Monday, July 23, 2007

AD/BC: gay old times

The new Kids in the Hall show, which I just saw as part of the Just for Laughs festival in Montreal last week, has Scott Thompson's Buddy character do a bit about Jesus being gay. It went over bigger than the moment where Scott Thompson blames the cancellation of News Radio on Phil Hartman (for getting murdered). That got a resounding BOO! from the audience. But that's another story.

Gay Jesus. Well, given the cultural climate at any given point in the last 30 years, the idea has the ring of inevitability to it. Even forgetting that, the deconstructionists need it--ying for yang. It had to have come up before--and a lot.



Thanks to the blogosphere, I was happy to stumble upon a long-going debate about the existence of one such manifestation. Follow the links below to uncover the weird story of a gay-Jesus gay porn film called HIM from 1974. Nobody seems to agree whether or not it could have existed, but it seems like it did. I won't repeat too much of what is written, but demi-mainstream knowledge of the film began with cultural crusader Michael Medved's horrible movie books (which are both horrible books and books about horrible movies). It's about a man with a present day obsession with the Christ and Christian homoeroticism.

film chat: Gay Jesus Movie - Hoax or fact?

NT Gateway blog

SNOPES: Gay Jesus

A listing of strange urban legend type 70s movies and the image reproduced above can be found here:
THE WEIRD WORLD OF THE 1970s

While we're at it, you may want to explore the secret gospels of Mark:
The Secret Gospels of Mark

Anyone have a print? I don't know that I'd want to see it (as Albert Goldstein's SCREW review makes it sound a little slow), but I know a few people who would.