So what do Mel Gibson and Janet Jackson have in common?
You guessed it-the need for excessive media coverage to bolster the profits of their latest projects. The question is who is lower-Jackson for trading on America's fear of the nipple or Gibson for trading on the blind faith of millions?
\The Passion of the Christ"" earned $117.5 million in its first five days, almost five times what it cost Gibson to make. What has caused this unexpectedly high box office earning for a film that needed an independent distributor because Hollywood wouldn't touch it? A marvelously controversial anti-Semitism allegation and a little free advertising from some of the most motivated ""word-spreaders"" on Earth.
Gibson has been recruiting Christian foot soldiers to be his missionaries to the masses in a perverted twist on the religious tradition of spreading the word of the Gospel. Only this time, it is a for-profit movie.
Anyone looking for ""The Passion of The Christ"" material can choose from several official Web sites catering to a variety of potential audiences. There is , where you can ""Get everything you need to promote 'The Passion of the Christ' on your campus."" This site contains not only a place to request free publicity materials such as posters and flyers, but also forums to discuss how others are ""spreading the word"" on their campus, a place to send free ""Passion"" text messages to your friends' cell phones and a chance to e-mail something called the ""VIRAL EMAIL TRAILER"" to your e-mail contacts.
On , you can download everything from flyers to free advertisements and posters to a release form with ""The Passion"" logo on it for parents to sign off on their underage children. It seems Gibson, or at least the sponsor of this site, feels everyone should be legally able to view a graphically violent movie about Jesus' suffering, and futhermore, needs to be helped along with a tailored form.
But a nightmare is still a nightmare, even if it is about Jesus.
In December, one of Gibson's producers claimed the Pope had seen ""The Passion"" and approved of it. A top Vatican official later denied the story, but Gibson's publicist claimed he had e-mail confirmation of the Pope's enjoyment. Only he never provided the e-mail to any news sources.
But misrepresenting the Pope is probably not considered a mortal sin to people who are willing to take advantage of faithful believers for their own profit.
And let's not even get into the anti-Semitism media frenzy that Gibson used to bait the Jewish community. It is too bad no one is keeping track of the religious beliefs of those who go see ""The Passion,"" since it is highly probable that Jews contributed plenty to the extraordinary ticket sales of the movie in its first weekend. Even Gibson's partner in his film company admits the benefit of the anti-Semitism controversy.
""It all began with the grass-roots campaign we started, but the controversy has obviously helped in creating awareness,"" Bill Davey said to the Associated Press.
The site contains a link to a press room where students will find a standardized editorial to send to their local newspapers. This editorial, written by Christine O'Donnell, a biweekly columnist for , unabashedly plays up the quality of Gibson's film while urging people to go see the movie and decide for themselves about any potential anti-Semitism.
So those who are concerned about anti-Semitism should pay Gibson $8 to find out if his movie fuels the hatred of Jews. Seems like a mighty nice trade-off-for Gibson at least.
The final sentence of that editorial reads, ""As educated people, it's our responsibility to investigate a matter ourselves before blindly accepting another's opinion."" So rather than taking Gibson's advertising campaign on blind faith, make up your own mind.
Brilliant?
Undoubtedly.
Right?
You decide.
