Back in February, I published a column in the Wall Street Journal that I think is worth highlighting here. It showcased how religious filmmakers, fed up with the portrayal of their faith communities on TV and film, have started to wrest control of their narrative by making their own culture to compete in the mainstream.
To understand why this has become necessary, it's necessary to understand just how badly Hollywood has misrepresented religion on screen:
To understand why this has become necessary, it's necessary to understand just how badly Hollywood has misrepresented religion on screen:
"I learned who Rachel was in church," muses a troubled character with the same name in the hit series "House of Cards." "Jacob fell in love with her while she was watering a lamb, and she became his wife after he worked seven years to earn her hand in marriage. Rachel had one son, Joseph. He became a king." There's only one problem with this account: It's wrong.
Jacob agreed to work for Rachel for seven years, but ended up working 14. She had two sons, not one. And Joseph did not become king, but rather Pharaoh's deputy in ancient Egypt.
This biblical bungling shouldn't be surprising: Faith doesn't play well in Hollywood, where TV and movie writers typically oscillate between ignorance and antipathy toward it.
Read the rest at the Wall Street Journal, and find out how filmmakers of faith--Muslim, Christian and Jewish--are fighting back.
RSS Feed
