Better Reviews Through Religion!
I like coming up with theories. The good thing about them is that I feel no obligation to scientifically test them. The bad thing is that I occasionally get egg on my face if I expound on one of them to someone learned enough to call my bluff. One of my current theories is that some books and movies with religious themes are better reviewed or liked than their overall quality deserves because while many people have quit institutional religion, they still crave religious engagement of some sort.
The most famous current example is Dan Brown’s The DaVinci Code, a hugely popular best seller, but widely acknowledged to be poorly written and sensational. Other books that I think fall into this category are The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd, and Life of Pi by Yann Martel, both of which I thought held little merit other than perhaps some religious ideas that might be interesting to those who didn’t know about cults of Mary (Bees) or how many similarities there are in different religious traditions (Pi). I had to strenuously avoid The Red Tent a few years back; many women recommended it and tried to lend it to me. I was constantly told, “The writing’s not good, but the ideas are.” Thanks, but I avoid bad writing if I can.
I was reminded of this theory most recently after reading a few glowing reviews of the movie “Constantine”. And they weren’t by blurb hacks, either, they were at The Flick Filosopher and BOTH the Minneapolis Star Tribune and the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Thank goodness the City Pages panned it or I would’ve thought something seriously strange was going on. I’m not going to see “Constantine” because I’m certain that it’s bad. My guess is that the good reviews are a result of some people’s hunger for religious stimulation.
I found it interesting that Roger Ebert dismissed “Constantine” as merely silly. I suspect that Ebert, who often discloses his Catholic background and its influence on how he views certain movies, is actually pretty sorted vis a vis his religious views.
In the interest of similar disclosure, I think I’m immune to the pull of works like these because I’ve spent a lot of time studying religion. I minored in religious studies as an undergrad and went on to get a master’s degree in it. I don’t think it’s impossible to write well about religion or religious history. I just think that one needs to write well to do so.
Here are a few books that I feel pull that off.
A Letter of Mary by Laurie R. King
Possession by A.S. Byatt
The End of the Affair by Graham Greene
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
What do you think of this theory? Am I full of it? What other books or movies do you feel are provocative about religion AND well done? Or what other examples come to mind of bad books and movies that were inexplicably well reviewed? I’d love for this entry to spur a heated discussion, even if I end up with the aforementioned egg on my face.
March 3rd, 2005 at 9:59 am
The Sparrow and its sequel, Children of God (Maria Doria Russell) — Well written and well paced. A, as you say, provocative blend of religion and science fiction.
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal (Christopher Moore)
Written well. Funny. Memorable. Among the most provocative recommendations I’ve ever made (’cause this is a book that will either make you laugh aloud on the el train or grow terribly angry with the author and the gal who recommended it — heh, heh, heh).
And, oh, how I loathed Secret Lives of Bees. (*shudder*)
Pi, on the other hand — Mr., Master, and I liked it well enough, enjoying a decent family book club meeting/discussion about it.
By the way, we finished Winn-Dixie, and the Misses gave it two thumbs up; they want a dog now. (*sigh*) I must couch this review in the following disclaimer: When we arrived at the passages concerning Opal’s mom, they wanted me to condense and move on. It was the dog they wanted to hear about. And Gertrude. Yes, as you’ve written, it is certainly all right to include the darker elements in children’s lit, but it’s been my experience (in the classroom and in the family-centered learning project) that those elements work best in myths (the Misses request repeat “performances” of the Odyssey, the Iliad, Gilgamesh, Beowulf (editions for young people, at this point), for example), fairy tales (yes, the Brothers Grimm, and the Red Fairy Book, the Green, the Blue), and the tales of Shakespeare.
Why The Tales of Desperaux didn’t receive an enthusiastic thumbs up (beyond the criticism of Miss M-mv(i) I already shared with you)… I have some ideas. Something about “the uses of enchantment.”
Let me work it out.
March 3rd, 2005 at 3:02 pm
MFS, it took me a while to realize after I read your comment that I had not yet posted a recommendation for The Sparrow, since it was part of the follow-up post brewing in my head. I own Children of God, but have had trouble working up the gumption for it, since I found the Sparrow worthwhile but harrowing.
I’ve heard excellent things about Biff, and have been meaning to get to it. My latest MO for books/music/etc. is not to write down things that sound interesting, but rather to let recommendations build until I can remember without a note. Biff now definitely exists in that category.
I was annoyed by Pi because I thought it was a reasonable idea (not the author’s own, interestingly) that was not executed particularly well. I did not think that the character of Pi had either a distinct voice or emotional depth, two things I value highly in fiction.
[For other readers: I had recommended Kate DiCamillo's Because of Winn Dixie and The Tale of Desperaux in an email exchange.] I’m so glad that the Misses enjoyed Winn Dixie, but sorry for you about the subsequent request for a dog. I’m sure my day will come for that. One of the many things I like about Winn Dixie is that it is about a GIRL and her dog. My youngest sister, an animal lover, appreciated this a lot.
You make an excellent point about darkness for children working better in myths, fairy tales and legends. I think these types of story provide a distance that makes the darkness more manageable than a true-to-life tale. I read an article on Holocaust literature in grad school (the name, author, most all of it lost from memory); it theorized that the actual experiences were so dramatic and extreme that if they were transcribed literally they would be disbelieved and dismissed as metaphorical cliche.
Perhaps one reason Desperaux didn’t work for the Misses was that there wasn’t enough metaphorical cushion for the darkness. But Desperaux is both an iconoclast and an auto-didact, and I would think he would get props from the Family M-Mv for these!
March 4th, 2005 at 6:06 pm
I knew there was sth I read in the last year or two that I thought did religion very thought-provokingly and nonthreatening and am glad you mentioned it, b/c my mind just wasn’t remembering. It’s Owen Meany, of course, which I loved. Have not seen the movie based on it, though. As for movies, I did see the End of the Affair and only b/c I was informed by the Girl Detective did I have any idea it had anything at all to dowith religion. And as for the easy target of the DaVinci Code, say what you will, but it created the most stimulating conversation at my book club and even got the topic off of the same digressions that always drove me mad. One person talked of her miracle-like experience, others opened up about the fairly taboo topic of religion, and my favorite was one friend saying that she didn’t think of the afterlife and didn’t fear death b/c she looked forward to living on through her son with whatver she gave him in this life.
March 6th, 2005 at 7:31 pm
The movie based on Owen Meany is called Simon Birch, and I’ve avoided it, because Owen is such a complex book and character that I feel certain that any success would be limited. I did not see the film of End of the Affair, but as I understand it, director Neil Jordan (who has wrestled with Catholocism before in his films, e.g., casting Sinead O’Connor as the Virgin Mary.) notoriously deleted the Catholic themes so integral to the book from the film.
I am not surprised that DaVinci inspired good conversation, or that people are fascinated by its ideas. I choose not to read it because it’s not well written, and its ideas are not enticing enough for me to slog through bad prose.