http://ubu.com/film/negativland_christ.html
As soon as I started playing this film, I immediately regretted it. A compilation of different videos and scenes of Jesus Christ being crucified, the video obviously contained copious amounts of gore and pain. As I watched, I repeatedly winced and thought to myself, "Why am I watching this?" The video was satirical though destroying the usual solemn and sad depiction of the crucifixion. There were cartoon versions of the event intermixed with real actors juxtaposed against joyous scenes of people celebrating and dancing to the news. In the background, the narrator repeatedly said sayings such as "Christianity is stupid" and "Communism is good" and "Give up." The piece reminded me of satirical propaganda with its repetition of the same images (some Communist dictators as well as similar scenes from the crucifixion films). It encourages the viewer to not believe the told (and retold and retold) story of Jesus's resurrection and instead turn to the definitive face of Communism. After Jesus dies, there is celebration and rejoicing from the Communists. The final scene of the movie is a question mark morphing into the communism symbol, which I took to mean as "do away with your questions" and "turn to Communism." Overall I thought the film was well done, but weird.
No comments:
Post a Comment