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NEWS & LETTERS, May 2004Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic infernoWhile Mel Gibson tries to pass his movie, "The Passion of the Christ," off as a study of a loving Christ, there is no question that it is virulently anti-Semitic at the same time as it panders to the most vile, militaristic attitudes imaginable. The Right insists the multicultural U.S. is a "Christian country," and Gibson’s "Passion" wants the viewer to agree with Christian chauvinists who think their religion trumps Islam, Judaism, and other religions. And this, at the very moment that the U.S. is murdering hundreds of Iraqis, the majority of them civilians, and giving Israel’s Sharon the green light to murder any Palestinian he chooses. PORTRAYAL OF JEWS AS THE ENEMY The sado-masochistic spectacle of the flaying of Jesus, the literally buckets of blood, the unending slow-motion falls were not only to show that Jesus suffered, but also to give a stamp of approval to the notion that the business of religion is violent. While Jesus’ message--a fraction of the film--was about love, and loving your enemies, "The Passion" makes crystal clear that the Jews were the enemy, calling, endlessly, for Christ’s death. Everything in a movie is deliberate--every shot, every costume, and in this film Jews are portrayed as animals. Katha Pollitt, in a review aptly titled "The Protocols of Mel Gibson," describes how "the high priest Caiaphas and his faction are not just bad, they fit neatly into ancient Christian stereotypes: They are rich, arrogant and gaudily dressed; they plot and scheme and bribe; they cleverly manipulate the brutal but straightforward Romans; they are gratuitously ‘cruel’ and ‘hard-hearted’.... Physically, they are anti-Semitic cartoons: The priests have big noses and gnarly faces, lumpish bodies, yellow teeth; Herod Antipas and his court are a bizarre collection of oily-haired, epicene perverts. The ‘good Jews’ look like Italian movie stars..." It gets worse: Jewish children turn into monsters and goblins; Barabbas is portrayed as an insane maniac, making faces and screaming. Yet the Jews prefer to free him and crucify the gorgeous Jesus--a cross between a young Mel Gibson and a youthful Charlton Heston. Jesus' followers were, of course, Jewish, but the only masses we see in the movie are the howling Jewish mob calling for Christ’s death. Not all of the anti-Semitism is so obvious. When Jesus is captured, we first meet Mary who, out of nowhere, asks the question from the Passover ritual: "Why is this night different from all other nights?" Mary Magdalene gives the answer in one muffled sentence: we escaped bondage and now are free. But, in the movie, clearly, the reason "this night is different" is because Jesus has been captured. Thus in one sentence Gibson has wiped out the history of the Jewish escape from slavery because the real tragedy is not the 300 years of oppression that Jews experienced as slaves in Egypt, but the capture of Jesus. It is not only Jews this movie demonizes. Satan is played by a woman, but when you see her ensconced in a shawl, you can’t tell what sex Satan is. To most, Gibson’s Satan would look like a gay man. Women are reduced to wiping up copious amounts of Jesus’ blood, or smearing it on their faces. Laughably, it is Pontius Pilate’s wife, who, besides Mary and Mary Magdalene, seems most horrified by what is going on. Aren't Roman imperial rulers wonderful?! Given this deliberate anti-Semitic depiction no one should be surprised that "The Passion" is being used by rabid Christian fundamentalists and also neo-Nazis, both "religious" and "secular." What a boost Gibson has given them as well as those like the racist nationalist in Memphis whose car displays a placard proclaiming: "The Jews killed Christ." IRRESPONSIBLE REVIEWERS Given the deliberate nature of Gibson’s anti-Semitic, anti-queer, anti-feminist message, the irresponsibility of reviewers like Roger Ebert, who denied the film's anti-Semitism and gushed over this "work of genius," is criminal. It is not only many reviewers who are blind to the glaring anti-Semitism and right-wing nature of Gibson’s creation. One small example is that here, in Memphis, the highly respected Rhodes College bought 100 tickets to give out to students. The damage this movie will make has just begun. How is it that Gibson can get away with producing this filth? Politicized religion is in the driver’s seat. The Right gets away with anti-Semitism by being pro-Israel/pro-Sharon. But just because the Bush administration gives Sharon its blessing on everything from Sharon’s decree on settlements last month to the assassination of Hamas leaders, doesn’t mean he cares about Jews. Aiding Sharon makes it APPEAR that Bush and the Christian Right are pro-Jewish, when they are only pro-Israel as a U.S. proxy power in the Middle East. But their anti-Semitism is clear from their insistence that the U.S. is a Christian nation coupled with their deliberate destruction of the separation between (the Christian) church and state. The production and acclaim for Gibson’s "The Passion of the Christ" shows that, as always, the biggest danger for Jews and for those of us fighting for a truly human world, is coming from the far right. --Terry Moon |
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