September 21, 2005

Movie magic a 'culture war' casualty

When I heard "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," the first of C.S. Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia," was bound for the big screen this December, I was thrilled. I adored that book as a youngster. A friend and I went so far as to make (and wear) "I Mr. Tumnus" buttons to honor our favorite half-man, half-goat character.

Unfortunately, the excitement fizzled when I discovered the film, still in production, was already being drafted into service by the religious right for another battle in the so-called culture war, between their God-fearing masses and my secular liberal elite.

They interpret Aslan the lion's death and revival as a transparent allegory of the Christian Resurrection tale. Plausible enough in retrospect, but I had never read the book as an ideal conscript to a crusade. After all, you can't get much more pagan than dear Mr. Tumnus, prancing about playing his pan-flute for a bunch of kids while not wearing pants.

Yet the same evangelicals who denounce Harry Potter’s witchcraft and magic somehow find nothing objectionable, even something praiseworthy, in the land of Narnia. (Apparently the Pevensie children use some other, perfectly pious mechanism to travel through a piece of furniture and rendezvous with a bunch of talking animals.)

Though "The Passion of the Christ" showed religion can be a box office boon, inspiring studios to hire consultants to mold and market their films accordingly, it's hardly the most innovative dramatic fodder for an already formulaic entertainment business. Even the heretics seem to have hit a wall–trysts between Jesus and Mary Magdalene are starting to get old.

Not to be thwarted, the religious right is now bypassing overt spirituality altogether by attempting to paint the popular nature documentary "March of the Penguins" as its latest apostle.

Where other viewers see illustrations of adaptation, global warming's threat or just glorified penguin porn, the faithful see endorsements of heterosexual monogamy, parallels to the inner journeys of the "born again" and, somewhat paradoxically, evidence of an intelligent designer in the fragility of penguin eggs.

Even if their logic wobbles, conservatives argue their brethren should still flock to "Penguins" because the film is within pecking distance of rousting Michael Moore’s "Fahrenheit 9/11" from its perch as highest-grossing documentary.

I get the essential human compulsion to seek validation for one's beliefs, but is this culture truly so divided that a movie about penguins can’t just be about penguins?

I suppose part of what makes creative work special is that viewers can take from it what they will. But when picking up a book or watching a film becomes a political, ideological act of choosing sides, intellectual and artistic freedoms are curtailed for both creators and consumers.

Come December, I'll be seriously debating whether to see a filmmaker's take on a book I once enjoyed without a second thought. I hope my enduring for Mr. Tumnus wins out and I find myself in the theater, sitting spellbound and silently rooting for the White Witch just because I can, like back in the simpler times.

Who knows–if I go on a Sunday, I may even have the place to myself.

September 15, 2005

Dubyaspeak

disaster area = "opportunity zone"

no-bid contracts for Halliburton = "incentives for companies to create jobs"

I'm making a sanctimonious attempt to lift my sagging approval ratings by talkin' purdy and pulling cash out of the air = "I as president am responsible for the problem, and for the solution"

And what's with ABC News interviewing a bunch of Bush-cheerleading evacuee viewers who had absolutely nothing of substance to say immediately following the speech? Peter Jennings would never have let that shit fly.