Kentucky Press to publish Hollywood Under Seige

University Press of Kentucky is taking an interesting turn with its distinguished film studies list with the August 08 publication of Hollywood Under Siege: Martin Scorsese, the Religious Right and the Culture Wars, by Thomas R. Lindlof, a professor of journalism at University of Kentucky. Lindlof explores the major controversy surrounding the release of the movie The Last Temptation of Christ in 1988, and how the Christian right in America galvanized itself around the issue of a single sex scene in the movie between Jesus of Nazareth and Mary Magdelene. Lindlof sees the moral outrage and publicity uproar surrounding the release of the film as a tipping point in the American culture wars.

The film was directed by Martin Scorsese, from a novel by Nikos Kazantzakis. In 1988 there were protests outside theaters where the film showed, and the film was actually banned in some countries. In Chicago the film played at the famous Biograph Theater on Lincoln Avenue, and my wife and I actually crossed a picket line to see the movie. The picket line had a young girl dressed up as a nun among the protestors, and this was so striking that this girl was featured on the from page of the Chicago Tribune the next day. The Jesus character was played by Wilhem Defoe and Mary Magdelene’s character was portrayed by Barbara Hershey. Everything was quiet during the performance, but when the sex scene between Jesus and Mary came on screen, you could hear the crowd on the street chanting “no, no, no!” The interplay between the film and the street crowd’s timed reaction to events on the screen made for a genuine surreal experience for moviegoers.

The ironic thing about this hullabaloo was that this film was a deeply religious, very personal interpretation of the Kazantzakis novel by director Martin Scorsese. Author Lindlof interviews all the key players involved with the film – Scorsese. Dafoe, screenwriter Paul Schrader, producers Jeffery Katzenberg and Michael Orvitz – and chronicles their many setbacks, from the production problems to the uproar over the release of the film, to the studio’s crisis control plan. Lindlof makes a very strong case that the controlled protests across the country by the Christian right over the release of this movie was the thing that solidified their political efforts, and has far-reaching consequences for today’s political landscape.