Jesus Gonna Be Here (a long, controversial read)

I accidentally kicked Alex Craver's ankle pretty hard tonight - I feel bad because he's a good friend, an awesome dude, and a great singer/drummer for Summer People. I don't feel too bad, though, because the man is made of steel. And I nicknamed him "the knife" in high school because that guy will cut you.

I re-read my post when I got home - I didn't have time to edit it or anything. After doing some proofreading, I realized that there were many typos, mistakes, and unclear thoughts. I have since edited it, so I hope that no one really read it before 9:30 or so. If you did and thought it to be confusing, you were right.

I also didn't have the time to respond to Brandon and Ben's posts and to say hello to Jason. 

Jason, hello. You're catching me at a great moment - presenting myself as an asshole atheist. But I'm with you on The Empire Strikes Back. Easily my favorite. The first time that I saw Sleeper, I really enjoyed it. I did watch it recently and didn't laugh as much - so I'm also with you on it being slightly uneven. But it's hard to be too critical of Woody circa 1970. Have you seen Love and Death? One of my all-time favorite films. Looking forward to getting to know you better, man. I like The Shins, too, haha - don't get me wrong. Not with you on The Happening, though. I don't think I could ever make that bold of a statement.

Kirk Cameron shits himself and then turns that shit into movies. Give it up for Growing Pains, though, am I right? Alan Thicke is fantastic. I'm kidding, John. Thicke ain't no Gibson either ;-) Yes, I just winked at you. You probably want to punch me by now.

Brandon, nice post. Can't get enough of those pics, haha. John seems to be on a mission to watch The Passion again now. For all the shit that I've said about it...I really should too. My Dad has the DVD. No excuses other than the fact that there are just too many other films I have to watch first. Can't commit. So little time. 

Gibson is a polarizing figure. Ben's right, a lot of this discussion is predictable. I think he and Tom Cruise are two of the most hated guys in Hollywood who used to have such great careers. I want to argue that Aronofsky is more of an auteur than Gibson...but that argument is only based on subjectivity for me. I have no additional evidence (not yet anyway).

Yeah, Birth of a Nation is not a film I've seen and one that I'm not sure that I want to watch. I realize the guy made Intolerance a year later, but it's still not enough for me to get over it. I'll concede that Griffith is an important figure in film history and that he had talent, but I choose not to watch the movie...for now. I love the Marx Brothers, but there are definitely some slightly racist jokes/sequences in their movies. I can forgive them, but I'm not there when it comes to Griffith yet. But really, the racism in the Marx Brothers films isn't even comparable to the blatant racism in Birth of a Nation.

Definitely agreed on Mel skimping out on story - I'm trying to transform that into one of my main arguments now - as I begin to get more focused.

I feel kinda bad for announcing on here that Christians bother me. But I did have the line about it being nothing that people I know need to worry about. I really hope no one took that personally. To attack one's religious beliefs is a little more serious than attacking someone's movie preferences, so I do apologize for that. I also don't want to go into too much religious debate. This is film club and I want to talk about film on here (though Brandon makes a nice point about the two being easily relatable).

But really, I can't fully apologize. Look at the shit that just happened in Norway. Is every Christian responsible for that? Absolutely not. Not every Christian is vile and evil, but when was the last time you heard about an aetheist carrying out a religious killing? The list goes on and on when talking about religious hypocrisy and people killing in the name of their god. Yes, humans are violent in general. Yes, Christians aren't the only guilty ones for this, but I'm just more familiar with them and grew up a Methodist. And look at the Catholic Church and the evil that persists in covering up molestation.

I have to stop myself. Sorry. That's an extremely long rant waiting to happen. I really just want to say that there are some really great Christians out there who practice what they preach. My mom is one of those people; I love her to death. My dad is kinda one of those people, too. He's guilty of using the Lord's name in vain every time something falls out of the fridge- it's quite amusing, but other than that I really respect his religious views. He doesn't buy into the Noah's ark bullshit and realizes that it's a fictional story. My mom does believe the bible to be literal and I just can't wrap my head around that. There are so many great lines about God in The Seventh Seal that I would like to quote here, but whatever. I somewhat agree with Bill Maher when it comes to religion. Maybe a Religulous debate is on its way. I don't know how the universe was created. I admit that there are things that we can't explain with logic or science. But to think that there's a guy up in the sky helping the Green Bay Packers win the Superbowl (silly example, I apologize) or preventing the spread of evil, it doesn't seem plausible to me. I have so many reasons for knowing that God doesn't exist, but look at the Holocaust. It wouldn't have happened if God exists. And if God does exist and he/she/it let it happen, then fuck that guy/girl/thing. Damnit, it turned into a rant anyway.

Mainly I feel that God/Heaven was created by Man to give himself/herself the idea that we are special/important. Then there's also the fear of dying and finding no afterlife. Just fear and ego in my mind. 

Truly sorry if I've offended anyone or painted Christians with too broad a stroke. I certainly don't feel this way about anyone in film club, obviously. I don't really know John or Jason (in fact, just met Jason), but I have a good feeling that if we got into a religious debate, we would develop a nice understanding of one another. You're the religious guys on the panel, so it might appear as if this stuff is directed at you or you might feel the need to defend yourselves, but you guys aren't the ones I'm angry at. And I don't want anyone in film club to feel uncomfortable for expressing their religious beliefs based on what I've shared. I don't believe in God but I believe in love. The teachings of Jesus are liberal in my eyes and are very important and interesting.

Nice point about propagandist entertainment, Brandon, as I get back on track. Neutral art is boring, agreed. 

Ben, haven't seen Black Death, but I would be onboard if everyone else is. Thanks for the suggestion.