Why did Mel Gibson make "Passion..." so bloody and violent?

[Deja Q]

Simple: He's a repuke. To show Christ's acts of kindness and love would only further the Liberal cause.

As far as "Passion" is concerned, they could have put ANYBODY in the place of Jesus and be just as credible. Without knowing the person's history, it's just an orgy of blood that caters to the dregs of society. Of which Gibson appears to be one of, or at least on first glance... (He recently spoke up against President Perfidious* so I suppose he's not all that bad.)

Additional: "Dregs of society" does not mean true Christians, those who know what Christ stood for. I was talking about those in society who love violence and blood being depicted. Please forgive my mistake. No insult was intended toward them.

[joeybee12]

1. Beause the desire for pain is close to the desire for sex in the brain...

...and sometimes the two mesh. In Mel's case, he's a sadist sack of crap, and his revelry in blood and gore is actually sexual for him.

[stopthegop]

2. have you seen the movie?

you sound like one of those (all too common) people who hate either Christianity/Gibson/the world/themselves...
you make little if any sense calling sincere Christians the dregs of society...look in a mirror...you're no better than they ...

[Deja Q]

7. Please read this before ignoring the thread or me:

Everybody who has seen it has said the movie concentrates on Christ's 12 hours of life. That doesn't seem very fair...

I have not seen it.

Convince me to see it.

Do I hate Christianity? No. I hate what people do in Christ's name.

Do I hate Gibson? Well, he's misusing the Bible for personal greed. Isn't that enough? He's not being 100% faithful to the Bible, namely by adding scenes plenty of people have said are not true to the Bible. Isn't that enough? He prefers to spend 2.5 hours showing the last 12 hours of Christ's life, rather than showing us his WHOLE life. I find that to be a bit vulgar, as His life has more meaning than just being beaten to a pulp. Isn't that enough?

The world? You're darn tootin'. I made a couple of posts in GD which rather proves I am rightfully unhappy with the world.

Myself? Do I hate myself? Please tell me what I should watch out for that shows I hate myself. How do I hate myself?

I am not accusing SINCERE Christians of being the dregs of society. I am accusing phonies like Gibson and warmongers and murders and haters who use Christ for their own vain purposes (which the Bible says is a no-no) as being such. I re-read my post and, ouch, I clearly offended a lot of people. Please forgive me.

[BlueJazz]

12. Stopthegop......With all due respect...

Did you even read his post????

[Sandpiper]

3. Have you seen Mel's other movies?

He definitely brought his Braveheart and Patriot sensibilities to his latest endeavour.

So what if Jesus sheds more blood in this movie than there is in a human body? Mel likes blood. Lots of blood.

[tigerbeat]

4. talked to christian friends of mine about it....

....i haven't seen it, but i expressed my concern that it was the equivalent of making a film of orwell's 1984 but starting from o'brien strapping the ratcage on winston smith's face and then using the next two hours to show the rats tearing at his face.

they expressed that it brought them closer to what christ went through to see the horror laid out like that.

personally i think it's spiritual pornography but to each his own i suppose.

[KissMyAsscroft]

5. Two reasons...

1)Violence Sells

2)He was using the movie as a way to convert people who might be on the fence so he knew the gore would have maximum impact. "Damn, look at what Jesus went through for me...and all I have to do is go to church and clean my room? Awwwww...shucks!" That kind of thing...

[THUNDER HANDS]

6. because Monty Pyton stole his original idea?

:shrug:

[stopthegop]

8. I was mistaken...you are a calm, thoughtful person..

seriously though..seek help..

[DrWeird]

16. Calm, thoughtful people...

don't get spiritual guidance from the five dollar matinee down at the Regal cinema while doing their weekend shopping at the outlet mall.

[pretzel4gore]

9. see 'poem of the mangod'

by maria valorta...it's a series of books supposedly based up jesus's life, by a 'mystic' catholic.
years ago, i tried to be a christain...going to church, reading bible etc and sayiing the rosary. Anyway, i joined a lil group at this church that had a weekly rosary prayer....but the group, under the leadership of this young, very devote priest, would read from this 'poem of the mangod' each night. I put up with it for awhile, but when one scene had Jesus and his disciples hurrying off to nearby town on rescue mission, riding on horses and carrying weapons....enuff! i was amazed they couldn't see the problem. I left and never went back.
I suspect Mel Gibson is of similar timbre- sincerely believe Jesus' suffering was physical (it wasn't) and that the romans, or the Jews (who were led by sanhedrin whose first duty is to the wellbeing/survival of the whole, and HAD NO CHOICE but to kill Jesus!) were somehow unusual in terms of guilt. Jesus suffering was unbelievable in that he must have known how history would treat his beloved people (the jews) and how his actions made them appear guilty when he could have stopped it so easily.
try explaining this to men and women who find nothing wrong with idea of Jesus and his disciples riding around like they the 'dirty dozen'...can't be done!

Consider that everyday vast mumbers of tiny pretty lil male chicken babies are separated from the females chicks and thrown into fire: jesus said that not even a tiny sparrow falls w/out the father being there...explain guilt to these so called xians and they giggle.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

10. for what its worth

i agree with you and do not think you need help and have watched part of the movie but the bloodshed was too much...

[musiclawyer]

11. Because he had to...

Look, as an artist, I appreciate artistic license as much as anyone. I'm not gonna hammer Mel because he was loosy goosy with the facts. . There were also some bloopers if you pay attention. . I thought the blood was excessive.] You could also argue that the screenplay itself could have been more refined......But I also understand that he was trying to make a point-- trying cause the audience to see (feel) some the pain that the historical Christ suffered. It's no different than what Picasso tries to do in Guernica. It's just that a movie can be much more visceral in its effect than a painting. Mel is one of those Opus Dei types--so what do you expect? So what. Notwithstanding it is very high art, very visual, very, cinematic. The use of the vernacular langauge of the time, and use of music to set mood was truly terrific. And to boot, it really was not at all anti semetic. If anything the Romans wer portrayed much darker. In short, the blood was in keeping with his vision as artistic director. Like it or leave it. You don't have to be a whacko right wing Christian or arch conservative Roman Catholic to like it . That seems to be the case.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

13. Why did he make it so bloody and violent?

Because according to the story of Christ's crucifixion, it was bloody, violent, and painful. He was punished for everyone's sins. There was no other way to do it. And if you'd see the movie, you'd have seen a lot of the love and a lot of the compassion Christ had for people. There were memories intertwined with the beatings and stuff of him with his mom(made up to show his love for his mother), the way he spoke to his friends, a sermon on a mountain, and his last few hours with his disciples.
Duckie

[KillDaRichMan]

14. no way..

I think it is a right wing conspiracy that they claim the movie set sales records!! There is no way that many people went to see that piece of dung movie!! I refuse to see it!!

I am waiting for Al Franken's next movie, personally.

[musiclawyer]

15. How can you

jump to conclusion that it's dung without having seen it.That's creepy--freeper like. It's one thing to say you're reluctant to see it because of this or that, but do diss it with out seeing it? In the law world that's called a bald assertion without any support. Judges will throw your argument out every time.

[supernova]

17. Because he's a masochist

who needs a good bloodletting in order to feel alive.

I agree with the others, this film is in keeping with the violence of his previous films.. and in fact improves upon it.

[regnaD kciN]

18. A very simple answer...

...which I have posted before, but bears repetition.

Mel is a believer in what is technically ultra-Anselmian atonement theology. What this means is that he believes that God can't (because of justice) actually forgive sins, and thus remit the punishment due to them, but merely transfer the punishment to someone else who volunteers to suffer it. Therefore, Jesus not only had to come to earth, and not only had to be executed (which was probably a pretty predictable outcome of the former, seeing how the human race generally treats its truth-tellers), but actually had to suffer every bit of punishment due to every sin committed by every human over the course of time. In short, he had to become God's punching bag, so that the Father could work out his anger over sin enough to be able to be reconciled to humans again. :eyes:

(As I have pointed out in the other threads, this theology is, IMHO, unsupportable in a Christian context, as it turns two persons of the Holy Trinity into separate gods, and puts the Father and Son into a "Good Cop, Bad Cop" routine. It also has bad psychological effects -- it's amazing how many Christians I've encountered who, holding to this theory, secretly love Jesus and fear God the Father. Regardless of how much a mincemeat it makes of Christianity, though, it has many devotees, especially among traditionalist Roman Catholics and fundamentalist Protestants of a certain emotional bent, who can't feel "saved" unless someone has really suffered for them.)

[izzie]

19. I have not seen it but that death was bloody to all.

The Romans were into that stuff. I have seen art work that makes me not want to see the movie.As I see from the Bible the Jews were for his death. I frankly do not want to see a man drawn and quartet and the churches used to do that also.

[supernova]

20. Torquemada comes to mind

as someone who enjoyed inflicting torture on a regular basis.