My eight year old saw a clip of Mel's "Passion"

[Mrs. Overall]

on CNN this afternoon and became upset. It was one of the whipping/torture scenes and looking at me with grave concern, he asked, "What are they doing to ARAGORN!?"

I've not wanted to over-expose my children to too much religious doctrine, but I suppose they should at least recognize Jesus!

[Kamika]

1. uhm

I dunno how suitable the movie is to 8 year olds.

Religious doctrine is the least of your worries if you let a 8 year old watch it

[Mrs. Overall]

4. He didn't see the movie!!!! It was a few seconds of clip on CNN!!!!

He walked into the room as CNN was interviewing one of the actors!!

[brainwashed_youth]

2. *trying not to laugh*

I know it shouldn't, but for some reason that strikes me as humorous

[Mrs. Overall]

5. Actually I thought it was hilarious! Tolkien is our family bible! n/t

[La Lioness Priyanka]

3. quite funny

but really who knows what jesus looked like?

[boobooday]

6. Right?

What's to recognize? Mommy, I saw that guy on the plumber's dashboard!

http://www.wgoeshome.com

[put out]

7. True kid story.

While on a cross-town drive, my son used to come up with the most difficult questions (Who is really Santa? Why do I have 8 grandparents? How do you know when someone loves you? Will you ever get a divorce? How are babies made...which lasted with the final truth-telling).

So, says he "You know that thing, that tall thing on top of the churches?" Yes, it's called a steeple. "No, the one that looks like a T." Oh, that's a cross. "Well, sometimes they got a guy tied to it. Why do they do that?"

Oh shit.

[cprise]

8. Lord of the Rings: Tolkien's Christianity

Your kid has some pretty interesting insight:

"To begin, the Rings trilogy is profoundly Christian. Tolkien and his colleague C. S. Lewis, one of the most prominent voices for evangelical Christianity of the past century, often discussed the ways in which the Christian faith could be expressed in alternative shapes and forms. They believed that one can communicate the content of Christianity without merely repeating Bible verses, or words lifted from traditional creeds or confessions. And they both set out to create a new literature that would speak to traditional Christians as well as to readers who were alienated from Christianity. Tolkien in particular wanted to create a literature in which the faith was implied rather than imposed, and suggested rather than preached. Of course, the effort to do this may seem both impossible and unnecessary to Christians who identify their faith with certain words or phrases, and believe that there is one and only one way to faithfully communicate Christianity. By contrast, Tolkien saw the need for speaking truth in fresh, new forms, accessible to those who are put off by official church dogma. In the Rings trilogy, the words "God" or "Christ" never appear, but the reality which these words refer to is communicated in every word and phrase of the text..."

http://christianity.about.com/library/weekly/aa123001.htm

[Mrs. Overall]

11. Great link! Thanks!

Yes, I have thought it interesting that The Lord of the Rings did not incite the Christian Right in the same way that Harry Potter did, even though both deal with magic, etc...

[DS1]

9. Tell him it was because Aragorn should have learned to never

fuck with Christopher Lee.

:evilgrin:

[DrWeird]

10. Don't tell me it's a white Jesus.

Jesus Christ.

[roguevalley]

12. CNN has a forensic artist take a first century skull and recreate the face

They also discuss how no Jew of the time wore long hair. They considered that too Roman. They had short hair. The man's face
is strong and handsome in a masculine way. Worth the watch.

But he doesn't resemble the usual conceptions which, if you
will do some research, are modeled after Classical portraits
of Zeus. <Lots of crossover.>

Also, standardization of the face happened after the Veronica,
the cloth that supposedly she wiped Christ's face with on the
journey to crucifixion and his likeness was transferred to it.
It is in the Vatican. One of the oldest known images of him.

[Mrs. Overall]

14. Yes, I think the actor is from a little town (Mt. Vernon)

just north of Seattle.

[DrWeird]

16. Ah, Mt. Vernon.

What a dump. I think I heard that guy was going to be a movie star. That was awhile ago, pre Passion. Hope he does better then Hillary Swank, who is like myself a Bellinghamster (next town over from Mt. Vernon) and went from doing Boys Don't Cry to The Core.

Anywho, you think that if Gibson was going to go out of his way and film the movie in Aramaic, he could do better then some guy from Mt. Vernon. But then again, considering Gibson...

[Kat45]

17. Actually, the actor is from Italy.

Gibson filmed it in Italy and used a lot of Italian actors. IIRC, one of the actresses--maybe the one who played Jesus' mother Mary--is Jewish (from Europe) and had family in the Holocaust.

[roguevalley]

13. By the way, hug your eight year old for me. He sounds lovely.

[Mrs. Overall]

15. I will!! What a sweet thing to say!

He is incredibly charming, warm, and insightful for an eight year old.

[gate of the sun]

18. I'm sorry that made me laugh

recognize Jesus? This is one man's idea of what he looked like. Any picture you see of Jesus is a representation of people's idea of what he looked like. If you are not into religion I don't think it is too important unless you include Buddha, Ghandi, etc. in a reference to what is going on in regards to people's beliefs. That's just my opinion though.

[MrSlayer]

19. That's funny!

Kudos to you.

[Nihil]

20. At least he was concerned about it ...

... and not revelling in the "righteous" portrayal of violence.

Have had similar discussions with kids (especially with my eldest)
and they can be very pleasant, thoughtful occasions. Enjoy them!

Nihil