A Response to Adele Reinhartz's "Jesus in Film"

A Response to Adele Reinhartz's "Jesus in Film"

In her chapter, "Jesus in Film," Adele Reinhartz's discusses the relationship between Jesus Christ and cinema and comments that "with the birth of cinema in the late nineteenth century, a new and highly appealing medium for seeing Jesus became available to anyone who could afford the low price of admission" (519). She goes on the clarify that "of course , the celluloid Jesus is not "really" Jesus, just as the Jesus of art and drama is not the man or messiah himself" (519). Despite this fact, "it is nevertheless the case the the movies bring Jesus to life in a way that no other medium can" (519). 

In response, my question is: why is that the case?

Well, film has the unique ability to bring almost any story to life in a new light, so it is unsurprising to me that it can do the same in the case of stories concerning Jesus. I believe that one of the reason why movies are able to bring Jesus to life in such a real and powerful way rests in the way that they portray his character. Seeing Jesus in a film gives viewers a chance to see what his character might hav been like in real life. It gives viewers a chance to hear what his voice might have sounded like and see how his body might have moved. Although we know that films are just portrayals of events or people (not including documentaries), sometimes it's easy to forget that what we are watching is not real. As a result of this, viewers that watch movies that portray Christ might form a connection with Jesus based on the portray of him that they watched on a screen. 


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