“Jesus H. Tap-Dancing Christ!” , “the Blues Brothers” Is a Catholic Classic!
Catharine Renner
“Jesus H. Tap-dancing Christ!”, “The Blues Brothers” is a Catholic Classic!
“The Blues Brothers” is a unique blend of great music with outrageous humour and over the top manic car chases packaged with cool and a humorous poke at the Catholic Church. Among its fans it has reached cult status where it is routinely honoured by tribute bands all over the world endeavouring to recapture its spirit. At the same time “The Blues Brothers” has outraged some Christians as it seemingly mocks the Church and Christian values. Nevertheless, in June, 2010 the L 'Osservatore Romano (the “official”) newspaper of the Vatican chose to declare the film a Catholic classic. Essentially elevating it to a level on par with films such as Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” and Franco Zeffirelli’s “Jesus of Nazareth” in the message and the values the film tries to convey. “The Blues Brothers” is a great example of how popular culture and religion interact with each other and how, as Gordon Lynch describes, the Church has appropriated this film to deliver Christian values to the people. Clearly the L 'Osservatore Romano has understood “that film can be construed as a meaningful and fertile medium for the articulation of religious belief in contemporary society,” and in choosing “The Blues Brothers” they have taken a film looks unsuitable for inclusion and found that it does have some value. This essay will attempt to look beyond what perhaps the L 'Osservatore Romano saw on the surface and present a deeper diagnosis in relation with how religion is presented in popular culture and how religious groups react to that representation and see if it can be considered alongside the aforementioned classics.
“The Blues Brothers” is a film about unsuccessful criminals Jake and Elwood Blues who set about saving their former home, a Catholic orphanage in Chicago from closure. Dan Aykroyd (Elwood Blues) who co-wrote the film with its director John Landis says of the
“Jesus H. Tap-dancing Christ!”, “The Blues Brothers” is a Catholic Classic!
“The Blues Brothers” is a unique blend of great music with outrageous humour and over the top manic car chases packaged with cool and a humorous poke at the Catholic Church. Among its fans it has reached cult status where it is routinely honoured by tribute bands all over the world endeavouring to recapture its spirit. At the same time “The Blues Brothers” has outraged some Christians as it seemingly mocks the Church and Christian values. Nevertheless, in June, 2010 the L 'Osservatore Romano (the “official”) newspaper of the Vatican chose to declare the film a Catholic classic. Essentially elevating it to a level on par with films such as Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” and Franco Zeffirelli’s “Jesus of Nazareth” in the message and the values the film tries to convey. “The Blues Brothers” is a great example of how popular culture and religion interact with each other and how, as Gordon Lynch describes, the Church has appropriated this film to deliver Christian values to the people. Clearly the L 'Osservatore Romano has understood “that film can be construed as a meaningful and fertile medium for the articulation of religious belief in contemporary society,” and in choosing “The Blues Brothers” they have taken a film looks unsuitable for inclusion and found that it does have some value. This essay will attempt to look beyond what perhaps the L 'Osservatore Romano saw on the surface and present a deeper diagnosis in relation with how religion is presented in popular culture and how religious groups react to that representation and see if it can be considered alongside the aforementioned classics.
“The Blues Brothers” is a film about unsuccessful criminals Jake and Elwood Blues who set about saving their former home, a Catholic orphanage in Chicago from closure. Dan Aykroyd (Elwood Blues) who co-wrote the film with its director John Landis says of the
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