[From Dww-work]… THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO HOMER
Q: What other factors go into Hollywood’s treatment of religion?
A: Hollywood films are meant to appeal to a wide audience. Recent figures show that if you take the average production budget, average marketing and advertising costs, and average distribution costs, the typical film has to sell about 25 million tickets in order to break even. You can have a book on The New York Times bestseller list, nonfiction, selling 100,000 copies (or even less); an album goes platinum selling a million copies. Twenty-five million tickets-that’s a lot. Producers want to reach the widest possible audience, so when they treat religion, they tend to be generic.

An example of generic American religion is found, to switch genres, in The Simpsons episode called “Homer the Heretic.” Homer decides he’s not going to church, so he stays home. God comes down, lifts the roof of Homer’s house and sits down to have a conversation with him. Homer says to God, “I’m not a bad guy. I work hard and I love my kids. So why should I spend half my Sunday hearing about how I’m going to hell?”

“Hmmm, you’ve got a point there,” God replies. “You know, sometimes even I’d rather be watching football. Does St. Louis still have a team (Homer informs God
they moved to Phoenix.)

Later in the show, Homer concludes, “So I figure I should try to live right and worship you in my own way .” And God agrees.

I think that’s a synthesis of Christianity and American individualism-live right and worship God in my own way. Eighty percent of Americans incorrectly believe that the Bible says that God helps those who help themselves, a statement from Ben Franklin.

(Christianity Today, Feb. 5, 2001: The World Behind the Movie: An interview with William Romanowski, Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences at Calvin College and author of the forthcoming Eyes Wide Open: Looking for God in Popular Culture (Brazos).

GOSPEL; PLURALISM; HOLLYWOOD; RELIGIONS; MOVIES; ENTERTAINMENT; EXCLUSIVISM
JOHN 14:6; ACTS 4:12