Another View for March 24, 2005
By James Lileks
Creeping theocracy watch, continued: A court has ruled that a fashion company can't run ads that make fun of the Last Supper.
To be specific: They can't make fun of a painting done 1,500 years after the event. Pretentious denim-vendors Girbaud parodied Leonardo DaVinci's famous painting, bishops complained, and the government banned the ad. Typical for Red-State-Uber-Alles Amerika, eh?
But this happened in France. Yes, it's Europe that has blasphemy laws-secular, post-Christianity Europe, come-for-the-cathedrals-and-stay-for-the-hash-cafe Europe. The ruling came from a French court in response to a case brought by a group of French bishops.
Said Thierry Massis, the bishops' lawyer, “When you attack sacred things, you create a moral violence that is dangerous for our children. Tomorrow we'll have Christ selling socks.”
Don't give them any ideas. It's still a miracle that Lot's wife hasn't endorsed Morton Salt. The bishops' complaint might seem rather exaggerated, since the ad takes its inspiration from Leo, not the Bible; great though DaVinci was, divine he was not. If a parody of a painting based on the Bible is blasphemy, you could say the same about comedic interpretation of Charlton Heston's acting in The Ten Commandments.
That's the trouble with blasphemy laws-the crime is often in the eye of the beholder, and the unbelieving art director is often utterly clueless as to what might offend.
If Europe starts to enforce blasphemy laws, ought not the United States do the same? A recent issue of Entertainment Weekly had film director Morgan Spurlock of “Super Size Me” fame in a crucifixion posture, burgers in each outstretched hand, bloody ketchup trickling from his palms. Stupid, yes. Clueless, yes. But should it be outlawed?
Of course not. Government can't hurl fatwas from the bench, even if some moronic ad agency uses a marshmallow chicken rolling back the stone on Easter morn to sell Peeps. What's more, the ad industry in America is inexplicably smart enough not to cross that line. But even if Madison Avenue completely lost its bearings and started spoofing the Gospels to move pop or widescreen TVs, most wouldn't clamor for laws to stop them. That's what they do in Iran. Or Saudi Arabia. Or France.
Import French jeans, if you want. But leave their laws at the dock.
Religion News Service
James Lileks is a colmnist for Newhouse News Service.