Last weekend’s Saturday Night Live featured a parody movie trailer for Djesus Uncrossed, an imaginary film in the Quentin Tarantino vein, in which Jesus Christ and his apostles seek revenge on the Romans after Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. It’s as gory and vulgar as Tarantino’s films, and rather funny. The video also does a good job of showing how far the teachings of Christ are from natural human impulses, and of course it illustrates how absurd and perverted Tarantino’s film style is.
Naturally the video has raised a bit of controversy. Judge for yourself:
I felt bad laughing, but I did! My wife wasn’t so amused.
I think that’s a sensible reaction, Mike. I felt pretty much the same. It’s a creepy thing to watch, but it’s funny, and one can see it in a positive way, as I suggest above. Perhaps, then, some people’s laughter at the video is decently motivated. It’s certainly a highly debatable topic.
I thought it started funny, but then went way over the top.
In one sense, though, you can see it as a very wicked satire on our blood-soaked popular entertainments. A parody like this shows how un-Christian (literally, opposed to Christian values) Hollywood action movies are. Not that the idiots laughing in the SNL audience are capable of recognizing such a subtle point; they were probably just getting off on seeing one more line crossed, and the ultimate “icon” transgressed. But it’s a legitimate interpretation.