Quick Links
Categories
My iTunes
My Flickr
My Blogroll
Archives and Links
Browse archives by date
My Old Blog
My Homepage
100 Things About Me
My Book List
My Husband
My Church
MoreLight Presbyterians
The Presbyterian Church USA
The Monkey Sphere
Mark Morford, SF Gate
Miss Manners
My Old Blog
My Homepage
100 Things About Me
My Book List
My Husband
My Church
MoreLight Presbyterians
The Presbyterian Church USA
The Monkey Sphere
Mark Morford, SF Gate
Miss Manners
XML/RSS Feed
Calendar
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
Statistics
Total entries in this blog:
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Apr 07, 2009 10:28 AM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Apr 07, 2009 10:28 AM
Jesus Camp...
Yeah, I know I'm behind the times, Jesus Camp came out in
2007, was nominated for an Oscar and received several awards, but we never saw
it. I think most people heard about the movie because of the cameo by disgraced
evangelical minister and occasional meth-addled homosexualist (allegedly), Rev.
Ted Haggard (more on that later), but did anyone actually watch it? I don't
think I've actually talked to anyone who
has.
Anyway, I put it in our Netflix queueueueue but I kept bumping it down in favor of LOST Seasons 1 through 3. Then, when it finally arrived, the DVD just sat on our coffee table like a turd for about two months. Neither of us really wanted to touch it, and such movies generally really bother Brian. So in order to get it out of the house and get something new from Netflix, last night I watched it alone.
Do not watch this movie alone.
I agree with one of the commenters on IMDB, "Should be categorized Documentary/Horror". Seriously. Pardon my edited French, but this is a seriously effed-up movie.
First of all, the obvious question that's always asked of these sorts of things, "Why in the H-E-Double-Hockey-Stick would these people agree to be filmed for this documentary?" Though I do have to say, particularly in the beginning, it was filmed in a seemingly reasonably objective way. By "objective", I only mean that it appears objective, comparatively speaking. That is, one never knows what actually happened vs. what happened in the editing room. But it seems to me that the filmmakers didn't actually have to do much to make their case. These folks were Grand Moff Tarkin-esque all on their own.
Things that bothered me, in no particular order (and not even remotely an exhaustive list):
1) Becky Fisher's (the leader of the camp) statement at the end of the movie that while democracy may be the best form of government on Earth, these folks aren't really too concerned about life on Earth. The implication, unstated, was obvious and chilling.
2) The widely excerpted "Worshipping George Bush" scene was even worse when it isn't excerpted. Any analogy I can think of would simply demonstrate Godwin's Law, so I'll refrain. But I will say that a few years ago we went to see a production of Cabaret here on campus, and the "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" number at the end of the first act was sung by a large group of children in brownshirt uniforms. This movie was like that, except real.
3) The "science" lesson during the kids' homeschooling lesson was so cliched it was tough to even get worked up about it.
4) Ted Haggard. OK, everyone's seen the creep-tacular clip from this movie with him preaching ("I know what you did last night!"), except me. In fact, through the whole Ted Haggard affair I never saw any video of him; just read about him. I'd already known who he was because of his position (ahem) in the National Association of Evangelicals. But after watching him in this movie, I wondered how anyone was surprised he was gay. Every time he opened his mouth I was waiting for a chandelier to fall out. Plus he was a total patronizing ass to the kid, Levi, who went up to talk to him, "Just work the whole cute kid thing while you can." *shudder*
5) Speaking in tongues freaks the crap out of me.
6) The children. Oh my gods, the children. I do not get emotional about movies. They're movies, not real life and that fourth wall is always broken for me. Old Yeller was just a well trained mutt. The Aliens were just thin guys in black neoprene. I've never cried watching Steel Magnolias or Terms of Endearment and I do not get scared or freaked out by horror movies. And even if I did either of those things, I'd never share it on this blog, as regular readers probably have figured out by now. But this movie ... well ... it hurt my heart. I can't think of another way to put it.
*sigh* Moving on ...
What's remarkable is how amazingly clever and mature these kids are, in spite of the brainwashing they're receiving. I hope and pray that cleverness leads them to start asking questions some day. I tend to be the kind of person who gives kids much more credit for independent thought than most adults, I think. Unfortunately, I generally think most kids are really pretty smart, far smarter than most adults give them credit for. I say "unfortunately" because that means that they may not be the unwitting pawns that we might like to believe them to be when we see stuff like this. Who knows where the brainwashing ends and their real thoughts and feelings begin?
I really don't know how to feel about the message of this movie. Clearly it's meant to scare the be-jesus out of people in a "they run the country and they're coming for your kids" sort of way. (Um ... doesn't that sort of propaganda sound familiar to any of us homos with our "Gay Agenda"?) Clearly fundies do have influence, but do they run the country? There are many indications that the Republican party under Rove & Co. just gave these people lip service (ahem) in exchange for votes and considered them "out of control" with Rove calling them "the nuts." Republicans made some promises, like the Office of Faith Based Initiatives, but didn't really fund it, counting on the fundies to get down on their knees for Bush anyway. Of course, it worked perfectly. And, I suspect that Bush nominated Roberts and Alito to the Supreme Court because he thought they'd be favorable to their pro-torture, anti-civil rights agenda, not because they were specifically pro-life judges (though clearly that was an added bonus.) Yes, the fundies have had a role in fag-bashing anti-gay marriage amendments, but they didn't get them passed all on their own. Mostly it was the senior citizen vote that ended up getting them passed, and many of those amendments probably would have passed even without the fundie vote. When it comes to politics, I tend to believe that all this has nothing to do with religion, which is just a convenient tool and the religious are convenient pawns, but it has everything to do with money. Besides, there have been nuts like these in America forever. Are these folks really any different, or does our constant media exposure to them make them seem like a bigger threat than they are? Or are they really the threat they're made out to be? I don't know.
What I do know is this: Do not watch this movie alone.
Anyway, I put it in our Netflix queueueueue but I kept bumping it down in favor of LOST Seasons 1 through 3. Then, when it finally arrived, the DVD just sat on our coffee table like a turd for about two months. Neither of us really wanted to touch it, and such movies generally really bother Brian. So in order to get it out of the house and get something new from Netflix, last night I watched it alone.
Do not watch this movie alone.
I agree with one of the commenters on IMDB, "Should be categorized Documentary/Horror". Seriously. Pardon my edited French, but this is a seriously effed-up movie.
First of all, the obvious question that's always asked of these sorts of things, "Why in the H-E-Double-Hockey-Stick would these people agree to be filmed for this documentary?" Though I do have to say, particularly in the beginning, it was filmed in a seemingly reasonably objective way. By "objective", I only mean that it appears objective, comparatively speaking. That is, one never knows what actually happened vs. what happened in the editing room. But it seems to me that the filmmakers didn't actually have to do much to make their case. These folks were Grand Moff Tarkin-esque all on their own.
Things that bothered me, in no particular order (and not even remotely an exhaustive list):
1) Becky Fisher's (the leader of the camp) statement at the end of the movie that while democracy may be the best form of government on Earth, these folks aren't really too concerned about life on Earth. The implication, unstated, was obvious and chilling.
2) The widely excerpted "Worshipping George Bush" scene was even worse when it isn't excerpted. Any analogy I can think of would simply demonstrate Godwin's Law, so I'll refrain. But I will say that a few years ago we went to see a production of Cabaret here on campus, and the "Tomorrow Belongs to Me" number at the end of the first act was sung by a large group of children in brownshirt uniforms. This movie was like that, except real.
3) The "science" lesson during the kids' homeschooling lesson was so cliched it was tough to even get worked up about it.
4) Ted Haggard. OK, everyone's seen the creep-tacular clip from this movie with him preaching ("I know what you did last night!"), except me. In fact, through the whole Ted Haggard affair I never saw any video of him; just read about him. I'd already known who he was because of his position (ahem) in the National Association of Evangelicals. But after watching him in this movie, I wondered how anyone was surprised he was gay. Every time he opened his mouth I was waiting for a chandelier to fall out. Plus he was a total patronizing ass to the kid, Levi, who went up to talk to him, "Just work the whole cute kid thing while you can." *shudder*
5) Speaking in tongues freaks the crap out of me.
6) The children. Oh my gods, the children. I do not get emotional about movies. They're movies, not real life and that fourth wall is always broken for me. Old Yeller was just a well trained mutt. The Aliens were just thin guys in black neoprene. I've never cried watching Steel Magnolias or Terms of Endearment and I do not get scared or freaked out by horror movies. And even if I did either of those things, I'd never share it on this blog, as regular readers probably have figured out by now. But this movie ... well ... it hurt my heart. I can't think of another way to put it.
*sigh* Moving on ...
What's remarkable is how amazingly clever and mature these kids are, in spite of the brainwashing they're receiving. I hope and pray that cleverness leads them to start asking questions some day. I tend to be the kind of person who gives kids much more credit for independent thought than most adults, I think. Unfortunately, I generally think most kids are really pretty smart, far smarter than most adults give them credit for. I say "unfortunately" because that means that they may not be the unwitting pawns that we might like to believe them to be when we see stuff like this. Who knows where the brainwashing ends and their real thoughts and feelings begin?
I really don't know how to feel about the message of this movie. Clearly it's meant to scare the be-jesus out of people in a "they run the country and they're coming for your kids" sort of way. (Um ... doesn't that sort of propaganda sound familiar to any of us homos with our "Gay Agenda"?) Clearly fundies do have influence, but do they run the country? There are many indications that the Republican party under Rove & Co. just gave these people lip service (ahem) in exchange for votes and considered them "out of control" with Rove calling them "the nuts." Republicans made some promises, like the Office of Faith Based Initiatives, but didn't really fund it, counting on the fundies to get down on their knees for Bush anyway. Of course, it worked perfectly. And, I suspect that Bush nominated Roberts and Alito to the Supreme Court because he thought they'd be favorable to their pro-torture, anti-civil rights agenda, not because they were specifically pro-life judges (though clearly that was an added bonus.) Yes, the fundies have had a role in fag-bashing anti-gay marriage amendments, but they didn't get them passed all on their own. Mostly it was the senior citizen vote that ended up getting them passed, and many of those amendments probably would have passed even without the fundie vote. When it comes to politics, I tend to believe that all this has nothing to do with religion, which is just a convenient tool and the religious are convenient pawns, but it has everything to do with money. Besides, there have been nuts like these in America forever. Are these folks really any different, or does our constant media exposure to them make them seem like a bigger threat than they are? Or are they really the threat they're made out to be? I don't know.
What I do know is this: Do not watch this movie alone.
Posted: Thu - June 12, 2008 at 07:48 AM