Religious portrayals in movies really irritate me

[JD1stTimer]

I saw The Mist recently, and I got to thinking about how dumb portrayals of religion usually are in movies. And it seems like the one religion that gets more shit than the rest is Christianity. Granted, it could be because I'm a Christian, but does anyone who's not see the same thing? As far as The Mist is concerned, I have attended Pentecostal churches regularly at different times in my life, and honestly I can't think of anyone who would react the way that lady reacted. The worst that would happen could be that they were distracted from trying to pray and attack monsters at the same time, but nothing completely heinous as was shown in that film. The saving grace was the fact that our protagonist managed to become just as much of a dumbass. But does anyone else see Christians being attacked worse than anyone? "God is in His Holy Temple" from Poltergeist II, that kooky lady from Edward Scissorhands, Agrestic or Majestic or whatever church-town in Weeds (which I enjoy except for that blatant bigotry) - no one is made to look more crazy and psychopathic as a group than Christians. Even Islam is second on the list as far as I can tell. It wouldn't bother me that much except for the fact that I think quite a few people get their beliefs about Christians from popular culture.
When people tell me what they don't like about Christianity, it sounds just like repetition of stereotypes from the media. Am I all alone here? There are a few who fit that stereotype, but to me it doesn't seem any more common in Christianity than with any other religious or cultural group.

[poseidon]

religions deserve respect because well they are taken too seriously by the believers.. but then you have the opportunity cost of "Freedom of expression and Speech" Society isn't smart enough to make them work together.

[JD1stTimer]

Yeah, you're right. I don't know how they made it work in Bollywood, but the Indian movies I've seen that show religious fanaticism usually portray the bad guys on both sides and also the good guys on both sides. Of course, maybe all the movies don't get exported to the U.S., so it's just what I've seen. Although, Shahrukh seems to be usually named Vijay or Rohit or something as the hero, not Amir or Hamza. They still seem better about religious issues than American movies though.

[the image reaper]

unfortunately, the same skewed thinking shows up here, too, just like everywhere else ... it's OK to dump all over Christ and Christians, but don't you dare say anything negative about some 'fringe' religions, cults, or 'lifestyles' ... it's OK, Christ has broad shoulders, and He will still be in charge when the smoke clears :D

[JD1stTimer]

You're a cool one, image reaper. :) I'm glad that guy with the viking avy didn't show up here. I don't know if he's actually on our team or not, but I know he doesn't help us. Maybe he's banned?

[TryptamineScape]

personally I'm atheist...but I see what you mean...my opinion is that everything gets shit on in movies...that's why I barely if ever watch tv and movies...just the few good ones...like half baked...

[Nailhead]

This happens with everything media touches, religion, government, homosexuality, the media lives on stereotypes when making movies and/or TV shows. Some movies make the characters believable, most do not because most movies aren't worth the $10 they try to charge for sitting through 2 hours of that crap. I don't see Christians being attacked any more than Christians "attack" other religions, not saying it's justified, personally I don't give a flying flip who believes what happens after we die, just saying that's how it is and rather than get pissed off about it, just don't worry about it because there are more important things to worry about. It's not like anybody is being kept from practicing Christianity.

[snowblind]

religions deserve respect because well they are taken too seriously by the believers.. but then you have the opportunity cost of "Freedom of expression and Speech" Society isn't smart enough to make them work together.

that is a non sensical argument. a devotion of seriousness, is by no means a warrent of respect.

In general films stereotype every aspect of human behaviour and beliefs. Often it is through television and film that stereotypes are born, so it is an issue that is wider than just a religon.

however most groups can laugh at the idiosyncratic behaviour of the stereotypes as;
A it is similar to them and they can see the humor in their actions
or
B it is so far removed from them they can laugh at the lack of knowledge.

It is often the religous groups that make the most noise (ie woman naming a teddy mohamed) that can not see the humor or infact obsurd behaviour they posses.

[JD1stTimer]

If a teacher in a public school here named a teddy bear Jesus Christ, I'd have her fired, but not arrested... Anyways, what does that have to do with stereotypes in movies? And are you trying to say that Christians make the most noise and don't have a sense of humor? Please explain a bit more, snowblind. Nailhead, please give me some examples of Christian attacks on other religions, especially regarding popular media. And here in the United States, not the Balkans or whatever.

[Nailhead]

You really have your head in the sand if you need me to cite specific examples of Christians attacking other religions, it happens all the time. This isn't a biased view from an atheist either, I've always known this as fact even during my times as a Christian, it is what always annoyed me the most about many fellow Christians. But my point wasn't that Christians are worse, it was just simply that everybody attacks others of different views equally, it is in our human nature to associate with those that are like-minded as ourselves, so take any group of people that believe in one type of faith, and it is only natural for them to criticize and/or attack other views that don't coincide with their own. This is human nature, and this happens so frequently that I really do not see the need to cite a specific example. Besides, it seems you are only asking because you are taking offense to what I said even though I wasn't criticizing Christians independently, but rather using them as an example.

As for why Christians are portrayed poorly in movies, I would assume perhaps because a large portion of Hollywood execs are Jewish or atheist, or maybe the specific movies you are thinking of are just bad movies. I haven't seen the movies you mentioned by the way, so I can't comment on if I agree or disagree with your suggestion, but I know there are a lot of bad stereotypes in movies so it wouldn't surprise me.

Sometimes some characters are meant to be a crazy hard stereotype to fit in with the movie, it doesn't necessarily suggest all Christians are like that, but just a relative few. An example of this would be the crazy bible thumping lady in....ahhh crap, I can't remember the name of that movie. The one with that girl that has a crazy Christian mom and does that school talent show thing and gets covered with pigs blood....anyway...the mom in that movie certainly doesn't represent most Christians and I think most viewers are smart enough to figure that out on their own, but there are crazy Christians that exist out there so the stereotype isn't a bad one, it just fit in with the character in the movie.

I completely disagree with your assertion that Christians are portrayed worse than any other group in the media, I think you are just thinking into this way too much. Christianity gets a lot of positive media that counter-acts the negative, I mean when you see a commercial to help feed hungry children in Africa what religion is behind that? Certainly not Islam lol

But to sum up the way I feel about stereotypes in the media in general, couldn't be better said than in the words of the late
Bill Hicks: "It's just fucking television!!" :thumbsup:
Which you can listen to right here...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zT1SpdOlNc

[yokinazu]

^^"carrie", thats the movie your trying to thimk of^^