Jesus Wasn't White: biblical epics and whitewashing

Egyptian Mayonaise: (L to R) Christian Bale, John Tuturro, Sigourney Weaver, and Joel Edgerton in Exodus: Gods and Kings

   With “Noah” and “Son of God” released earlier this year and “Exodus: Gods and Kings” scheduled to debut in December, 2014 has been a revitalizing year for the stagnant genre of “Biblical Blockbuster”. Although heavily dramatized these films harken back to a period of cinematic Golden Age epics that are few and far between in today’s market. Similar to this genre throwback, however, they are tangible reminders that since the Golden Age Hollywood has continued the ugly practices of whitewashing and people of color (POC) erasure.

   First let’s examine the historical regions these films are supposed to be set in. While we can’t say for sure where exactly Noah’s Ark would have set sail, we know the 40 day journey ended at Mount Ararat, a mountain in modern day Turkey, so we can safely assume he began somewhere within that general region. Since it is a biographical film about Jesus Christ, we know that Son of God is set in Jerusalem. Finally Exodus we know to be set in the Nile Delta region of Egypt. All three of these films are set in regions populated by historically provable populations of POC. Despite this fact the lead roles in all three movies are filled by white actors and the only POC, absent totally in Noah, are background servants, criminals, villains, and even a demon.

   Some of these films have tried to justify their whitewashing in response to criticism. Ari Handel, co-writer of Noah, responded by saying “From the beginning, we were concerned about casting, the issue of race. What we realized is that this story is functioning at the level of myth, and as a mythical story, the race of the individuals doesn’t matter. They’re supposed to be stand-ins for all people”. This quote is telling of one of the key concepts at play here, White Invisibility. As we’ve discussed in class when a racial group is in an advantageous position they do not have to reflect on the impact their race has on their life on a regular basis. As a result they come to think of themselves as race-less, the default, and as illustrated in the above quote, a universal stand-in. Building further on this misassumption characters are only given a non-white identity when it is used as implicative shorthand, as is seen with Exodus’s association between blackness and inferiority, or Son of God’s connection of blackness and villainy. 

Israeli Wonderbread: Diogo Morgado as Jesus Christ in Son of God

   While the institutionalized discrimination POC actors face as a result of these beliefs is a serious issue, even more damaging is the internalized racism it promotes in its audiences. The underlying themes, that positive religious figures are inherently white and that POC have no place in a religion they may well practice, is a very demoralizing one. As Anthea Butler, an associate professor of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania, puts it “It’s a world where only white people get saved…This doesn’t look like the world that God created”. Hard data also makes the assertion that the primary potential audience of a religious film would be POC. According to a 2007 Pew Center survey 79% of African American respondents said religion is very important in their lives, and with a breakdown based on faith roughly 85.5% identified as some form of Christian. This lies well above the 56% of the US adult population when examined across racial lines. If the current trend of religious movies continues then hopefully, with a lot of critical analysis, awareness in potential audience members, and a healthy dose of film boycotting, the film industry will start to change their tune on POC representation.

Sources cited:
Scheller, Christine. "Stewardship of Creation: An Interview with "Noah" Screenwriter, Ari Handel." The High Calling. The High Calling, 11 Apr. 2014. Web. 17 Oct. 2014.
"A Religious Portrait of African-Americans." Pew Research Centers Religion Public Life Project RSS. Pew Research Centers, 30 Jan. 2009. Web. 17 Oct. 2014.
Lee, Marissa. "Modern Hollywood and the Ancient East." Racebending.com. 31 Mar. 2014. Web. 17 Oct. 2014.