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March 10, 2004,
9:00 a.m.
Passionate Encounter
At the insersection of faith and culture.
Hey Mel: You've just launched a record box-office movie in The Passion of The Christ, which grossed more upon release than all other movies combined on that opening weekend — what are you going to do now?
While a trip to Disney World is most likely not among Mr. Gibson's plans for the immediate future, perhaps making additional films based on the Bible is. No one should begrudge him making Lethal Weapon 7 or adding other sequels to his extensive cinematic achievements, but there are obviously more stories with big-screen appeal to be found in Scripture.
During the months before its release, many pundits tried to marginalize this project, dismissing Gibson and his desire to create a film that was intended to inspire instead of offend. But as Bruce Davey, his partner at Icon Productions, said of the film's historic opening of $126.2 million: "The people have spoken; they wanted it."
Much has been reported on the "what" of this epic motion picture based on Christ's final hours — from the initial controversy to the film's actual content, and everything in between. Now the question on everyone's mind is "Why?" Why has this film had such a commercial — and no doubt commensurate spiritual — impact in such a short time? Did Gibson simply strike a nerve, or has he created a wave that others in Hollywood will follow — based on either a spiritual or a financial incentive?
NEW MARKET
In view of the unprecedented opening-weekend success of The Passion, the name of its distributor, Newmarket Films, is now almost prophetic. Hollywood is realizing that the nearly 253 million Americans (86.5 percent) who consider themselves Christian represent a heretofore unseen or unrecognized "new market."
There has been a recent resurgence of interest in overtly religious movies, such as Luther, The Gospel of John, and Bonhoeffer, as well as films that are religious allegories, such as Jonah, Joshua, X2, Matrix Reloaded, and 11-time Oscar winner Return of the King.
This trend is equally obvious in television. In May 2000 the two-part CBS miniseries Jesus garnered 24.1 million viewers, making it the season's highest-rated miniseries. Networks are currently developing a plethora of Biblically based dramas, drawn from the stories of Judas, Pontius Pilate, Mary Magdalene, and an entire series on Jesus.
In music, despite a general 9-13 percent decline in overall sales, only two genres have experienced any growth — Christian and Country. Sales in 2003 of contemporary Christian and Gospel music rose 18 percent over the previous year, marking 10 straight quarters of growth. According to CBS News, Christian music now outsells Classical, Country and Western, and New Age combined.
A colleague who studies cultural trends from a religious perspective has observed, "The Church is still the single most influential special interest group in the country, but has yet to get its act together to the point of achieving critical mass." Part of that is due to the theological, racial, and cultural diversity within Christianity — hardly a monolithic entity.
There is an old adage that says, "The largest number of people focused on the smallest point of agreement provides the greatest impact." In terms of The Passion, that common denominator has been the agreement among people of diverse confessions within the Christian community that "Christ died for our sins" — a point on which most people of Christian faith can concur, despite other theological differences.
Even one of the film's most outspoken critics, Boston College historian and professor Paula Fredriksen, is quoted in Monday's New York Times as saying she believed "Mr. Gibson's real victory — was to pull off an 'ecumenical cross-marketing coup' by bridging a very old gap between many conservative Catholics and Protestants."
The marketing for this film was similar to the launch of any major motion picture, initially focusing on the core audience — namely, individuals who have an affinity for this story, and whose lives have been affected by it. That audience has demonstrated at the box office its support for value-added "entertainment with a purpose" through the genre of faith and family films. Equally important, this support has also "primed the pump" for mainstream audiences to follow.
BEYOND MARKETING — ISSUES OF THE HEART
Despite the effectiveness of Icon Productions' marketing efforts, the phenomenal response to this film is also due, in part, to the "X" factor of an unprecedented search for purpose and meaning in our country today — especially among young people. People who have now seen the movie will go back and read "the Book." In so doing, they will hopefully find that the Bible provides answers to both personal and societal problems — often issues of the heart.
The Passion of The Christ has put the Christian Gospel at the unavoidable intersection of faith and culture. This powerful story of a sacrifice willingly given is the foundation of faith for one-third of the planet. It is not merely history; it is "His story." It has the potential to go beyond merely engaging society, to transform it — through the personalization of a timeless message of a love and forgiveness.
There has been a great deal of focus on the film's "R" rating, for realistic violence. While the film is graphic, it is not gratuitous, and is based on a historic event that has inspired art, culture, behavior, and governments. One Christian leader remarked that the "R" could also stand for redemption, reinforcing the Biblical admonition that dying was Jesus' reason for living and part of God's divine plan for the redemption of all mankind.
In an article in The New Yorker, author Peter Boyle observed that The Passion of The Christ is not a religious film, but rather a war movie that portrays the struggle between good and evil and the overwhelming power of love that transcends race and culture.
Saving Private Ryan is another powerful film containing historic violence that changed our understanding of war. My father, a veteran of World War II, told me that as he watched the portrayal of a battle in which 70 percent of his unit was lost, he realized that everyone who died on that screen could have been him.
Similarly, many Christian leaders who had screened The Passion of The Christ in the months before its release were overwhelmed by their own identification in the sufferings of Jesus — that He did that for "me," and that "my sins" are what put Him there. The difference between the violence depicted in these two films, however, is that The Passion of The Christ forces the viewer to make a decision regarding what this violence — and the related sacrifice willingly given — means to him or her.
In the Gospels and in the film, Pontius Pilate asks, "What is truth?" In a sense we are all searching for the truth in our own lives. The Passion of The Christ doesn't necessarily provide answers, but instead prompts many questions. Ultimately the collective truth that will come out of the resulting dialogue will be from the questions generated rather than the answers given — and we will all be better for it.
A. Larry Ross is president of A. Larry Ross Communications, a media and public-relations agency in Dallas, Tex. For nearly 23 years, Mr. Ross has been is director of media and public-relations for Rev. Billy Graham. Most recently he consulted with Icon Productions and served as media representative for The Passion of The Christ.
