PREVIEW, TRAILER: What Would Jesus Buy?
While we wait for Bill Maher’s Religulous to open next spring, we have another snarky peek at faith beginning a limited theatrical run this weekend. What Would Jesus Buy?, from Morgan Spurlock Presents (the Super Size Me hero), takes a look at the ever-growing hyper-commercialism of Christmas.
The great indieWIRE is featuring an interview with What Would Jesus Buy? director Rob VanAlkemade. The filmmaker talks about creating the movie and the difficulties of getting it distributed — including a distributor fearing being blacklisted by bully pigs Wal-Mart.
VanAlkemade had previously directed the 2005 comedy short Preacher with an Unknown God, a look at Reverend Billy, a “performance activist” also featured in WWJB. The good Reverend and his Gospel Choir try to save those with shopping addictions, and try to rescue Christmas from the “shopocalypse”.
TRAILER
The title is humorous, sure, but there’s a bigger question behind the satire: How can those who love and revere the celebration of Jesus’ birth (and life) participate happily in a no-holds-barred shopping season. One that gets bigger, more amped up and more generic every year, while still connecting itself to this important holiday.
See the official list of theaters playing What Would Jesus Buy?
I’ve recently seen comedian Lewis Black’s most recent live show and he spent a good deal of time talking about this very subject. This is a Jewish guy who’s so taken with the beauty and value of Christmas that the capitalism of it all makes him sick and pining for the “good ‘ol days”. Imagine if he actually celebrated the holiday…
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- Top Reasons to Love… A Christmas Story
3 Comments
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I think that Reverend Billy guy would get on my nerves pretty quick … but he’s still better than Christmas.
This movies looks funny to me. It never ceases to amaze me that the media and retailers lean so heavily on Christmas spending indices, as if this is THE great economic indicator and forecaster of a coming recession. So we as good little citizens should spend spend spend at Christmas, not to spread love or good tidings of great joy, but to help our poor ailing retailers. Get a life! How about businesses focus their attention on their product offerings, business strategies, innovation and efficiency, and spare us their constant complaining about Christmas spending. Despite their pleas, Christmas is NOT an economic holiday, and no one should feel under any obligation to spend during the holiday season to help balance the books for retailers. Oh now you got me preaching- Let’s driiive those demons from the cash register. Well, the Visa swiper he meant to say, of course.
Example: http://www.businessandmedia.org/printer/2007/20071107142509.aspx
- Ray -
Would it make you feel better to know Reverend Billy’s not really a reverend? Okay, sorry if that’s annoying too…
- und3rdog -
Wow. You sound like that Lewis Black show I mentioned. I feel like we tend to rely on a slew of economic indices to make our next moves, to shy away in fear, to judge the country’s health. And that’s probably unhealthy.
Regardless, sounds like you’d want to join the good Reverend’s minions. They’d love you.
-Norm S.