You know it's weird when I think about my cinematic or even my musical heroes. Most of 'em are very talented but they have eccentricities that make them rather unpopular with a lot of the public. I try very hard not to judge people. Despite my frequent frustrations with religion and my love for Satanic metal (or music that at least uses the imagery), I find myself asking what Jesus would do and then try very hard see every side and understand the heart of a person. That is very difficult to do when you've never met someone and sometimes it's even harder when you know the person.
Thing is, I think it'd be really cool to sit down and to pick the brain of Mel Gibson or even the likes of George W. Bush. I'm not comparing the two and I'm not saying they are alike, but neither of them will ever win any popularity contests. It can't be easy being hated. It's got to hurt. And a lot of it is their fault. I get that. I ain't standing up for nobody. But I try very hard to accept everybody. Very hard. People fuck up and do stupid things. But I find myself trying to follow the teachings of some guy I'm not even sure I really believe in and try to accept folks and I largely do this because of Mel Gibson... or at least the man's work. Man Without a Face, The Passion of the Christ, and Braveheart all had a huge impact on me. The latter two, especially. Just plain blew my mind. These damn things spoke to me in ways that a lot of other things hadn't. I think of all the archetypes out there, I think the "martyr" could very well be my favorite. All of those films I mentioned very much show the martyr just about as well as any film has.
Of course, I'm not saying that Mel Gibson is a martyr. But I'll be damned if the sumbitch can't go straight for my heartstrings and rip 'em out just about each time I see one of his more serious flicks. It's what he's good at. And the guy's work... I mean, can you imagine the same guy who was once in Bird on a Wire directing The Passion of the Christ? One thing I really like is diversity and I think Gibson does that well. He can do his manic comedy bit and then he can be the badass action hero and then he's a brooding and tormented soul. I wish more actors could be that talented. Although without the baggage... even though that baggage is really just something that make Mel Mel and not some other actor. Maybe I just wish the guy could be less screwed up and just be happy.
I don't know. I ain't in Mel Gibson's corner or nothin' but I don't know the guy and probably never will. And I figure it's a waste of time in making a Mel Gibson doll just so I can stick pins in it at night.
But I'll always watch the guy's work, no matter what. I mean, I still watch The Naked Gun movies even though OJ Simpson freakin' murdered some people. I'm by no means saying that Mel Gibson is gonna murder some folks, but since I still watch OJ Simpson's films wouldn't it make me a hypocrite to not watch Mel Gibson's just because some folks don't like him?
But I will say that I think that we know way too much about people's personal lives. If I was famous I'd probably end up in jail or on the end of a lawsuit on more than one occasion for beating the snot out of some would-be paparazzi douchebag. Folks actually get paid for being the first ones to take pictures of the babies of celebs. What the ever loving fuck is wrong with this world? And people wonder why so many "child actors" are fucked up and do drugs and shit.
After a while, I'd probably go batshit insane and who knows what could happen? Maybe I'd be the one spewing venomous filth at my girlfriend and that would get recorded and then everyone would hear about it. It's certainly a possibility I couldn't rule out. I couldn't live like celebrities do. Some may make peace with that shit, but I couldn't. Hell, I know I spew venomous filth from time to time. I'm real bad at that when I'm stuck in traffic and some asswipe tries to pull into my lane just as the light turns green and he doesn't even have his blinker on.
I couldn't imagine being under the eye of the Hollywood faithful all the time.
All of this does sort of go hand-in-hand with the Mel Gibson thing because his breakdown was just so well-publicized. I just hope that Mel can pull a Robert Downey Jr. and come out of this shit looking like box office gold. I want to see him succeed again. Okay, so maybe I am in his corner. I don't know. It's complicated. I mean, I think Michael Vick gets more forgiveness and acceptance then Mel does and something about that is just sort of backwards. Or maybe that's just me. Maybe I'm backwards.
Sometimes I honestly think that the amount of monetary success you achieve after you fuck up dictates the amount of forgiveness you deserve. At least as far as the media is concerned.
Mel Gibson becoming a pariah in the movie business is very sad. Mel was popular and well liked and everyone looked forward to his new movies. Then something happened to him after he made "Passion Of The Christ." I have a theory:
ReplyDeleteI'm not very religious so just realize that I don't understand the church stuff I'm about to talk about (pretty scientific way to give a theory, eh).
Mel's dad was a big wig in a small branch of the Catholic church that blame the Jews for killing Christ and blame the Jews (and other ethnic groups) for most everything bad since. I have never seen Passion but I know there was a lot of flack from the Jewish church that Mel was taking that angle for the movie. Mel took a lot of hits and had to do a lot of explaining and defending when this movie was out. I think this pissed him off because he has had this angry personality ever since. He was never like that before. Also, I think for most of his adult life he was disconnected from his father's brand of religion and may have reconnected some when he did the movie. That seems to be when the ethnic slur rants started up. Just a theory and I could be totally wrong but there is one fact and that is that Mel changed after that movie was released.
Maybe. I do know the Catholic church did everything in their power to distance themselves from The Passion. As if they really have the last say on religious movies or something.
DeleteI think he has some unresolved self-esteem issues. I think the biggest grudge he bears anyone is against himself. His bouts with alcohol (something he turned to just to get him away from his natural shyness) and his supposed "salvation by religion" was marred by incidents of just bad taste and bad timing. It obviously made the man making a Jesus movie look like a hypocrite, big time.
Having seen the film, and known in general about the story of the crucifixion, I sort of know and understand how Jewish folk could hold a grudge against Gibson or could even think that Gibson held some sort of grudge. But the story has always been that of Pontius asking the crowd of Jewish people whether or not Jesus should indeed have been crucified. Pontius himself, at least from all I've read, was reluctant to crucify the man and shifted the responsibility onto the people.
Considering the circumstances, who could blame anyone for not saying anything and taking an open stance against a man who stood up to the Roman Empire? It just so happens that the man turned out to be the "son of God."
So I get the aggravation that to this day seems to really provide a chasm between the Jewish and Christian faithful. But Mel is scarcely responsible for this story or for that chasm. He just made a movie about it and had he changed it... he would have been viewed as a heretic. It's a no-win situation.
By the way, two fantastic older Mel movies you may have missed that are must see
ReplyDeleteThe Year Of Living Dangerously - Mel is a reporter in a war zone
Gallipoli - Australian WW1 movie
Actually haven't seen either of those.
DeleteMel's meltdown did give us one really great moment. Mel was arrested for a DUI in California and was taken to the police station. At the police station he said to one of the female cops, "what are you looking at sugar tits?"
ReplyDeleteThat's one of the perks of being rich and famous. Nothing happened to Mel but anyone else would have been beaten to a bloody pulp.