By Catherine O'Brien
The Celluloid Madonna is the 1st booklet to investigate the lifetime of the Virgin Mary on monitor from the silent period via to the current. for many years, Mary has stuck the mind's eye of filmmakers from quite a number spiritual backgrounds, even if Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Marxist, or atheist, and film's intersection of theology and secular tradition has encouraged probably the most singular and arguable visions of this icon in cinema heritage. concentrating on the problem of adapting Scripture to the display, this quantity discusses Cecil B. DeMille's The King of Kings (1927), Pier Paolo Pasolini's The Gospel in keeping with St. Matthew (1964), Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth (1977), Jean-Luc Godard's Hail Mary (1984), Jean Delannoy's Mary of Nazareth (1994), Mel Gibson's the eagerness of the Christ (2004), Catherine Hardwicke's The Nativity tale (2006), and Mark Dornford-May's Son of guy (2006).
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Extra resources for The Celluloid Madonna: From Scripture to Screen
Example text
There is relevance in the manipulation of space (with pillars often separating the earthly and heavenly realms), while the stance of Mary and the angel (standing or kneeling) indicates respective status. In traditional paintings, Mary has the Bible open on a prie-dieu in front of her (see LaVerdiere 2004: 4), without regard for historical reality but as a sign that the Word is about to be made flesh. 1426), now in the Prado Museum in Madrid). The addition of cinematic images to the wealth of available Annunciation material allows the emotional intensity of the event to be captured together with its theological significance.
Elizabeth Johnson has complained that the dogma of the Immaculate Conception has sometimes allowed Mary to be presented as if she lived in a vacuum. Exempt from human passions, preserved from temptations, especially those of a sexual nature, immune from wrestling with issues, spared ambiguity when it came to decisions, always in full possession of her wits, clearly knowing God’s plan for herself and her son and more than willing to carry it out, she moved through life with unearthly ease. (2003: 108) Consequently, Mary’s less than joyful reaction to the arranged marriage with Joseph depicted in Catherine Hardwicke’s The Nativity Story met with condemnatory comment from some Catholic members of the audience, who found it ‘rather disconcerting to see Our Blessed Mother portrayed with “attitude”’ (in Geiger 2006).
In contrast, the transpositions of Scripture ‘usually have a hard time being inspired or believable to filmgoers’ (Anker 2004: 6). Human creativity seems to flounder when faced with divine intervention. After the silent era, the wings and halo (favoured by the school nativity play) are generally avoided. However, disembodied male voices, choral music, light, wind, or an actor dressed in a white robe are frequently the limits to which the imagination stretches. Perhaps rather predictably, the unpredictable Jean-Luc Godard bucked the trend by introducing an unkempt ‘Uncle Gabriel’ in an overcoat in Hail Mary.