Disney confronts Christianity?
it would be difficult to find a more it would be difficult to find a more thoroughly thoroughly film, one Christian film, Christian one which stands the which devoutlystands anticlerical the devoutly anticlerical Victor167 novelist Victor Hugo on his novelist head. Pinsky on his head. Pinsky IsHugo Hunchback a Christian film? 167 Does it stand Hugo a on Christian his head, sofilm? to speak? That is, is Is Hunchback message of this film the opposite of Hugo s anti the Does it stand Hugo on his head, so to speak? Christian message? That is, is the message of this film the opposite of Hugo s anti-christian message?
Anti-clerical statement? The Secularization of Frollo - a judge, not a priest. However, according to Pinsky, the animators did everything visually to indicate that he was supposed to be a priest. Does Frollo present as a priest in Disney s The Hunchback of Notre Dame?
Anti-religion, anti-god? The association of the church with this kind of evil leadership implies a church that is ineffective if not full of vice - the very thing Hugo was criticizing in the original novel. Religion appears as an impotent, irrelevant caricature By relegating the church, and more specifically God, to irrelevancy, Disney refuses to admit a serious role for religion. Ward, p76. Do you think religion is irrelevant in this film? Do you think God is irrelevant in this film?
God Help the Outcasts What is the basis of Disney s vision for Christianity here? What is Disney advocating? What is Disney condemning, if anything? Can you, as one Christian minister asks in Pinsky s article, hear the gospel in that song?
Hellfire The Disney may well have had their religious critics in mind when creating this scene, suggesting that it is they, rather than Disney, that are obsessed with sexuality, seeing it everywhere they look, censuring others in the hope of overcoming their attraction to what they condemn. Fadner, 24 Do you think Disney was criticizing the hypocrisy of fundamentalists and televangelists here? Is this a plausible interpretation? Televangelist Paul Crouch Sex scandal 1996 Televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, sex scandal 1988
Homosexual people are under attack in this country for having propensities that are judged by others to be abnormal and grotesque; their self-esteem is continually assaulted by those who, usually speaking in the name of God, declare their very existence to be a monstrous threat to human society. Quasimodo s story takes on increased personal depth and social significance when it is viewed against this background. Fadner, p. 18 Is this song an unspoken advocacy (in part, or in whole?) for the gay community? Or, simply a plea for openness for anyone who is different? Out There
Nature of evil? For years you told me the world was a dark and evil place, now I see that the evil is only people like you - Quasimodo - need proper quote here - issue of condemnation of hypocritical fire-and-brimstone type religion being made, suggesting instead a world (and people) that are good Who is the monster and who is the man? - is this a film about what it means to be a man? Virtually every evening s paper brings a new story of a man who has killed his estranged wife or lover, and often their children, and then in remorse turned the gun on himself, attempting to possess in death what he could not control in life. Fadner Is Disney s The Hunchback of Notre Dame a commentary on restrictive (Conservative Christian, patriarchal) gender roles for men - control rather than compassion? Add in point re: disney s brilliant positioning of the
Add in point re: disney s brilliant positioning of the film timing-wise, right after - 10 days after? - the boycott announced; exactly at the time when disney and religion were being discussed in all media, disney enters debate about true nature of christianity, competing voice to conservative christian critics. For years you told me the world was a dark and evil place, now I see that the evil is only people like you - Quasimodo - need proper quote here - issue of condemnation of hypocritical fireand-brimstone type religion being made, suggesting instead a world (and people) that are good