{"id":172,"date":"2011-02-15T04:41:21","date_gmt":"2011-02-15T04:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2011\/02\/does-the-movie-paul-attack-christianity-is-censorship-ever-good-plus-headlines-starring-the-disney-c.html"},"modified":"2011-02-15T04:41:21","modified_gmt":"2011-02-15T04:41:21","slug":"does-the-movie-paul-attack-christianity-is-censorship-ever-good-plus-headlines-starring-the-disney-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/2011\/02\/does-the-movie-paul-attack-christianity-is-censorship-ever-good-plus-headlines-starring-the-disney-c.html","title":{"rendered":"Does the movie “Paul” attack Christianity?; Is censorship ever good?; Plus headlines starring the Disney Channel, Michelle Obama, Justin Bieber, Jesse L. Martin, Marc Cherry and a new inspirational app"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is Paul<\/i> an attack on the Christian faith?<\/b><\/a>
\nNick Frost, one of the writers\/actors of the new E.T. spoof (about a
\npair of comic book geeks who have a close encounter of the absurd kind)
\nsays the film<\/a> isn’t anti-religion just because it depicts a crazed Christian creationist (portrayed by SNL<\/i>‘s Kristin Wiig) who can’t handle the idea of life on other planets.<\/p>\n

Did the Catholic Legion of Decency<\/a> actually cause Hollywood to make better movies?<\/b>  Blogger Brad Brevet argues<\/a>
\nthat the 1930’s group pushed Hollywood to create production standards (aka
\ncensorship rules) that lasted into the 1960’s and in turn pressed filmmakers to hone the art of
\nsubtlety. He points out that movies made during that supposed cinematic
\ndark age include classics like Citizen Kane<\/i>, The Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind,
\nStagecoach, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Casablanca, It’s a Wonderful
\nLife, It Happened One Night, Some Like It Hot, All About Eve, The
\nSearchers, Bringing Up Baby, North by Northwest, Rebel Without a Cause,
\nDouble Indemnity, Mutiny on the Bounty, City Lights, Red River, The
\nBishop’s Wife, Singin’ in the Rain, My Man Godfrey, Goodbye Mr. Chips,
\nRoman Holiday<\/i> and Sabrina<\/em>.
\nIMHO:<\/b> First, there is a distinction to be made between government
\ncensorship and a movie studio censoring itself. But that censorship
\n(aka responsible judgment) should come from an internal sense of taste
\nand propriety (as well as right and wrong) on the part of filmmakers and not be imposed by the Catholic
\nChurch or any other group. On the other hand, the Church, GLAAD<\/a> and everyone else have a right to criticize what is put out into the culture.

\n
\n<\/b>News:
Disney Channel moves to promote social values in pre-school programming.<\/a><\/b>
\nAs long as they stick to the basics (i.e. kindness, respect and consideration for
\nothers) and avoid political indoctrination (of the right or left), that’s a
\ngood thing.    <\/p>\n

Michelle Obama to promote healthy eating on Cartoon Network.<\/a><\/b>
\nInteresting juxtaposition of stories here but I think encouraging kids
\nto eat well is fine. Now, if she were to go on a preaching bender about national
\nhealth care policy that would be another story.<\/p>\n

Never Say Never<\/i> a hit.<\/a><\/b> The new concert\/documentary film in which pop star Justin Bieber openly displays his Christian faith<\/a> is a big hit on a relatively small budget. <\/p>\n

Jesse L. Martin sings Hallelujah<\/i>.<\/b><\/a> The former Law & Order <\/i>star is teaming with Desperate Housewives <\/i>creator
\nMarc Cherry and ABC on a musical drama pilot with religious overtones.
\nIt’s about a town that sees its fortunes change when a mysterious
\nstranger arrives — perhaps leading to a restoration of faith among its
\ncitizens. A church choir will serve as a backdrop for the stories. A faith-themed Glee<\/i>? I like the concept. It’s all in the execution.<\/p>\n

Inspiration for those on the go.<\/b> The interfaith group Odyssey
\nNetworks<\/a> has teamed with mobile innovator GoTV Networks to create Call on Faith<\/i><\/a>, an
\ninspirational app that delivers 80 original two-minute inspirational videos on 14
\ndifferent channels each month for a
\none-time download charge of 99 cents.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is Paul an attack on the Christian faith? Nick Frost, one of the writers\/actors of the new E.T. spoof (about a pair of comic book geeks who have a close encounter of the absurd kind) says the film isn’t anti-religion just because it depicts a crazed Christian creationist (portrayed by SNL‘s Kristin Wiig) who can’t…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":225,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12,2,10,27,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic-church","category-christianity","category-movies","category-music","category-technology","category-television"],"yoast_head":"\nDoes the movie "Paul" attack Christianity?; Is censorship ever good?; Plus headlines starring the Disney Channel, Michelle Obama, Justin Bieber, Jesse L. 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Kennedy","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/d80\/d801bc09698c0995d9ae402b4b55ab61x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/d80\/d801bc09698c0995d9ae402b4b55ab61x96.jpg","caption":"John W. Kennedy"},"description":"John W. Kennedy is the founder and Dir. of Development of The Creative Universe Entertainment\u2122, a media consultation and development company focusing on the creation, development and support of high-quality mainstream entertainment that upholds positive timeless values, including trust in God. Current projects include \"Bryant Park\" (an uplifting romantic-comedy) and \"Photo Finish\" (an award-winning sci-fi TV pilot). He has written over 100 children's novels based on episodes of the Cartoon Network series \"Ben 10\", \"Ben 10: Alien Force\", \"Ben 10: Ultimate Alien\", \"Ben 10: Omniverse\" and \"Generator Rex\" among others. He also writes Beliefnet\u2019s \"Faith, Media & Culture\" blog. Previously, he has produced successful news and talk programming for CNN, Fox News, Pax TV and SiriusXM. Specialties: Script Writing, Movie\/TV Novelizations & Adaptations, TV Content Creation and Development, Creative Consultation, Producing and Booking News and Talk shows. He can be reached for writing, producing and consulting services at 516-640-1182.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/author\/jkennedy"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/catholicsmediaandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}