Warning: spoilers ahead. If you like surprise, watch
The McPassion first. Then, read this. (A lot of the discussion on that site is interesting, too.) You can download
The McPassion for free during Lent. After that, I'm quite unsure what will happen.
The McPassion is a four-minute short film (or long SNL-style
mock-advertisement) about Passion-themed McDonald's Happy Meals. It was
written Rik Swartzwelder and directed by Benjamin Hershleder. In an
interview with
Christianity Today, Swartzwelder described his frustration with from-the-pulpit marketing of films with specifically Christian themes--especially
The Passion of the Christ in 2004 and
The Chronicles of Narnia last year.
The McPassion
is a satire, an extreme situation of "going all the way"
marketing-style, and allowing McDonalds to help pitch a film Christians
claim as their own.
It's funny in a disturbing, "I-can't-believe-I'm-laughing-outloud" sort
of way. Some of the most disturbing parts are the eucharist-themed meal
where kids can dip the potato cakes (or whatever they are) in ketchup.
"It's just like weal blood!" a little boy comments to the camera. Then,
there's the cat-of-nine-tails prize. "It's safe!" a dad exclaims while
his children whip each other in the background.
So, the question remains: is this commentary or blasphemy? Or both?
Personally, it takes a lot for me to label something as blasphemous
because I think true blasphemy is subtle. It's easy to get sucked in,
but then later you realize how disturbing/wrong/questionable something
is.
The McPassion is not subtle. It's ridiculous. It's
prophetic. And by prophetic, I don't mean telling the future, but
truth-telling in the present.
Swartzwelder is a brave man. If you read the discussions/blog comments
posted on the website, there are a lot of people who are upset. I read
quite a few that alluded to his need--and their willingness--to pray
for him. (If he would have made an "inspirational" film would people
have been praying for him in droves like this? I doubt it.) But who
else is going to say it? Who else is going to say that the Christian
community in North America has literally bought into the hype, thrill
and excitement of Hollywood marketing?
I think we are the ones who have been fooled. I think we're the ones
cheering for the king in his new clothes when in actuality he's
completely naked. Swartzwelder is the child calling out from the
crowd of eager onlookers, "But he doesn't have any clothes on!"
And he doesn't, but he does have on a paper crown of thorns from a
McDonald's Happy Meal.