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 Executive Editor / Founder Chris Uzal
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Gibson Redefines Lent Why is Ash Wednesday such a huge date on the calendar for Roman Catholics? Film buffs and committed Christians will know what we're talking about. So we'll be hardly surprised that you answered 'Mel Gibson'. You've had Gold Class tickets reserved at Jim & Tammy Bakker's Church of The Golden Retriever for months. You can't fool us! For those not in the know, just think of Easter and the entire range of commercial images it conjures up: chocolates eggs and bunnies. Back track 40 days and 40 nights on your Gregorian calendar and you have Ash Wednesday. Mel Gibson fans will also know what we're referring to. You people can leave the room for an early last supper. The rest will have to stay and submit themselves to our usual understated hyperbole. That is - a sneak preview to what promises to be one of the least likely 'action' films since Governor Arnie took on The Devil (personified by one Gabriel Byrne no less). Usually Lent - in Roman Catholic terms - means giving up lollies and ice-cream until Easter. It's a sign that you're really, really (yes really) sorry that you sinned 2000 years after some dude from Jerusalem got into the hardcore body piercing scene. Hey - is it our fault he set the comedic tone for a Monty Python film that went slightly awry? In 2004, Lent is proving to be the final act for Mel Gibson's "The Passion of The Christ". The film basically depicts the last twelve hours of the life of Jesus Christ. According to film gossip sites, Gibson has left out the vital character of Woderwick. The film itself apparently contains the pictorial brutalities CNN and NBC craved to boost 'wartime' ratings that Saddam's Republican Guard failed to deliver. This notwithstanding, Gibson has ruffled feathers in not just Hollywood but also within religious circles. Cyberista's editorial team thinks that this film, with its potential to generate some valuable cultural debate and the impact witnessed thus far, is worth keeping an eye on. Not that we've been plied with free holy water and popcorn mind you. Hardly. Come on - give us some credit! Aside from the fact that Mel has funded this project out of his Lethal Weapon paycheck and directed it off the coat-tails of his Braveheart effort, the marketing campaign Gibson embarked upon to make and promote this film in itself earmarks this film as noteworthy. Not to mention the huge grassroots interest generated so far. So given the War on Error and fundamentalist zeal of the enemy, the people holed up in Guantanamo Bay, the fact it is an election year in America and the sudden campaign swerve by Georgie Dubya away from "freedom" and towards more "Christian values"... Given the fact that in some eyes, Mel's film re-opens old charges of Jewish guilt for the death of Jesus Christ... Given the fact that pastors of certain Christian churches in America are paying big bucks to show Gibson's film, thereby endorsing it wholeheartedly... Given the fact a certain pope had his own private screening and pronounced the film: "It is as it was"... Never mind the film, Cyberista thinks this issue to be the sleeper 'hit' of the decade. It may not generate sexy headlines but one thing is for certain - Mel is going to make a killing with his cinematic collection plate. In terms of dollars. And souls. LINKS
Harvest Pointe Christian Church
Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite & Stupidite Earlier this month France's lower house of parliament voted overwhelmingly to ban students from wearing Islamic head scarves and other religious apparel in public schools. The measure, which would outlaw conspicuous religious clothing and symbols in classrooms, was approved 494-36. In early March it goes to the Senate, where little opposition is expected. According to The Age "French leaders hope a law will quell the debate over head scarves that has divided France since 1989, when two young girls were expelled from their school in Creil, outside Paris, for wearing head scarves. Scores more have been expelled since then." The government argues that a law is needed to protect France's secular traditions and to ward off rising Islamic fundamentalism. The ban would apply to Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crosses as well as the head scarf. Cyberista doesn't profess to be an expert on French constitutional matters. Neither are we about to take cheap pot-shots at the country and its citizens. It's too serious an issue. Given the huge majority vote for the law, the worrying thing is that it appears to overtly reflect the wishes of the nation. It also begs the question: do the French really want state enforced racism? Suppression of the individual's needs and rights to express themselves religiously, as well as individually, through their choice of clothing? Whatever your answer one has to dig deep past the emotional outrage to try to see what forces are really at work. Firstly there is some reverse colonialism going on. France, along with Britain, is now well past its prime as a colonial power. In fact the term itself has been dead for years. However past colonial sins have been catching up with both for some time. The human condition to work towards a better life explains why so many natives from those foreign colonial lands decided that theirs lay within the bosom of the former colonialists. Christian, Muslim and Jew alike. Secondly the cultural pressure that France is feeling is a reaction to the its perception that immigrants are threatening its national identity. Whether this is true or not, perhaps it is time that Western first world societies took a more honest and realistic approach to third world problems. These points are posed as items for debate and are deliberately left open-ended for the reader to consider their own view. Maybe some of you have opinions you'd like to express on our letters pages? Why not email us then? The unfortunate reality is that a groundswell of xenophobic anti-immigration sentiments has been building in Western Europe for some time particularly throughout the last decade. It has little to do with 'secularist traditions'. The scary thing about this French law is the dangerous example it presents to the Reverend Matt Hale's of this world. See our recent movie news for further details. And lets not forget that for every Matt Hale there is a Pauline Hanson too. For now our message to the French parliament is a simple one: Libertie, Egalitie, Fraternitie & Diversitie. Vive Le Difference! LINKS
News Link - France votes to ban head scarves, The Age 11th February 2004
History for Dummies: French Colonies
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