Netflix film depicting a gay Jesus incites #Cancelonetflix hashtag. The streaming giant has had its share of controversy over the years, igniting debate over everything from what constitutes an Oscar-worthy movie release to the necessity of auto-trailers.
In all fairness, it really shouldn’t surprise anyone that a service as large and wide reaching as Netflix would experience the odd controversy now and again. Today’s audiences often seem more easily angered than ever before, and one never knows exactly what will set a certain segment of the population off at any given time. With that in mind, the job that Netflix is doing to entertain its colossal number of global subscribers comes off as all the more impressive. However, if there’s one thing that cinema has always done and should always do, it’s provoke a certain amount of lively debate and discussion. We’ve seen this with Netflix programming before – 13 Reasons Why, Atypical, and the 2018 film Desire are just a handful of examples of programming that has, at one time or another, gotten Netflix into hot water. It goes without saying that if the streaming platform isn’t currently experiencing some sort of blow back, it’s typically only a short wait for all of that to change.
This time around, the Netflix controversy is indeed a sizeable one. Religion is always a hot button issue and any filmmaker wanting to stir things up in a big way need only take aim at the traditional beliefs held sacred by many. Launched over the Christmas season in Brazil, The First Temptation of Christ is a 46-minute comedy that imagines Jesus as a gay man who comes home for his 30th birthday accompanied by his male partner. The program was instantly contentious and has inspired calls from Christians around the world to cancel their Netflix subscriptions. The hashtag #CanceloNetflix trended on Twitter, and as The New York Times reports, The First Temptation of Christ even emboldened a small group of militant Christians to firebomb the film’s Rio de Janeiro production offices on Christmas Eve.
Fortunately, no one was hurt in the attack, but the message behind it was clear: anyone involved in the production and distribution of the short film is facing a substantial backlash. The current political climate in Brazil is a tense one and has been ever since the nation elected its far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro in October of 2018. The heady mix of politics and religion appears to be a dangerous one for the likes of Netflix, but as of this writing, the streaming service has no plans to pull the controversial film, despite numerous calls for Christians to cancel their subscriptions. This isn’t the first time that the filmmakers behind The First Temptation of Christ have faced criticism, either. The film is actually a sequel to the 2018 Netflix special, The Last Hangover, in which Jesus’ disciples awaken after a rough night of partying.
It should go without saying that not everyone is going to have the same views when it comes to religion. Yet time and time again, someone somewhere is doing something that enflames tempers and threatens to pit people against one another. Creating a contentious Netflix special and releasing it during Christmas was never going to go over well - especially in a nation with one of the largest Catholic populations in the world. None the less, for those who are offended by the idea of a gay Jesus, cancelling a Netflix subscription is certainly a far more appropriate solution than resulting to violence.
Source: Twitter /The New York Times