Esoteric Elements?
I have mentioned before that I would like to see the movie “New Moon” when it hits our screens (in a few days here in South Africa). The film has however already been released in various other parts of the world and is already causing a flutter in certain circles (and I am not talking about the flutter sights of Robert Paterson might cause in a teenage girls chest.
Recently the Vatican issues the following statement via Monsignor Franco Perazzolo, of the Pontifical Council of Culture:
“New Moon” is a “mixture of excesses aimed at young people and gives a heavy esoteric element. Men and women are transformed with horrible masks and it is once again that age-old trick or ideal formula of using extremes to make an impact at the box office. This film is nothing more than a moral vacuum with a deviant message and as such should be of concern”
That is the most complete quote I could find on the many sites a Google search of “Vatican” and “New Moon” will turn up.
Now don’t get me wrong, I am not anti-Catholic. Those who know me know that I have immense respect for Christian Catholics (like my Dad), but I really don’t understand much of the above statement, and the bits I do understand I could refute.
I also have not yet seen the movie, but I have read the book a number of times (yes I know that makes me sound like a teenage girl) so I think I know what I am talking about wrt the story its self.
What “mixture of excesses” are we talking about? At best the story is a romantic thriller, at worst a story of a self-indulgent girl who can’t be with the one she loves, or love the one she is with.
Hmm “heavy esoteric element” I looked up the word just to make sure I knew what it meant “known to only a few, a mystery”
What “age-old trick or ideal formula of using extremes” are we talking about? A love story, a bit of suspense, followed by a happy ending? Ok it is age-old, not so much a trick cause we can all see through it.
“moral vacuum with a deviant message” I assume he is talking about the vampires and werewolves. Because in a world where the media is pushing sex all the time at people of all age groups this is an amazing story of restraint. Two teenage kids (ok Edward is almost 100 years old) madly in love and there is absolutely no sex. That is indeed a moral vacuum.
It is probably all about the vampire and werewolf angle. So I have to ask the Vatican: Do you believe that these creatures exist? Because the only reasonable reason for the above response is actual belief in the existence of vampires.
If you don’t believe in them then this is just a story. If you do… then there is a “deviant message and as such should be of concern”.
P.S Anne Rice, who writes ‘real’ vampire stories (as opposed to teenage romance) is a self professed Christian Catholic.
It’s just a fairy tale man *shakes head*. Can just imagine how deviant they would find what my kids have been watching all weekend – “Lion & the Witch in the Wardrobe”!
Dude, forget “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” check out the stuff that plays every day on K-TV. The twilight vampires are tame in comparison.