Consuming the Body of Christ:
Marketing, Ritual, Spectatorship and Mel Gibson's
The Passion of the Christ
"You could not watch even one hour with me? ...Stay here. Watch. Pray." The first subtitled words spoken by Jesus in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (2004), addressed to his apostles, echo the overarching project of the film: to suggest the audience's guilt in the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, to engage spectators in a ritualized moviegoing experience, and to invite the audience to respond actively—even physically—in the spectatorial encounter. More palpably, however, these opening lines establish the authorial, and authoritative, presence of the filmmaker-as-god, delivering viewing instructions to his spectators as if through a cinematic prophet of his own creation. Indeed, the command "Stay here—Watch—Pray" would become the model of spectatorship adopted by the promotional firms involved in advertising the film as a means for bonding a cinematic experience with a spiritual one. Despite its Roman Catholic underpinnings, the power of this cinematic-spiritual event would capture audiences across denominations, drawing praise from Catholics, Protestants, Southern Baptists, evangelical and born-again Christians, and others. From the first rumblings of the grassroots marketing campaign launched in support of Passion, to its widespread use by churches as a teaching and recruiting tool, the film has attempted to engulf its audience in a performative act of religious ritual, conflating film spectatorship and Christian forms of worship and atonement into a single activity. Yet this activity, as a form of commercial entertainment, engenders exchange-value, so that the film commodifies a promise of redemption and collective atonement. For the purposes of this paper, I will focus on the ways in which these operations have coalesced specifically in the religious and cinematic landscapes of the United States just prior to and after the original release of the film in theaters.
In many respects, Gibson's Passion offered little of novelty to the longstanding history of Biblical epics in cinema—drawing upon the centuries-old tradition of Passion plays, portrayals of the Passion on film are nothing new (early cinema, around the world, drew upon Passion plays as one of its dominant genres, followed in the U.S. by epic fare such as The King of Kings, 1927 and 1961, The Greatest Story Ever Told, 1965, and The Last Temptation of Christ, 1988, to name just a few), nor are successes in marketing mainstream Christian features on a grassroots level (The Omega Code, 1999; Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie, 2002), nor are accusations of the filmmaker as god. Yet the film's overwhelming success—grossing over $370 million in the U.S. domestic box-office alone, against all expectations for a self-financed, independently distributed, R-rated, subtitled Christian film ensconced in controversy[1]—signals that widespread audiences sought out and connected with this film on fundamental levels. While the reasons for such an outpouring of support for a cinematic Passion play at this historical moment remain complex and certainly involve intricate relationships between views on contemporary U.S. and world politics and shifts, conflicts, and scandals within the leadership of various Christian denominations, the massive grassroots marketing effort, mobilized in large part by churches and networks of Christian organizations, served to draw in Christian spectators (and their box-office dollars) on an unprecedented scale. The success of this marketing strategy, however, springs from something greater than a conventional advertising and word-of-mouth approach. Instead, overwhelming numbers of churches employed the film as a teaching and recruiting tool, incorporating it into church activities and sermons, and thereby encouraging its congregations to treat it not just as powerful entertainment, but as a religious and faith-affirming experience of atonement and redemption.
The
Marketing of The Passion
Until recently, the Christian and family values market has largely been ignored by mainstream marketers as an obscure fringe sector of the U.S. economy. Although 120 million Americans self-identify as regular churchgoers, economists have traditionally viewed this faction as peripheral to pop culture and mainstream interests. Yet, as retailers including Wal-Mart and Costco Wholesale have recently recognized, the Christian-based marketplace represents a large and highly profitable segment of the retail sector, currently bringing in $4.2 billion in sales, largely from small Christian specialty retailers.[2] According to C. Britt Beemer, chairman of the consumer research firm America's Research Group, this market maintains the capacity to grow by 30%.[3] A trend toward spirituality over the past five years (and likely reaching into the previous two decades) has fueled the growth of the Christian market, with 85% of all Americans self-identifying as Christians, and 35% of American adults and 34% of American teenagers identifying themselves as born-again.[4]
Furthermore, trend researcher Yankelovich reports that the psychographic segment known as "the Young Religious," which consists of the all-important market categories of Generation X and Generation Y members aged 16 to 38, exhibits higher brand loyalty and style-consciousness than their secular counterparts. Compared to 34% of non-religious consumers, 41% of the Young Religious report "spending more time to locate products that are right for them and, once they find that perfect brand, they're more likely to remain its disciples."[5] They also exhibit a greater concern for "superficial signifiers of status," with 62% reporting an interest in maintaining physical appearances (compared with 52% of their non-religious peers) and 44% in being fashionable (compared with 34%).[6] Although this description of the Young Religious includes both Christians and members of other faiths, the specifically Christian segment of this demographic alone is estimated at six million.[7] InService America, one of the dominant firms behind faith-based direct mail and telemarketing campaigns whose clients include Promise Keepers and Trinity Broadcasting Network, maintains a database of approximately 10 million Christian consumers.[8] Out of range of the mainstream economic radar, the Christian market is huge, active, and organized. According to Bob Hutchins, the CEO of the faith-based marketing firm BuzzPlant, Christians "are hungry for things that pertain to their own lifestyles" and "are willing to pay for it."[9] Under these circumstances, the Christian marketplace was poised for the arrival of a film that wholeheartedly expressed its values—and came with a host of accoutrements and merchandising tie-ins.
As a self-financed film released jointly by Gibson's Icon Productions and the successful but still fledgling independent distribution company Newmarket Films (whose previous successes with Whale Rider and Monster helped to more firmly establish the company as a viable outlet), Passion possessed a marketing budget of approximately $15 million, a scant figure by contemporary Hollywood standards. Instead of directing those funds toward a conventional advertising campaign aimed at mainstream markets, Newmarket chose to focus on its core Christian audience and employed fifteen specialized, faith-based firms with lucrative records in developing creative alternatives to promotion within the Christian market. The collaboration resulted in a coordinated grassroots campaign that enlisted churches and Christian networks as the soldiers for, and, ultimately, financers of, a nationwide strategy of advertising, word-of-mouth promotions, film-related workshops, and special events, the latter two of which in particular would enable spectators to engage with the film in a uniquely religious mode.
Newmarket's cutting-edge marketing consortium included Fuzebox Media, a youth-oriented firm specializing in the Christian music market, Buzzplant, a faith-based company focused on Internet promotions, and InService America. Together, these firms integrated innovative approaches to digital media communication to reach a wide swath of its market, utilizing cell phone text messaging, viral Internet marketing, and email servicing along with more conventional direct mail and phone bank campaigns as a means of targeting the loyal older generation of Christians along with younger believers. Yet the engine behind Passion's marketing campaign resided in the synergy it created with churches and religious organizations. Outreach, Inc., the largest provider of Christian outreach materials and services in the northern hemisphere, spearheaded the outreach portion of the marketing strategy, touting the film as "Perhaps the Best Outreach Opportunity in 2000 Years."[10] The group generated DVD kits, featuring a trailer of the film as well as with interviews with Mel Gibson and Jim Caviezel (the actor who portrays Jesus in the film), along with instructions for using the film as a recruitment tool, and distributed the packages to 250,000 churches across the country.[11] Outreach also created ThePassionOutreach.com, a website devoted to pre-release materials for use by churches, which included downloadable sermons related to the film and outreach resources such as postcards, door hangers, Witness cards, and Passion-themed gospel booklets for dissemination to believers and non-believers alike as promotion for the film—and the faith. "Our message," said Outreach President Doug Martinez, "was 'Go see the movie and then go to a church for follow-up questions and discussion."[12] The film, thus, from its origins, was marketed to the gatekeepers of the Christian community as an evangelical tool for drawing new and lapsed members into the Church. Yet, as such a tool, the film transformed from Christian entertainment into a religious event, an opportunity for a personal and collective encounter with God in cinematic form.
Churches and Christian organizations—across denominations—responded to the opportunity overwhelmingly, purchasing outreach materials in bulk (the only package Outreach offered), developing study groups and workshops about the film, "assigning" churchgoers to attend them film, organizing mass mailings and advertising efforts, and creating independent websites in support of the movie. The film served as a teaching tool for churches, and as a means for spreading the word of Christ. The Internet portal CatholicExchange.com offered downloadable pulpit and bulletin announcements, opening with "This movie is more than just another fantastic Hollywood production—it's a personal call for each of us to encounter the person of Jesus Christ and the claims He made."[13] The website provided curricula for study groups titled "Studying the original screenplay—The Bible," conflating the religious and commercial origins of the film.[14] The advertising company FaithHighway created bridge commercials for the film, featuring a twenty-second trailer with a customized ten-second slate plugging the church's Passion-related services, selling for $795. Four hundred churches opted in within a month of the offer, and many others chose the "Platinum" option, which, for $1,790, would enable the church's pastor to appear in the ad in a segment produced by the company.[15] Churches announced the film's release during sermons and in church bulletins, used email "e-vites" to circulate movie trailers and MP3s, and discussed it on church-based radio programs run by Focus on the Family and the Trinity Broadcasting Network. In the words of one pastor, "The Passion is going to be our Christian Super Bowl, so get ready for advertising. We're going to make sure we're on the front line."[16] Churches immersed the Christian community in rhetoric and promotion around the film, treating its viewing as a religious duty—and abstinence from viewing as a lapse of faith.
As a result, with the assistance of Outreach, InService America, and Prelude Ministries, churches coordinated massive advance and bulk ticket sales with their congregations, often buying out theatres en masse. Some bussed their congregations to the local multiplex to see the film. A member of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, bought out twenty auditoriums at the local Cinemark Tinseltown, giving away 6,000 tickets to the opening day screenings of the film.[17] At Harvest Springs Community Church in Great Falls, Montana, members raised $12,000 to purchase tickets for filmgoers.[18] Frazer United Methodist Church in Alabama contributed $15,000 to promotions of the film in its community, and Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany spent $20,000 on invitations and TV ads.[19] InTouch Ministries in Atlanta purchased a full page ad in USA Today on Good Friday thanking Mel Gibson for making the film. As a result, Passion broke records in grosses of advance ticket sales (InService America and Prelude Ministries efforts alone grossed between $10 million and $15 million, or 1.7 million advance ticket sales[20]), and two weeks prior to its opening, Nielsen NRG reported total awareness for Passion at 60%, and over 80% among men and women over 25.[21]
This unprecedented success, however, resulted largely from a displacement of marketing costs and labor from Icon and Newmarket onto churches and individual churchgoers, whose efforts demonstrated a distinct willingness to accept the burden. For churches, Passion represented a unique opportunity to win converts, spread the Gospel, foster a greater sense of community, and increase revenues. Yet the (free) publicity stemming from the controversy around accusations of anti-Semitism and graphic violence that enveloped the film prior to its release—partly as a result of script leaks and infiltration of preview screenings by Jewish leaders—also fueled the film's success. Preview screenings for select Christian leaders—namely pastors from churches around the country—enabled the film to secure pre-release endorsements (aided, in part, by the requirement that attendees must sign an agreement promising not to discuss the film except in positive terms[22]). Criticism of the film further polarized audiences, prompting Christian viewers to heighten their support of the film in defense of their faith, a tactic used by Icon in the publicity for the film. Passion's marketing director, Paul Lauer, framed the criticism as an attack on Christianity:
Are some
people going to make the argument for anti-Semitism [in the film]? Maybe. But
to do that, they would have to call the New Testament gospels anti-Semitic,
which, as you know, some people do. You can't change the story told in the
gospels any more than Steven Spielberg could be expected to change the history
of the Holocaust to avoid blaming the Germans.[23]
Coverage of the controversy
expanded this rhetoric, with Jennifer Giroux, creator of the independent fan
site SeeThePassion.com, quoted as saying, "When [critics] attack [Gibson], they
attack millions of people in middle America. We have watched films concerning
the Holocaust with compassion, concern, and with sorrow, and we just want to be
able to watch this beautiful, beautiful movie about our faith."[24] The two-fold effects of Passion's marketing—the evangelistic approach to
utilizing the film as a teaching tool, and the spontaneous generation of
controversial publicity over the film's content—resulted in a unifying of
Christian audiences in support of the film, breaking down denominational
barriers and constructing an active, mobilized, and loyal set of
spectators. As a unified front,
this group almost monolithically resisted attacks on the film in the name of
upholding the Christian faith.
Indeed, the film sold this promise of community in its marketing
rhetoric, commodifying unity and resistance.[25]
The
film's success as the result of the steadfast cohering of a Christian community
depended upon Passion's ability to
appeal to believers across denominational divides. The unusual joining of cross-denominational forces to rally
around a film with distinctly Roman Catholic interpretations of the Bible
speaks in part to the careful marketing of the movie, but also to the ways in
which critical media coverage revealed the film's extra-Biblical influences,
and Gibson's own "poetic" (and "prophetic") license in interpreting Biblical
events for the screen. In part,
the cross-denominational success of the film sprang from the Christian
community's thirst for a film that emotionally and viscerally—in many
viewer's words, "realistically"—captured one of the most important
stories of the Bible, regardless of the nuances of interpretation between
believers. However, by hosting
private preview screenings only for sympathetic Christian leaders—mostly
Catholic and Protestant—well before the release of the movie, the film's
marketers initiated a word-of-mouth campaign that resulted in endorsements from
a wealth of Christian leaders who had not yet seen the film and thus could not
advance a critique.[26] Perhaps more significantly, Newmarket
seized the opportunity to promote the film as an outreach tool that any church
group could adopt, so that
any individual, church or denomination [could] use the film as a
springboard for the propagation of their own theology. The movie is open-ended concerning what
it takes for one to become a Christian and possess a relationship with Christ...
Because the film is not offensive to any one particular system of theology,
anybody can use it as a springboard for evangelism—from the Roman
Catholic to the Seventh Day Adventist to the Southern Baptist.[27]
For these groups, then, the
workshop and outreach events attached to a viewing of the film presented the
opportunity to (re-)interpret the film in the context of their particular
beliefs and approaches to understanding Biblical texts, thereby potentially
undoing any Roman Catholic subtext offered in the film itself and reframing the
film within the denomination's unique theological system.
Still,
a film produced in original languages, devoted largely to depicting the graphic
suffering, rather than triumphant resurrection, of Christ, would seem to have
limited appeal, especially to Christian audiences of diverse
denominations. Yet Gibson's
statements in publicity surrounding the film focused on personal conversion
stories and claims to truth and historical accuracy in his portrayal of the
Passion. Although the historical
and Biblical accuracy of the film has been widely challenged (Gibson himself
freely acknowledges his reliance on The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus
Christ, a mystical account of "visions" of
the Passion by nineteenth century nun Anne Catherine Emmerich, for several
scenes in the film), Gibson's authoritative claims to authenticity—which
were behind his decision to produce the film in Latin and
Aramaic—functioned to infuse the film with religious legitimacy—a
Christian message straight from the source. Gibson framed the development of the film as a personal
spiritual experience that drew its authenticity directly from the Gospels as
well as his own religious experience, guided by Christ himself:
Life
is hard, and we all get wounded by it—I was no exception. I went to the wounds of Christ in order
to cure my wounds. And when I did
that, through reading, and studying, and meditating, and praying, I began to
see in my own mind what He really went through... The film is faithful to the
Gospels, but I had to fill in a lot of detail, and that's where my own
meditation came into play. I also
found that a lot of experts disagreed about historical details... Since the
experts cancelled each other out, I was thrown back on my own resources to
weigh the different arguments and decide for myself.[28]
To Boys, Gibson's misdirected
authority provided viewers with " 'blessed assurance' that this is precisely
how it happened," and bestows upon Gibson a "saintly aura" that overshadows any
need to critically examine the film's representations of the Bible.[32] Thus, the promotion of the film served
to smooth over denominational differences under a rubric of divine authenticity
and Biblical legitimacy, a strategy employed by Gibson personally. Indeed, as a further effort to shift
the appeal of Passion from a specifically
Roman Catholic audience to a broader constituency, the marketing rhetoric
focused on a visceral, personal encounter with Christ, as noted in the film
website's tagline: Experience
the Passion.
As
a result of these sets of factors, the film assumed a commodified ritual
function beyond its use as a means of communicating the teachings of the
Bible. The film served its
Christian spectators as an immediate means of affirming their faith and of
participating as a sanctioned member of their local religious community and
particular Christian denomination.
As a means of actualizing a myth or religious ideal, taking part in
ritual "makes the religious realm visible" and "...bring[s] its power to bear on
ordinary life,"[33] so that
Christian viewers experienced a personal connection with the film's subject
matter. Viewing Passion was not simply a
matter of watching a film about one's faith; rather, attending—and
responding to—the film, both in the theater and in the church, functioned
as the performance of a religious act and a demonstration of a commitment to
faith. The film also provided an
opportunity to witness the Passion of Christ in a visceral, emotional, graphic
form, with a demonstrated physical impact on its viewers. The film thus made religion
palpable—indeed, "... the 'doing' of religion...is just as critical to
religious life as the beliefs and ideas expressed in mythology or theology. Essentially, religion must be performed
to become meaningful."[34] Passion, in its marketing and publicity, ultimately sold as
its commodity the opportunity to bear witness, to participate in and defend a
cohesive, like-minded religious community, and to engage in a performative
Christian ritual.[35] Its success, in large part, sprang from
this performative function which enabled a more highly engaged spectatorial
experience than typical Christian cinematic fare.
Although critics and scholars have noted
the film's resemblance to such Christian rituals as medieval Passion plays or
the Catholic devotion of the Stations of the Cross, the viewer's emotional and
bodily engagement with the film through its explicit and highly controversial
violence more palpably invited spectators to "perform" a communal, ritualized
relationship with Christ and accounts more convincingly for Passion's success, especially among younger audiences. The film's prolonged graphic violence,
use of horror-inspired special effects, and foreboding sets intersect with the
performative function of ritual in the ways in which such conventions inspire a
bodily engagement with the material—namely the sobbing and weeping
reported by many spectators while viewing the film (and, notably, reports that
two viewers died while watching the film). The film's spectators repeatedly recounted an overwhelming
emotional and physical response to its images. "You don't come to be entertained by this movie," observed
minister Darwin Bullock following a preview screening. "You encounter the love of God. I believe it's the closest someone can
come to being at the crucifixion.
It brings the Gospel to life."[36] Craig Gorc, a senior associate pastor,
felt "connect[ed] personally to Jesus," noting that the theater was "utterly
silent except for the sobbing."[37] Despite the final image of Christ's
resurrection, the experience of watching the film, for most viewers, was
dominated by grief.
Viewing Christ's
suffering on film therefore functions as a ritual of sacrifice on the part of
the spectator which results in a form of healing and spiritual
commitment—an atonement for one's sins. In such rituals,
in order to heal, whether of sin or disease (often viewed as the same thing in many religions), there must be something given up; and as pain gives up pleasure, this is one form of sacrifice. It is not so much payment for the healing, as it is an indication of the commitment (of the patient or the healer) to the task that requires this sacrifice.[38]
The pleasure sacrificed in viewing
the suffering of the son of God on our behalf (and, to expand the economic
argument, the sacrifice of personal capital in order to witness the Passion/Passion) thus enables spectators to achieve redemption and
demonstrate their commitment to Jesus.
The collective performance of grief and remorse in the theater signals
repentance for human sin, thereby enabling a sense of gratification for the
Christian viewer as having performed a religious duty. The film served a dual function, both
enabling the spectator to establish an intimate, personal relationship with
Christ while also affirming his or her faith as a member of a Christian
community.
The violence in
the film further augmented the ritual experience for many viewers, especially
younger audiences, who comprised a bulk of Passion attendees.
According AMC, the nation's second-largest theater chain, the heaviest
demographic for Passion showings
was ages 18-30.[39] In an inquiry into the responses of
college students to Passion, Mark
Bosco, professor of English and Theology at Loyola University Chicago, observed,
"For many of these students, the film was analogous to a liturgical
experience. They saw it more as a
ritual than a biblical history lesson... Gibson's use of violence seems to be the
primary reason why these students find the film engrossing. The violence takes them somewhere,
moves them in some way."[40] While many critics attacked the film's
use of violence as gratuitous and inappropriately inspired by horror film
conventions (Richard Corliss of Time
magazine suggested Passion might
represent a new genre—the splatter-art film[41]),
many believers hailed the scourging scenes as highly realistic, thus enabling
Christian viewers to more viscerally witness Christ's suffering. Returning to Bosco's inquiry,
[A student] noted, "The violence tears away all other emotions you might get out of violence in our culture... If it starts out as a thrill, it quickly moves to shock, and you're left withonly a terrible sense of sadness, of loss. The only thing left for you to do is stay watching, to bear witness." There is something profoundly true in this statement. The dramatic depiction of violence is part of the cultural experience of many young people. It thrills, it shocks, it entertains, but usually from the safe, ironic distance of print, film, or video games. Gibson's Passion is a bloodied tragedy that has never before been so compellingly realized on film. There is little space for a postmodern, ironic gaze; instead the viewer is asked to stand and watch.[42]
For such viewers, the violence of
the film collapsed the distance between screen and spectator, engulfing the
viewer in an experience unparalleled by the pleasurable buzz of typical
Hollywood special effects, instead viscerally immersing the viewer in the scene
of the crucifixion. Indeed, in the
film's publicity, the violence in Passion
was upheld by many believers (and film critics) as realistic and necessary to
ritually experience the suffering of Christ, in contrast to the spectacular
thrill of glorified "movie violence" in action and horror films. The film's
violence thus enabled the experience of bearing witness to the suffering of
Jesus, and the promotion around the film promised unprecedented intensity and
intimacy in the ritual in exchange for a ticket: Experience the Passion. Here, the encounter with
Christ, both on a deeply personal and ritualized, communal level, takes on the
tenor of commodity, a service in high demand that possesses marketable
exchange-value.
Merchandising,
then, fed into the viewer's physical relationship with the film and its
representation of faith, enabling spectators to possess a souvenir of their
experience and to obtain bodily adornments to symbolize their attachment to the
film, and, by association, their belief system. Bob Siemon Designs manufactured licensed Passion jewelry, including pewter nail pendants and
earrings, lapel pins with "passion" inscribed in Aramaic, and "reminder" coins,
all of which provide physical "evidence" of "bearing witness" to the
film—as if "actually being
there." "Rough nails like the spikes
used in the movie," said one Baptist website, "have replaced the sleek golden
crosses of old; jewelry is huge.
The Gen-Xers no doubt like the realism."[43] Witness cards, of course, bore images
of the film on one side with pertinent lines from the Gospels on the reverse,
and copies of the Gospels illustrated with images of Jim Caviezel as Jesus were
best-selling items. With these
products, witnessing the Passion and witnessing The Passion become inextricably conflated, distilling
consumerism, spectatorship, and religious vision into single, tiny commodities
and enmeshing the spectators in body and soul in the cinematic event.
I owe a debt to Spencer Gillis for his collaboration in researching the production history of The Passion of the Christ.
[1]"The Passion of the Christ," Box Office Mojo <http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=passionofthechrist.htm> 2 Dec. 2004.
[2] Coolidge, Carrie, "Christian Capitalism: David vs. Goliath," Forbes 15 Sept. 2003 <http://www.forbes.com/2003/09/15/cz_cc_0915wmt.html>
[3] Ibid.
[4] Portfolio. Fuzebox Media
<http://www.fuze.tv/portfolio-demo.htm>
[5] Ebenkamp, Becky, "Out of the Box: The Young and the Righteous," Brandweek. 5 April 2004. Lexis-Nexis. Infohawk. University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, IA. 24 October 2004. <www.purl.lib.uiowa.edu/lexis/universe>.
[6] Ibid.
[7] Portfolio.
[8] Gull, Nicole, "Onward Christian Marketer," Inc. July 2004: 30.
[9] Ibid.
[10] The Passion Outreach. Outreach, Inc. <http://www.thepassionoutreach.com/>.
[11] Hewitt, Giles, "The 'Mass' Marketing of Gibson's 'Passion'," Agence France Presse. 18 Feb. 2004. Lexis-Nexis. Infohawk. University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, IA. 24 October 2004. <www.purl.lib.uiowa.edu/lexis/universe>.
[12] Stanley, T.L., "Marketing Continues: Producers Keep Up a Passion for 'Passion'," Advertising Age, 22 March 2004: 3. Lexis-Nexis. Infohawk. University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, IA. 24 October 2004. <www.purl.lib.uiowa.edu/lexis/universe>.
[13] Catholic Passion Outreach, Catholic Exchange, <http://passion.catholicexchange.com/>.
[14] Ibid.
[15] Howard, Theresa, "Promoting 'The Passion'," USA Today. 24 Feb. 2004: 3B. Lexis-Nexis. Infohawk. University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, IA. 24 October 2004. <www.purl.lib.uiowa.edu/lexis/universe>. See also <http://www.passioncommercials.com>.
[16] Zoll, Rachel, "Gibson's Jesus Film Gets Boost from Evangelizing Christians," Associated Press. Lexis-Nexis. Infohawk. University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, IA. 24 October 2004. <www.purl.lib.uiowa.edu/lexis/universe>.
[17] "Texas Churches Seek to Take Advantage of Gibson's 'Passion'," 3 Feb. 2004, Associated Press. Lexis-Nexis. Infohawk. University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, IA. 24 October 2004. <www.purl.lib.uiowa.edu/lexis/universe>.
[18] Snyder, Gabriel, "Shepherding the Flock," Variety. 19-25 Jan. 2004: 3. Lexis-Nexis. Infohawk. University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, IA. 24 October 2004. <www.purl.lib.uiowa.edu/lexis/universe>.
[19] Minor, Elliott, "Church Members Say Emotional Gibson Film Depicts Jesus' Sacrifice," Associated Press, 24 Feb. 2004. Lexis-Nexis. Infohawk. University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, IA. 28 September 2004. <www.purl.lib.uiowa.edu/lexis/universe>.
[20] Stanley.
[21] Snyder, Gabriel, " 'Passion' Poised for Heavenly B.O.," Variety 10 Feb. 2004, 1. Lexis-Nexis. Infohawk. University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, IA. 24 October 2004. <www.purl.lib.uiowa.edu/lexis/universe>.
[22] Means, Sean P., "For 'Passion' and 'Latter Days,' Controversy is a Marketing Tool," Salt Lake Tribune 1 Feb. 2004: D2. Lexis-Nexis. Infohawk. University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, IA. 24 October 2004. <www.purl.lib.uiowa.edu/lexis/universe>.
[23] Eisenberg, Carol, "Stirring Passions: Gibson's Film About Jesus Raises Jews' Fears," Newsday, 22 July 2003.
[24] Zoll.
[25] I owe the notion of commodified resistance in Passion to Louis-Georges Schwartz's Contemporary U.S. Cinema course at the University of Iowa, Fall 2004.
[26] For a list of such endorsements, see http://www.thepassionoutreach.com/quotes.asp.
[27] Costella, Matt, "Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ: Three Serious Concerns for Believers to Consider," Fundamental Bible Church <http://www.fundamental Bible Church.org/Tracts/fbcpassion.htm>.
[28] Coffin, Andrew, "Graphic by Design," World Magazine, 28 Feb. 2004. Lexis-Nexis. Infohawk. University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, IA. 24 October 2004. <www.purl.lib.uiowa.edu/lexis/universe>.
[29] Grace.
[30] Smith, Sean, "Interview: You Want Me To Play Jesus?" Newsweek, Feb. 16, 2004: 52.
[31] Boys, 11-14.
[32] Boys, Mary C., " 'I Didn't See Any Anti-Semitism: Why Many Christians Don't Have a Problem with The Passion of the Christ," Crosscurrents, Spring 2004: 11.
[33] Lyden, John C. Film as Religion: Myths, Morals, and Rituals (New York: NYU Press, 2003): 79.
[34] Ibid., 80.
[35] Again I owe much of my development of this analysis to lectures by Louis-Georges Schwartz in his Contemporary U.S. Cinema course.
[36] Minor.
[37] Tu, Janet I. and Moira McDonald, "Gibson's 'Passion' Takes Powerful Marketing Partner Churches," Seattle Times, 8 Feb. 2004: A1. Lexis-Nexis. Infohawk. University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City IA. 24 October 2004. <www.purl.lib.uiowa.edu/lexis/universe>.
[38] Lyden, John C. Film as Religion: Myths, Morals, and Rituals (New York: NYU Press, 2003): 82.
[39] Snyder, Gabriel, " 'Passion' Youth Appeal," Variety 11 March 2004: 1.
[40] Bosco, Mark, "Brutally Real: Why 'The Passion' appeals to young people," Commonweal, 7 May 2004: 18.
[41] Grace.
[42] Bosco, 20.
[43] Snowden, Mark, "Learning from 'The Passion' Marketing," The Baptist Communicators Association < http://www.baptistcommunicators.org/dev/passionmktg.htm>
[44] Miller, Mark and Ellise Pierce, "Calling All Christians," Newsweek, Feb. 25, 2004: 0. Lexis-Nexis. Infohawk. University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, IA. 28 September 2004. <www.purl.lib.uiowa.edu/lexis/universe>
[45] Ibid.
[46] Grove, Martin A., "Render Unto Mel the Profits that Are Mel's," The Toronto Star, 12 March 2004: F08. Lexis-Nexis. Infohawk. University of Iowa Libraries, Iowa City, IA. 28 September 2004. <www.purl.lib.uiowa.edu/lexis/universe>.
[47] Ibid.
[48] "Passion Movie Outreach," Bible.com <http://www.bible.com/jesus/PassionMovieOutreach.html>