Hollywood Exports It's Distorted Theology

Hollywood's Convoluted Theology

Since Maynor and I arrived in Nairobi last Tuesday, beginning with the fast food supper we picked up at a convenience store after coming from the airport, it seems that at every turn we have been confronted with an advertisement for the new movie, Legion. Some of the more modern shopping centers in Nairobi have screens that play a cycle of commercials. The trailer for Legion features a scene in which a pleasantly smiling elderly woman enters a diner and approaches the counter using a walker, then flips out, bites a man on the neck, and climbs up the wall onto the ceiling before being picked off by someone with a shot gun. I think the scene is meant to be scary, but the image of a “diabolical granny” is so incongruous that it comes off as comical.

The combination of a possessed old lady with the obviously demoniacal title Legion piqued my curiosity, though, and I did a little research. Apparently the plot line of the film has to do with the Archangel Michael rebelling against God to protect the human race from Him because He plans to destroy it. It seems that Hollywood can’t touch a theological theme without totally distorting it. From what I gather, there are also two new films that return to the topic of the Greek gods and the projection of humanity onto deity. The real drama of salvation and the genuine message of the Gospel, it would seem, are not interesting enough to capture the restless imaginations of pagan filmmakers.

Our celebration of Holy Week reminds us that, far from being “against us,” God is for us, on our side, so much so that He is willing to ransom us with the blood of His Son. Jesus is no titan or demi-god with a will to power, but rather the real God who “emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave,” embracing our wounded humanity to rescue us by His obedience “even unto death on a Cross” (Phil 2).

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Posted by Fr. Herald Joseph Brock, CFR

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Fr. Brock is a Franciscan Friar of the Renewal who is currently proclaiming the Gospel as a missionary in Sudan.