Prometheus: speculating about the creators of humanity
"At some point in the film's development it was planned that the Engineers, the creators of humanity, were gearing up to destroy us for the crime of crucifying Christ, who was a representative of the gods. 'We definitely did [plan that],' Scott told movies.com, 'and then we thought it was a little too on the nose. But if you look at it as an 'our children are misbehaving down there' scenario, there are moments where it looks like we've gone out of control, running around with armor and skirts, which of course would be the Roman Empire. And they were given a long run. A thousand years before their disintegration actually started to happen. And you can say, 'Lets' send down one more of our emissaries to see if he can stop it.' Guess what? They crucified him.'
It seems ridiculous to propose that a Jewish man at the time of Augustus and Tiberius was an eight-foot tall milk-white alien. Though some Biblical scholars posit that Christ, as characterised by St Paul in the earliest Christian texts, may have been an angelic or non-corporeal being, it is not a widely disseminated theory. If it's difficult to convince some that Christ was not a man, it would be harder to convince audiences that he was an alien."
(Seonaidh Ceannéidigh, 21 July 2013)
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
The Dark Ages were a time of great artistic achievement
"The Dark Ages have been misunderstood. History has identified the period following the fall of the Roman Empire with a descent into barbarism – a terrible time when civilisation stopped.
Waldemar Januszczak disagrees. In this four–part series he argues that the Dark Ages were a time of great artistic achievement, with new ideas and religions provoking new artistic adventures. He embarks on a fascinating trip across Europe, Africa and Asia, visits the world's most famous collections and discovers hidden artistic gems, all to prove that the Dark Ages were actually an 'Age of Light'.
In the first episode he looks at how Christianity emerged into the Roman Empire as an artistic force in the third and fourth centuries. But with no description of Jesus in the Bible, how were Christians to represent their God? Waldemar explores how Christian artists drew on images of ancient gods for inspiration and developed new forms of architecture to contain their art."
(BBC Four)
"The Dark Ages: An Age of Light" first broadcast BBC Four, 9:00PM Tue, 27 Nov 2012, duration 60 minutes.
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
This Land Is Mine: the great Middle East tragicomedy
"I envisioned This Land Is Mine as the last scene of my potential–possible–maybe– feature film, Seder–Masochism, but it's the first (and so far only) scene I've animated. As the Bible says, 'So the last will be first, and the first will be last.'"
(Nina Paley)
Fig.1 Nina Paley (2012) "This Land Is Mine".
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
La ricotta di Pier Paolo Pasolini
"L'opera a cui sto facendo riferimento è La ricotta, un mediometraggio di Pier Paolo Pasolini datato 1963 ed inserito all'interno del film ad episodi Rogopag – Laviamoci il cervello.
La pellicola di Pasolini descrive alcune fasi della lavorazione di un film sulla passione di Cristo: ci troviamo dunque in ambito metacinematografico: un film in cui si parla di un film. "
(Michele Cecchini)
1). Paolo Pasolini (1963). 'La ricotta'
2). 'Tableaux vivants', http://www.mediastudies.it
CONTRIBUTOR
Simon PerkinsSHARE
Kenneth Anger: Sadomasochism, Motorcycles And Catechizing
"Scorpio Rising is about a motorcycle gang that Kenneth Anger met in Brooklyn. It is centred on the emblematic figure of Bruce Byron, shown in various situations: in his apartment decorated with fetishes and idols; at a motorcycle party; in the midst of desecrating a church. But the film uses alternating editing to cut these scenes with... a film about a group of catechists recounting the life of Jesus! Kenneth Anger denounces the erotic fascination for motorcycles, violence, power, sadomasochism and the 'icons' of American culture."
(50th Locarno international film festival, 1997)
CONTRIBUTOR
The Constellations ProjectSHARE
