Category: Movies Watched Together

One of the first connections I made while I watched was the similarities with the Gospel of Mary. Judas doesn’t think that Mary is good enough to be this touchy with Jesus. There are also references to her “reputation” of being a prostitute.

Similar to the Gospel of Judas, Jesus can be portrayed as angry and not nice all the time. A primary example is shown early in the movie when Jesus is yelling at Judas for talking about Mary in a rude way and Jesus knocking over all the tables set up in the market because it was supposed to be used as a place of worship.

Another aspect similar to the Gospel of Judas is portrayed as not wanting to kill Jesus and having remorse for his actions. Making him have more character and getting to learn more about what led up to Jesus’ killing humanizes Judas more. This makes him have more nuance and leads away from the narrative that Judas wanted to kill just because.

Judas is also shown to be critical of Jesus because of his focus of the people liking him instead of helping them. As someone who is often portrayed as being selfless and gives everything to help the people, being shown as only caring about his legacy shows Jesus in a light not many people are going to be willing to accept. Especially since Jesus is also shown whining about how no one is going to remember him.

There are also moments where Jesus seems to go against his morals by saying that there is nothing they can do to help the poor. He views his followers as being mindless because no matter what he says, they will follow him. This only lasts until the people decide they will follow the parts they think are acceptable.

Before we watched the movie all together, I never had the chance to see it before. I wasn’t really exposed to old timey animation from Disney so I didn’t know what to expect.

In a very Disney fashion, Bambi was portrayed as being very clumsy and childish while the community of animals living in the forest is very supportive. The non verbal communication showed itself in the form of music. Even the slightest change in Bambi’s mood was expressed in the music. The changes in light hearted up beat tunes to sudden dark tones kept me interested. I also liked how the background also aided in foreshadowing by slowly shifting to darker/ cool colors when the storm was coming.

Although this is discussed in the book in further detail, it was frustrating to see Bambi’s mom not explain the danger he was in. By keeping Bambi in the dark, she puts Bambi in more danger because she can’t always control the circumstances of an emergency. Deciding whether or not someone is old enough to learn about the dangers they could potentially face is a sign of privilege. Which the movie tries to incorporate, but since there are many details from the original source that weren’t included, the reference falls flat.

One of the moments in the movie that caught my attention was the scene where Bambi is fighting with another male deer that tries to take away Faline from Bambi. What was first a watercolor background with calm colors becomes dark with flashing bright colors when they bump antlers. The aggression was emphasized with the music being loud and sudden.

This is a movie I haven’t seen before viewing it as a class and it was interesting to see it for the first time. I knew this was an older movie based on the style but I later connected the dots that the things that would be considered controversial today wouldn’t have the same effect then.

This movie doesn’t make fun of religion itself but instead critiques the people who decide to blindly follow. Many decisions the followers make aren’t really based on what Brain says/ try to find a deeper meaning in his words. They follow along with what fits their interpretation.

This is emphasized by the divide when the followers have a disagreement and create their own methods. Although satirical, this could be interpreted as judgemental.

Similarly to how things are banned today, I read about how the policy makers banning the film hadn’t seen it before.

The crucifications at the end of the movie are supposed to be a moment of grief but the narrative gets flipped when it ends with all the characters singing a happy song about looking on the bright side. This can be interpreted as mocking Christ and belittling his story.

In another class I’m in, we discuss a lot about assimilation, identity, and cultural significance. I found it interesting how I could connect the lessons I learned there when watching this movie. Brain proclaims he is proud to be Jewish (?) until he is confronted by Caesar. He saw there was an opportunity to benefit from his Roman side he rejected until now.