Jesus Christ - Superstar

[Armen]

Guys, I understand that the article below does not cover the movie that much but it has some interesting facts about the cast. Moreover it mentions Atom Egoyan, and, most importantly, porn among other things so we will go off the topic, which is OK. But my primary interest is the rock opera and the movie, which I think is the best movie about Jesus Christ. And the reason I think so is that the athmosphere this movie, its cast and the music create was not matched by any other movie about Christ's life, including the latest idiotism from Mel Gibson.

 

So, try not to get worried by everything that will upset you...

 

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http://groong.usc.edu/world/am/msg02533.html

 

Butt is it art?

Eye Weeekly

09/09/04

 

Atom Egoyan has an essay in the latest issue of Granta about Paul

Thomas, a porn-star-turned-director who's a legend in the adult

industry. The piece has a chipper and patronizing tone; Egoyan points

out that, before he was in porn, Thomas played Peter in the film

version of Jesus Christ Superstar. Egoyan calls into question Thomas'

career choices and ridicules him and his industry in the process.

 

Here's a different side of the story: according to most biographies,

Thomas was delighted to get out of mainstream Hollywood and become

a porn star. He is considered an excellent director, his films

come recommended by sex-positive stores like Good Vibrations in San

Francisco. He works for Vivid, a company that insists on condom use by

its performers, showing respect for their health. He makes films with

an eye for costuming, attractive stars and storyline, and he doesn't

pander to dangerous trends. Thomas hit some rough spots (he was jailed

in 1982 on cocaine-related charges), but seems like someone who has,

with no pun intended, a good grip on things.

 

Egoyan waxes on about Thomas' acting potential, but the truth is

Peter is a small role in Jesus Christ Superstar and his performance

was not particularly inspired. So why all the regret on Paul's behalf,

Atom? According to the special features on the Jesus Christ Superstar

DVD, other actors in the cast seem far worse off: Ted Neeley (Jesus

Christ) is doing something that sounds suspiciously like Jesus Christ

Superstar dinner theatre now and Yvonne Elliman (Mary Magdalene) has

only one film highlight in her entire career: Jesus Christ Superstar.

 

Though I am rarely surprised when people deride the adult-film

industry, I was really pissed off by Egoyan's smug attitude. It's

unforgivably sanctimonious for the man who made Exotica to question

the career trajectory of someone who genuinely seemed to enjoy

himself and do well in the sex trade. Although Egoyan was possibly

trying to convey the mundane nature of contractual eroticism, the

heavy-handedness of the strip club scenes in Exotica is intolerable

and some of the character development and dramatic tension rivals

the worst porn for artificiality.

 

Disdain ranging from bemusement to hostility for the adult-film

industry is nearly unanimous among people in other creative fields,

and Egoyan is not the only one with the added temerity to capitalize on

sex-worker chic in his own work. In 1999, Ian Gittler, a photographer

who's worked for Rolling Stone, published a coffee-table book

called Pornstar, made up of photographs he took of people in the

business beginning in the early '90s. Along with some half-decent

to breathtakingly beautiful photos of industry players (the ones of

Sharon Mitchell are magnificent), it includes a meandering diary of

Gittler's observations. The back cover features Bret Easton Ellis,

gushing about how Gittler treats the world of porn with "compassion

and sympathy." I've read the whole thing twice and found neither in

amounts worth specifying. What I did see is someone who would be out

of a job photographing rock stars if he editorialized on them in the

same way he does about porn actors.

 

Gittler claims his initial desire was to show this industry in a more

glamorous light but that he quickly became disillusioned by the various

abuses. This is disingenuous rationalizing: Gittler is way too clever

not to have seen all the obvious shit coming. He just needed a virtuous

excuse, in this age of sex-positivity, to publish his condescending

views. His arrogance is exposed at the end of the book, when Nina

Hartley calls to see if she can purchase some of the photos he took

of her (which he sold to Newsweek), to make some profit of her own.

 

Gittler sniffs, "I don't know that it really matters, but I've

never profited from this work as a pornographer, and don't want to

start now."

 

A new trend in cinema will make watching this attitude play out

very interesting: real sex. The Brown Bunny, released in the US last

month, features a ctual Hollywood star Chloë Sevigny actually giving

head. John Cameron Mitchell is working on a film called Shortbus,

which also features real sex between the actors. Already people are

scrambling to assert their artistic credibility. In a recent interview,

Mitchell said that sex has been cheapened by porn, its only purpose

to arouse, whereas his film intends to explore the emotional lives

of the characters as well.

 

Through all their creative grandstanding, I hope these people won't

forget: they, too, work in an industry that produces more garbage

than not, where people *** to get work, and have to suck it up to

make it to the top. Oh, and the purpose of porn, though it often gets

mired in conflict and corruption, is pleasure. Pleasure is good.

 

-- Sasha

[gamavor]

Jesus Christ Superstar was a great Rock Concept. I have to say that Ian Gillan is hundred times better vocally than the hippie (nothing personal) Ted Neely.

Armen, you know in that times it was hard to get anything from beyond the Iron Curtain and I remember what an excitement this Rock opera was in my generation. It played (I guess equally in the East and West) an important educational role through beautiful musicianship and masterful performance. It sparked the curiosity among young people about their Lord, just like Beatles and Purple at the time were the main reason to learn English

 

 

BTW, since then I haven't missed anything from Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Edited September 16, 2004 by gamavor