"Saved" Their Protests for Later

Jun 14, 2004 6:09 PM
Tags:

Patrick Logan has a good point: how did "Saved" avoid controversy so well?

I mean, you'd think that mocking (contemporary American Protestant) Christian culture would have gotten some attention.


Comments: "Saved" Their Protests for Later

Easy... Your average Christian is pretty laid back about such things in comparison to the average Jew or Muslim. That and Hollywood has usually a "special" way of presenting Christianity that people have come to expect.

Posted by: O'dell on June 14, 2004 9:40 PM | permalink

How dare you say Muslim!

I cry foul!

Posted by: David Kearns on June 14, 2004 9:52 PM | permalink

Yeah, all those Jews and Muslims are paranoid, uptight killjoys who complain about everything, while your average Christian is much more laid back about this kind of stuff. Average Christians just don't care as much about being attacked as those Jews and Muslims - why can't they just chill out?

The reason it didn't rile up more people may have something to do with The Passion of the Christ's enormous success with Christian audiences. Still basking in the glow of their monumentally successful and popular film (critics be damned), Christians may not have cared that a pithy little comedy that was being released on a couple thousand screens (compared to the 3-4,000 usually reserved for blockbusters) and that few people would see portrayed Christians in a less-than-flattering light.

Or it could just be that Christians' love for Mandy Moore outweighs anything negative she might say/do regarding their religion....

Posted by: Nicardo Autobahn on June 14, 2004 10:06 PM | permalink

Well, these are the people (i.e. Christian religious zealots) who shit in their pants at the idea that creationism won't be taught as a theory equal to Darwinism.

Posted by: Joe Grossberg on June 14, 2004 10:17 PM | permalink

I went to a Christian school. From the trailers, this movie looks like a good laugh, but it didn't hit home any more than your average alienated-student-in-high-school, B-grade summer comedy.

From imdb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0332375/usercomments-73

""" Whatever views one might hold, the story is much weakened by the sheer monochromatic portrayals ... Life is much more complicated than is depicted here and a chance to explore deeper issues was lost in a terminal avalanche of cliches. """

Seems to me that it's not so much parody of Christian school culture as a parody of a movie-maker's idea of Christian school culture. I'll probably watch it on DVD.

Posted by: Alan Green on June 14, 2004 10:37 PM | permalink

Or maybe someone's finally realised that protests==free advertising?

Posted by: on June 15, 2004 5:56 AM | permalink

Or the advertisements just seemed funny to them.

"I remember the time I ran my van into Jesus, oh what a day that was..." - Average Protesting Christian

Posted by: David Kearns on June 15, 2004 6:20 AM | permalink

Anon.:

Nope, I don't think so; the notion that "there's no such thing as bad publicity" is totally incompatible with the premises of protesting.

Posted by: Joe Grossberg on June 15, 2004 8:59 AM | permalink

Falwell critizied the movie before ever seeing it.

The people who protest films like this are rarely the "average" Jew, Muslim or Christian. Most people can poke fun at themselves to some extent. From what i've seen and dealt with protests usually come from those more extreme in their beliefs.

I don't think the movie is contraversial. Essentially all the characters go through a crisis of faith, and come out of it having learned something, and for the most part believing in Jesus, if not the Protestant religion.

Posted by: Brian on June 15, 2004 9:07 AM | permalink

"Well, these are the people (i.e. Christian religious zealots) who shit in their pants at the idea that creationism won't be taught as a theory equal to Darwinism."

In the US, we've had maybe three counties out of 3,141 make teaching evolution in school an issue. And I doubt that everyone within those counties agreed with whoever raised that stink.

They are a tiny minority, albeit with a loud voice. If we ignore them instead of citing them as an example and religiously reporting every stupid thing they do, maybe they'll go away.

Posted by: O'dell on June 15, 2004 9:15 AM | permalink

No more comments! Either someone has violated Godwin's Law, I'm tired of the discussion or, most likely, the ten-week window has closed. You can, however, contact me through email.