One of the thing’s that’s interesting about this video (filmed, apparently, around the time of the release of Passion) is that Mel himself (or whoever in his crew handles his MySpace page) actually drew our (his fans’) attention to this thing–hence our passing it on to you. It is educational, in a certain strange way..

There seems to be a modest attempt to give “both sides” to the controversy, though the narrator’s choice of language at times speaks volumes. Otherwise it comes across as a poor re-hash of the old anti-Passion (and mostly ad hominem) ttwaddle. But whatever side they’re on (three guesses and the first two don’t count), what possessed these filmmakers, I wonder, to invoke the opinions of Ted Casablanca (huh?) and Christopher Hitchens? Different as they are, both men seem to share the currently popular media (and journalistic) misconception that a sneer is an argument…which, I suppose, is an answer to my question, albeit a depressing one.

(As for “arguments” in this business, mine are to be found in several places on the web:

• The Scandal of the Cross: Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ and the Controversy Surrounding It. (April, 2004). This is a .pdf file. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to download it.
• Wrestling with the Angel of Strangeness: The Passion of the Christ One Year Later (Godspy.com, May, 2005)
• Signs and Contradictions: The Mad Mel Mess and Why (or If) it Still Matters. (Godspy, December 2006)

Here’s the “bio” video from YouTube:

Posted by Debra Murphy on Sunday, June 24th, 2007 at 7:49 pm.