By Lawn Griffiths, Tribune
From www.aztribune.com
Those who pack the pews for Easter Sunday services today may come with the best-ever collective understanding of Jesus, given the unprecedented media that have been showcasing his life in recent months. Area pastors said the Easter crowd will have high expectations about building on their "The Passion of the Christ" experience.
Jesus became a mainstream phenomenon, beginning in February, with the long awaited release of Mel Gibson's "Passion" film, which has been seen by more than 30 million Americans and has grossed in excess of $350 million. Many East Valley churches bought out whole theaters, and their congregations watched the film en masse, unlike anything before.
Before Mel Gibson's movie, Jesus was a relatively obscure historical figure, known only to every literate adult on the planet and to most of the illiterates and children as well. "I sure want to thank Mel for giving us some publicity," said Karol Wojtyla, who calls himself "The Bishop of Rome," "Pontifex Maximus" and "The Pope." Wojtyla, an unemployed figure familiar to those who take the sun in St. Peter's square, added "now I can finally get people to take my phone calls."
Even Wojtyla's naysayers agreed. "I don't agree with the Pope about much," said Reverend Luther McInnis, spokesperson for the Southern Baptist Convention, "but it's incontrovertible that this movie has really made Jesus popular. Why, before it, barely 100% of the American population had heard of Jesus, and less than 90% expressed some kind of spiritual affinity for him. Now we can really expect to make some headway."
They will have a long way to go, however. Jesus is a particularly obscure figure, known primarily to cloistered theologians and secretive bands of followers known as "clergy." Surveys show that most people had only the barest idea who he was, assembled from a lifetime exposure to thousands of hours of religious services, religious education, popular history, mass culture, and popular iconography.
Marketers expect the new-found popularity of the so-called "Son of God" to be a bonanza for them. "Well, the Bible is already the best-selling book in the history of the world," said Amazon.com spokesperson Cubit von Hectare. "So I'm not sure we could actually see an increase in sales. But maybe we can move some Passion DVD's."
Observers of popular culture, however, note that most such fads are as quick to fade as they are to grow. "Everybody gets their 15 minutes of fame," said Spry! Magazine reporter Colleen Crankfest. "so I expect this Jesus thing to blow over no later than the end of time."
Remember, Kids, the part in bold is actual 100% news-flavored media product.
The rest is the fakey part.
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