Warden Norton in "The Shawshank Redemption" quoted Bible verses while mistreating inmates and pilfering money. Typical Christian behavior!
Fanatical preacher in "Contact" who blows up an interplanetary spaceship because, you know, Christians HATE everything about science.
The fire-snorting, fumbling, preacher from "Inherit the Wind" wilts under pressure from cool, rational evolutionists. Suffering a heart attack on the stand while raining down judgment on the courtroom is the least this intellectual worm deserves.
Mrs. Carmody from "The Mist." Just your average Christian housewife waiting for the Apocalypse so she can uncork that pent up repression in self-righteous wrath. Yawn.
Mother from "Carrie." Garden variety Pentecostal, wild-eyed and witchy. Just imagine how many innocent telekinetic teens are locked in closets because of these Bible thumpers.
yes!
Interesting list, Mike and even more interesting that most of these characters are originally from Stephen King adaptions.
-Cory
And even when King paints a sympathetic religious figure, like John Coffey on The Green Mile, they’re just weird. (Remember, he dies because he can’t suffer any more of the world’s evils.)
Isn’t it weird how King packs out so many of his novels with religious themes and symbolism…yet he can’t have an even remotely sympathetic Christian, even religious, character? Think about the dome novel he did…the baddies were all the folks who attended church while the good guys consisted of a pastor who didn’t believe in God anymore, a college professor shackin’ up with a student, and other characters who weren’t associated with the church in the novel. I wonder if he’s afraid of being tagged as “too religious” (and Lord help ‘em if that happens…) so he throws in stereotypes to balance things out. Just a thought.
I haven’t read ton of King (mostly his 80’s stuff–Pet Semetary, It, Misery & that Kindle one), but I get the vibe that King likes redeeming broken people & calling out hypocrites (bad parents, irresponsible authority figures, the ‘church’ in name only, etc.).
I know they’re horrible portrayals of ‘Christians’ but it’s also very telling at exposing Christians who don’t exactly act like they should.
I know too many people who have met (and been hurt by) real people like these stereotypes to turn a completely blind eye to calling them out. ^^;
“but I get the vibe that King likes redeeming broken people & calling out hypocrites”
I can’t call myself a King expert, but that’s what I’ve always felt, too. For all those bad King stereotypes, Mother Abigale from the Stand was a pretty positive “Christiany” character, IMHO.
Mother Abigail was my response as well, Kevin.
Well said, Liliy! I agree. And he does have some great positive Christian characters–in the book Desperation, for example. That one was pretty heavy on the Christian as hero: a kid with genuine innocence and belief.
King is bad at tropes, period, and he does absolutely hate people that he would (and has) describe as “fundies.” It makes for lousy caricatures, ultimately.
I like his books, but, basically, you can count on his blacks and/or open Christians being atrocious portrayals, whether they are good guys or bad guys (odd tangent: the only good guy Christians he ever writes are black.)
The fellow has a very consistent, predictable blind spot, and, even though he does dogs, kids, clowns and lonely heart women really well, he falls flat with blacks, Christians, and the affable hedonistic hero (who always turns out to be a moralistic traditionalist at heart).
Under The Dome had perhaps the most honest portrayal of a Christian evangelist turned radio/tv preacher I’ve ever seen. It was eerie how accurate it was. I won’t post spoilers, but it didn’t take much nudging from King to really push the character into new but believable territory.
What’s interesting to me is that the list is only 5 and that 3 are from King’s work adapted to film. With so many other examples in the film industry of terrible portrayals of Believers, one would have to wonder why you limited this to only 5, Mike, and chose to focus so much on Stephen King’s film adaptations.
Also, it’s interesting that people criticize King all the time for his portrayal of Christians, never thinking that perhaps he’s portraying a type of person he saw quite a bit in church his own self when he was growing up as a kid. Kid’s will always keep us honest and liars and cheats always hate it. The kids that grow up witnessing hypocrisy turn into adults that never forget it. He’s popular in this regard because so many other people that grew up in church saw the kind of hypocrisy King is so willing to expose. Yet, he still has some very strong Christian characters in his novels, a few are mentioned in other comments here.
I really like Mike’s posts the vast majority of the time, but I think this one is slanted heavily against Stephen King for some reason and I am wondering why.
So true! I get so very frustrated when I watch movies. Or even read books. I’m about to put down a fantasy book (and I almost NEVER can’t finish a book) because of all the pontificating about the Bad Guys… who are, of course, religious fanatics who do terrible things in this life as a sacrifice to earn their way into heaven. *shudder* It’s not specifically Christian, but fairly thinly veiled. Nothing of grace, or love, or repentance and forgiveness.
Another one was the priest from the original War of the Worlds. He preached at one of the tripods and got zapped in the middle of it.
Not so much the portrayal as it was Wells’ or the directors thoughts on religious belief.
That’s a particularly interesting one, since the only mass surveys done on Christ worship and aliens indicates that, among the subset of people who admit an alien encounter who also cried out to Jesus Christ (in faith, not as a curse or religious symbol) almost universally experienced an immediate release from the experience.
In other words, it would be more true to the known “real world” alien narrative that a sermon would cause some sort of retreat on the aliens part.
Plus the believers from There Will Be Blood…and The Handmaid’s Tale…and the remake of Cape Fear, Robert DeNiro’s character tatted up with Bible verses while he’s busy terrorizing Nick Nolte and his family.
I had Eli Sunday (from There Will Be Blood) on this list for a while. I don’t remember the Cape Fear character’s Bible tats. I’ll have to check that out.
Forgot about Shawshank Redemption. Saw Carrie once and barely remember it. Don’t recall Contact, and never seen Inherit the Wind. That asinine lady from The Mist was one reason I hated that movie. I was honestly cheered up when she was offed.
OK, what’s frightening is people calling themselves Christians are adopting these kinds of stereotypes for Christians who differ from them. Amazing how pervasive media influence can be.
Becky
You mean like the whole “Love Jesus but hate Religion,” movement’s portrayal of “religious” people? That movement worries me. . .
All Sterotypes have some basis in reality. Not everyone I disagree with in Insane, but it seems a lot of Insane pastors are very influential right now, like Stephen Anderson.
Write what you know, right? Turns out, Hollywood doesn’t know Christians. Christians are often called out on crafting sinister atheists, but it’s rare someone is called out for creating corny Christians. Glee, oh-my-gosh, Glee! Just, wow. And then there’s that Mandy Moore movie, “Saved.”
Want a portrayal of a good Christian? Try Dean Koontz’s “Hideaway.” (The book, not that thing they call a movie)
I also watched a movie recently that had an interesting, yet fair, portrayal of a Christian struggling drug-addict. Horror film. Pretty excited about reviewing it, actually.
Actually, “Saved” was pretty spot on.
Totally agree with Hideaway. Others in the same vein would be One Door Away From Heaven, and From the Corner of His Eye (also The Taking, but the horror element would keep some from reading it). I love the fact so much of Koontz’s Christianity comes through in his books; it’s done organically, sometimes obliquely, but it’s there.
Here’s another terrible movie with extremely negatize stereotypes about Christians- the Edgar Frost flick, pAUL. A young woman with an eye disease, wearing a shirt with Jesus shooting Charles Darwin through the head saying “Evolve This!” and her extremist religious dad sounds rather radical in every single one of his vies with no room for personal leniency. And when the daughter acts like her “kidnappers”, it just gets worse.
and people see those characters and stupidly say, “Exactly! That’s exactly how those people are…those Christians.”
I was abused by Christians, both physically and emotionally, growing up. I was called possessed, beaten, and told I was going to hell every day. I’ve known people who did drugs as Christians and when they were high claimed they were having visions from God or speaking to God. I’ve known schizophrenic Christians who have gotten hysterical and violent because of their religious hallucinations.
Now as an adult, I’ve tried to go to church and the Christians there can sense that I am different. They usually wind up criticizing me and mocking me in some way because I don’t live up to their standards. It’s really that they can sense the abuse I’ve suffered and the fact that I’ll never quite fit in with them. I can never think like a “typical” Christian because of what I’ve gone through.
I’ve been in therapy my whole life for it and yet still, I am capable of believing that there are good Christians out there. I don’t hate Jesus or God. They weren’t the ones who beat me. And I don’t hate all Christians despite what I’ve been through. Even though I’ve never believed for a day of my life that I will go to heaven. Most people do, but I worry about death and how I am certain I will go to hell someday. I’ve never prayed to God and felt comforted. I’ve only prayed to God begging for mercy in absolute terror because of the abuses I have suffered. Every lightning storm for me is God thinking about hitting me with lightning, so I can finally suffer and die the way I believe (from my abuses) that he wants me to. I live in constant fear because I believe that the God who created the universe wants to destroy me.
So I hate when Christians pretend these people don’t exist. Say that these portrayals are unrealistic. It’s like a slap to my face. You’re just sitting there pretending that people haven’t suffered at the hands of Christians like I have.
Instead, I wish you would open your eyes. If you are really such wonderful Christians then it should make you sad that there are and were children like me who were beaten in the name of Jesus. Instead of getting angry at the people who write these stories, you should get angry at the people who behave this way in real life. You should see these stories as inspiration. Your religion has weak people in it and it’s time to stop tolerating that. It’s time to confront those people and get rid of them. Get rid of the abuse in your religion and there will stop being horrible stories like this.
No Christian ever confronted the people who abused me and they should have.
Anonymous, I am so sorry to hear about the abuses you have received. You’re right in saying that what happened to you was not right, and that Christians should have confronted the people who abused you.
It’s only been in the past couple years that I’ve been learning about the experiences behind the stereotypes we see in Hollywood. Nearly my entire extended family is Christian. My grandpa and great-grandpa were pastors, and I have a great uncle who’s a bishop. For my entire life, I’ve been surrounded by Christians, especially in the years I was homeschooled and, after, when I went to a Christian junior high and high school, and I have never come across Christians who fit the stereotypes, only stories about them.
And I’m not alone, either. There a so, so many Christians who have been such their entire lives and who have never encountered such significant abuses of their faith. Certainly, I’ve come in contact with nasty church politics and certain kinds of intolerance, but the experiences have been mostly minor and in no way stemming from Christianity (but rather people’s fears and desire for power).
When you hear Christians complain about the negative stereotypes of Christians as portrayed by Hollywood, they’re not necessarily saying that there isn’t precedence for these stereotypes. What they’re saying is that the proportion of negatively to positively portrayed Christians in Hollywood is very much out of touch with their experiences (and, very likely, reality).
Your experiences definitely happened, and I believe that incidences like that should be confronted, rather than ignored, rather than pretending they aren’t real. I also believe that Hollywood has given a disproportionate representation of the evils done in the name of Christianity, and that that also needs to be confronted, rather than pretending that ignoring positive examples of Christianity is the best method to solve the problem of the negative perversions of the faith.
I agree with you, Thea. One thought occurs to me that, like the news, good news doesn’t seem to draw readers. The more sensational the news, the more saleable it is. So it is logical that Hollywood promotes the more sensational even if it is stereotypical.
And, Anonymous, please don’t blame God for the people who blaspheme Him by claiming to be speaking for, or representing Him.
He loves you, and isn’t out to “get you.” Jesus died with tears in His eyes and heart for all the evil that was done to you. The only way He wants to get you is to claim you as His adopted child and to heal you of the wrong done to you.
Lois, on the idea of bad news selling better than good news, I will point out that Jesus had only good news and he ended up with thousands of people coming out to hear him speak (and who knows how many of them following him as he travelled, because it was definitely more than just the twelve disciples). I would agree with you about the sensational getting people’s attention, but not that the sensational must, by definition, be negative.
Thea, I was referring to the press and media in our time and culture – and not attempting to make a case for across-the-board sensationalism. 🙂
Yep. I guess a different example on my part would have been more apt, but I really was referring to the present-day press and media as well. It is my firm belief that they operate according to a flawed theory about what people will pay attention to. More recent examples of good news gaining attention would be the Dove commercials about beauty, as well as the popularity of sites like Upworthy. Anywho, we’re getting a bit off topic, but I hope that makes sense. 🙂
First, Anonymous, I believe most people on this site would say to you that the animals who raised you in no way represent the true God of Christianity and that a loving God longs to heal you and bring you peace.
Second off, I believe most people would say that it’s not that we don’t believe people like that exist, but that it is not the NORM. What you experienced is not what the vast majority of Christian families experience and by having it so frequently shown as what Christians are like it frustrates those of us who know that the stereotype is inaccurate for the whole. That does NOT mean your reality didn’t happen. It just means what happened to you is not what usually happens with normal Christians.
I’m sorry for what you’ve experienced. However, I can tell you with 100% certainty that what you experienced is NOT Christianity, whether the people doing it to you said it was or not.
Anonymous, while reading your reply, I was struck by and reminded how, in ways, your past and mine are similar. Though I wasn’t physically abused by my Christian mother, she definitely was not the influence I had in deciding to become a Christian. It was her forcefulness to get my brother and me into church that forced my brother to turn his back from it, instead. In the last few years, I began to notice how, every time someone presented a view that went against hers (“I’m gay”, “I’m atheist”, etc.), she would repeat what I now think of as “mantras”, e.g., “Well, I’m not your judge, only God is.” “Just wait for Jesus to come back.” I’ve come to realize that, though she’s 22 years older than I am, I think I’m actually more mentally mature because she doesn’t realize how unbiblical her statements are nor how she’s damaging herself saying these things and not “winning souls” to God in any way. Several friends of mine (who are atheists, Wiccans, etc.) have stated they’re glad I call them my friends recently yet she still makes inadvertently judgmental comments about them. I’ve had to tell her what damages her comments are doing.
Her response? That was the worst part, “Whatever.” If anything, the only real influence she had on me was how to respectfully treat women, but nothing more. She can’t even accept that I’m a Christian Goth, because she hates the Gothic sublifestyle. As for the religious jerk-offs who treated the way they did, that’s not, in any way at all, who God is, for He’s no sadist. That group of psychos is.
If these are the best examples I think Christianity got off pretty lightly considering all the horrifying acts committed in it’s name.
I’d say these are more like the 5 most accurate portrayals of Christians in films. At least until someone makes a film that portrays Christians as the cartoonishly sinister, brutally violent, dumber-than-a-single-celled-organism, evil-for-the-sake-of evil, subhuman filth bordering on Captain Planet villains that they actually are.
I’m really more bothered by the seem like they’re being portrayed as decent human at first, only to have their crazy murder fanatical true colors come out as a “twist”. Like the Christian girl in The Haunting of Molly Hartly. A movie I otherwise rather like.
There are some surprisingly good portrayals of Christians in secual Media, knowing their existence is exactly why I’m capable of falling for the mislead in the film above.
The Veronica Mars issue that dealt with Abortion had a very surprisingly positive depiction of a right wing Pastor.
But my favorite in Darcy from Degrassi. Whod’ve thunk my favorite fictional Christian would be Canadian.
The writer of this “article” is just a typical christian who’s angry about the fact that so many movies have been able to accurately portray Christians – showing them for the evil people that they really are! The characters on this list are actually five of the BEST portrayals of Christians in movies. The writer of this article tries to use the fact that the situations in the movies are fantasy to try and make out that the characters aren’t realistic – news flash, they are.
Take Mrs Carmody for example – a supernatural mist taking over a town is not realistic, yet IF it did happen, there would be a lot of Christians who acted the exact same way Mrs Carmody did. She was an evil woman who would use her religion to divide people, control them, and ultimately use these followers to do great evil (the same way christian leaders to in real life.) However, because there are laws in place, Christians are unable to kill people, but the movie “The Mist” shows us exactly how most christian people would behave once the law no longer applied and societies structure had disappeared (using the plot of a supernatural mist to create this situation in the movie.) Christians would act the same way she did if given the same opportunity that she had to do such outrageous evil and get away with it.
Yet at the same time, the grocery store is a metaphor for the world, and Mrs Carmody represents religions role in the world, and it is a completely accurate portrayal. If you don’t like it – then tough, that is what religion is and bitching about movie characters online isn’t going to change the facts!
How many people forget that the movie “A FEW GOOD MEN” which along Jack Nicholson, Tom Cruise and Demi Moore, also features actor Kiefer Sutherland, who casts as Luitenant Kendrick, a BORN AGAIN Christian.
Kiefer Sutherland is portrayed as an Over-Religious Marine Corpse Leader who Lies in Court that He never Ordered a CODE RED on a helpless or struggling Marine, (William Santiago) And is reprimanded by Tom Cruise in Court and later they show a scene at the End where Actor Kevin Bacon Goes to Arrest Him.