Clever folks used to remark that the purpose of television programs was to make it possible for us to watch commercials. That little joke is becoming passe, however. Recently, a whole new genre of ads has arisen: the commercial-as-TV-show. Usually lasting half an hour, these generally irritating, occasionally interesting programs seek to simultaneously enlighten us and take our money.
You never know what the next one will be. It might offer some new kind of food slicer, pressure cooker, weight loss plan, or stain remover. It might teach you how to train your dog, teach your children to read, make a zillion dollars buying distressed properties, play piano, or pick up girls.
The other day, my children had me watch a new commercial on the market. The program was advertising a series of videotaped cartoons called "The Animated Stories from the New Testament." Distributed by the Family Entertainment Network of Dallas, Texas, its promoters call it "the greatest animated Bible series ever produced" and "the most Biblically accurate production in the world today."
That may be true, but it isn't necessarily saying much. In fact, my children and I spotted several historical inaccuracies in the featured clips.
For example, the temple curtain that ripped from top to bottom during Jesus' crucifixion looked like a bedsheet about 6 feet high. In reality, the curtain was at least 60 feet high and several inches thick. (That's one of the reasons the Gospel writers recorded the event: they clearly regarded it as supernatural.)
Another minor goof was the portrayal of men such as John, Stephen, and Saul as clean-shaven. But these men were all faithful Israelites; in obedience to such Scriptures as Leviticus 9:27, they would have had full beards.
These, of course, are relatively minor points. What really caught our attention were the physical characteristics of the cartoon characters. Without exception, all the good guys -- Jesus, Christians, and angels -- looked distinctly Nordic or Anglo-Saxon, and pretty darned cute besides. Many (including Jesus) had piercing blue eyes. At his trial before the Sanhedrin, Stephen positively looked like a 19-year-old southern California surfer.
In striking contrast, the Jewish opponents of Christianity were invariably "Semitic" in appearance, complete with the impossibly long, Shylockian hooked nose. Priests, Pharisees, scribes -- everyone against Jesus looked like a stereotype out of a Nazi comic book, while the typical Christian could have been a poster child for the Aryan Brotherhood. I suppose we can at least be thankful they weren't skinheads.
I'm a kindly person at heart, wanting to believe the best about people. My first inclination was to suppose that the artists inadvertently allowed their unconscious prejudices to influence their art. But then I remembered something important about all the artists I've ever known: they always know exactly what they're doing.
If only one Pharisee had the hooked nose, it might be a mere coincidence. But all of them? It just doesn't seem accidental, especially when you consider that, as the advertisers proclaim, this series cost millions of dollars to produce, employing 450 artists and technicians. Could they all have made the same mistake? Or were they, instead, told exactly what to draw?
Some readers may object that, after all, some Jews do have hooked noses; stereotypes generally have at least a tenuous basis in fact. That's true. But then why wasn't there at least a token "Semite" or two among the Christians, all of whom were racially identical to their opponents? And didn't any Jewish priests have blond hair and blue eyes?
The fact is, whatever the merits of this video series (and I'm sure it does have its virtues), it subliminally perpetuates egregious racist stereotypes. In the process, it misses one of the most significant messages of the Bible, Old Testament as well as New -- that, in St. Paul's words, all people are God's offspring, of one blood; all are in need of forgiveness; and salvation is by grace, not race.
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