Many of these films were useful for Christian missionary work.Īn advertisement for Olcott’s film, for example, stated how it was “destined to be more far-reaching than the Bible in telling the story of the Savior.” Indeed, as media scholars Terry Lindvall and Andrew Quicke have noted, many Christian leaders throughout the 20th century utilized the power of film for moral instruction and conversion.Ī 1979 film, known as “The Jesus Film”, went on to become the most watched film in history. This was, as Biblical studies scholar Adele Reinhartz put it, not Jesus of Nazareth, but the creation of a “Jesus of Hollywood.” Global moral instruction Jesus was portrayed as a spiritual savior figure while avoiding many of the socio-political controversies.
Social or political messages found in the gospels – such as the political charge of a “kingdom of God” – were smoothed over. In all these films, evidence of Jesus’s Jewish identity was toned down. Jesus, portrayed by Swedish actor Max von Sydow, moves through a mass of people in this scene filmed on May 1, 1963, at Pyramid Lake, Nevada, for AP Photo Four years later, George Stevens’s “The Greatest Story Ever Told”, cast the white Swedish actor Max von Sydow in the lead role. In Nicholas Ray’s 1961 film, “King of Kings” Jeffrey Hunter made a deep impression on his audience in the role of Jesus with his piercing blue eyes. In Hollywood’s portrayal, Jesus was a white, European man.
Writing about DeMille’s film some years later, film historian Charles Musser commented how the film evoked “Christ’s charisma” through “a mesmerizing repertoire of special effects, lighting and editing.”
DeMille’s “The King of Kings”, demonstrating the power of a big budget and a well-known director. In 1912, Sidney Olcott’s “From the Manger to the Cross” became the first feature length film to offer a full account of the life of Christ.įifteen years later, crowds flocked to see Cecil B. Hollywood continued to cash in on Christian audiences all through the 20th century. Inventors of cinematic technologies, such as Thomas Edison and the Lumière brothers, were among the first to bring Jesus’s life to the big screen at the end of the 19th century. From amulets to icons, paintings to sculptures, Christianity incorporates a rich visual history, so perhaps it is not surprising that cinema has become a vital medium to display the life of Jesus. Images of Jesus, or the Virgin Mary, have long been part of the Christian tradition. I have also looked at the ways in which audiences make their own spiritual meanings through the images of film. From still images to moving imagesįor the last two decades, I have researched the portrayal of religious figures on screen.
These films have prompted devotion and missionary outreach, just as they have challenged viewers’ assumptions of who the figure of Jesus really was.
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