up on the Vatican’s “all-time” list.

 

[Balance]

Nosferatu is a good film; it and Vampyr, made ten years later, are both good at illustrating good vs. evil.

Some of the films on the Vatican’s list are curious, to say the least. I mean, 2001, Citizen Kane, and Stagecoach are all good films, but it’s sort of odd that they’d wind up on the Vatican’s “all-time” list.

I agree. it’s an interesting selection in all sorts of ways.

 

[John_Kearns]

Nosferatu is a good film; it and Vampyr, made ten years later, are both good at illustrating good vs. evil.

Some of the films on the Vatican’s list are curious, to say the least. I mean, 2001, Citizen Kane, and Stagecoach are all good films, but it’s sort of odd that they’d wind up on the Vatican’s “all-time” list.

The Vatican list has three sections, movies chosen for:

1. Religion
2. Values
   3.Art

All of the above movies are listed in the Art section. Since Citizen Kane is generally considered the (cinematically) greatest movie ever made, and Stagecoach the greatest western ever made, neither of these choices is very surprising. I’ve never seen either Nosferatu or 2001, but both are considered ground-breaking films, so there choices aren’t very surprising either.

As an aside, I’ve purposefully avoided Nosferatu, for ethical reasons. This originally was going to be a Dracula movie. It remained so in all but name. However, the name was changed because Dracula was still under copyright protection at the time, and the producers did not want to pay the Bram Stoker’s heirs a royalty. By all accounts I’ve read, said heirs were quite impoverished, and could not afford to sue the producers. Most experts do not believe the producers could have successfully defended a copyright infringement lawsuit.

 

[NYC_Jayhawk]

John Kearns:

As an aside, I’ve purposefully avoided Nosferatu, for ethical reasons. This originally was going to be a Dracula movie. It remained so in all but name. However, the name was changed because Dracula was still under copyright protection at the time, and the producers did not want to pay the Bram Stoker’s heirs a royalty. By all accounts I’ve read, said heirs were quite impoverished, and could not afford to sue the producers. Most experts do not believe the producers could have successfully defended a copyright infringement lawsuit.

That’s interesting.

I recently learned that Bram Stoker was Irish (and I believe Catholic as well). I was pleasantly suprised the first time I read Dracula - I thought it dealt with questions of good and evil and even spirituality in a far better manner than I had been led to believe. Definitely much better than most vampire stories, which I’m usually not a fan of.