Does the movie THE PASSION bring about anti semitism

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The Passion of the Christ, by Mel Gibson has taken America by storm. In the US alone, it made $83,848,082 its first weekend. As of April 25, 2004 it has grossed worldwide over $364 billion. Not bad for a movie with a budget of $30 million.

The movie is subject to a lot of criticism. People are worried about many things. Are the images depicted correct? Is it too gory? What will people’s reaction be? Will any demographic of people get hurt from the movie? A Catholic teacher from California was fired for offering students extra credit to see the Passion. (It is a rated “R” movie) There are many other problems too. Does The Passion bring about acts of anti-semitism? This will be the purpose of this paper.

To answer this question, I conducted a simple experiment with different variable. The first variable is age. The second is location. I interviewed sixteen people, (eight women and eight men) and asked them the same questions. Four males and females are from the Binghamton area, and four males and females are from the Long Island area.

I grouped the ages from 18-25, 25-35, 35-55, and 55 and on. I asked each person their faith/religion. I originally asked more than 16 people, but people who refused to answer the question or people of no faith were thrown out. I conducted the experiments at Loews Town Square 9, located at 2425 Vestal Parkway, Binghamton, and Loews Roosevelt Raceway, located at 1025 Corporate Drive in Westbury, Long Island.

I asked each person six question. The results follow:

Sex:
Male

Age Group:
18-25

Location:
Binghamton

Religion/Faith:
Christian

Extra Pertinent Information:
Very religious. Attends services regularly.

Thoughts before movie:
Excited to see a religious movie.

Would you consider yourself an aggressive or easily agitated person?
“Not really. Pretty laid back.”

Do you consider yourself a religious person?
Yes. Definitely.

Do you think the movie will make people angry at th...

... middle of paper ...

...s of the experiment are clear. One hundred percent of people showed aggression towards the Jews, after all but two claimed to not have an aggressive personality. Just look at message boards posted throughout the internet, or just talk to people. The aggression is there. And unfortunately, Mel Gibson’s movie is causing hostile acts.

I did not see the movie until the experiment was complete, in order to keep this experiment unbiased. I think that the anti-semitism in the movie was extraordinarily clear. I actually think it is totally contrary to the Catholic doctrine. Another thing is the history of the Gibson family. Mel’s father, Hutton, is an open anti-semite, holocaust denier, and accuses the current pope of being Jewish. When a person grows up in a household learning that, it stays with the person. I can prove this with another experiment. Kids who grow up getting physically abused, are usually abusive parents themselves.

In conclusion, the movie does cause anti-semitism and anti-semitic acts. The evidence is clear from the experiment. Hopefully, the world can get through this without any incidents.

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