Catholic social teaching in Hollywood movies

1. Catholic social teaching in Hollywood movies Jorge Iglesias, PhD

2. ***SPOILER ALERT***

3. Overview • The Power of Film • Catholic Social Teaching • Children of Men • Erin Brockovich • The Florida Project • The Dark Knight • Discussion

4. The Power of Film • Reasons for watching • Impact on our daily lives • Thoughts from the critics • Allegorical reading • Catholic interpretation

5. Reasons for Watching

6. Impact on Our Daily Lives

7. Thoughts from the Critics • Roger Ebert: “Good films make us better people.” • Fr. Daniel Callam, CSB: • Persuasion • Folklore • Worldview • Traditionalstructure

8. Allegorical Reading Types of interpretation • Literal • Allegorical • Moral • Anagogical

9. Catholic Interpretation Appropriation • Catholic  katholicos  universal • Long tradition of using secular sources

10. Catholic Interpretation The role of the Catholic critic • Images • Worldview • Allegory

11. Catholic Social Teaching 101 • What is Social Teaching? • Seven Main Themes

12. What is Social Teaching? • Careful with the term “social justice” • Pope Pius XI, Quadragesimo Anno (1931) • Living wage • Subsidiarity • Not a state of public affairs, but a personal virtue • Goal: to improve the common good of a “free and responsible people” • Focus: the family

13. Seven Main Themes • Life and Dignity of the Human Person • Call to Family, Community, and Participation • Rights and Responsibilities • Option for the Poor and Vulnerable • The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers • Solidarity • Care for God’s Creation

14. Children of Men (2006) • 2027 • Infertility • Britain is functional • Rebel groups • State of siege • Immigration

15. Children of Men (2006)

16. Children of Men - Immigration • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=161h1o168xU

17. Catholic Teaching - Immigration • Rerum Novarum (Pope Leo XIII, 1891) • Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor • Rejects both socialism and unrestricted capitalism • Unions • Private property • Welcoming the Stranger Among Us (USCCB, 2001) • Unity in Diversity • Migration • Regulation of borders • Justice and mercy

18. Erin Brockovich (2000) • 1993-1996 • Hinkley, CA • Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) • Groundwater contamination (50s and 60s) • Severe health problems

19. Erin Brockovich (2000)

20. Catholic Teaching – Care for God’s Creation • Octogesima Adveniens (Pope Paul VI, 1971) • Risk of destroying nature • The framework is no longer under our control • Centesimus Annus (St. John Paul II, 1991) • Limit the waste of environmental resources • The gift of the Earth, and the gift of ourselves • Caritas in Veritate (Pope Benedict XVI, 2009) • Nature is not more important than the human person • “It is contradictory to insist that future generations respect the natural environment when our educational systems and laws do not help them to respect themselves.”

21. Care for God’s Creation – Laudato Si’ (Pope Francis, 2015) • We are not God • Integral ecology • Care for the poor • Climate change • Global solidarity • Hope

22. The Florida Project (2017) • Life in a motel • 6-year-old Moonee and her single mother • Episodic • Documentary • Contrast with Walt Disney World

23. The Florida Project (2017)

24. The Florida Project - Poverty • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVtJw389BXM

25. US Poverty Facts Poverty thresholds One person…………………………………$12,228 Two people………………………………...$15,569 Three people……………………………….$19,105 Four people………………………………...$24,563 Five people…………………………………$29,111

26. US Poverty Facts • 6.7% of the population live in deep poverty (21.3 million people) • 29.8% live close to poverty (95 million people)

27. US Poverty by Gender

28. US Poverty by Age 15.3 million kids (almost 1 in every 5)

29. US Poverty by Ethnicity

30. Catholic Teaching - Poverty Evangelii Gaudium (Pope Francis, 2013) • Challenges of today’s world [52-75] NO to… • …an economy of exclusion • …the new idolatry of money • …a financial system which rules rather than serves • …the inequality which spawns violence

31. Catholic Teaching - Poverty Evangelii Gaudium (Pope Francis, 2013) • Distribution of income [202-208] • “As long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the world’s problems. […] Inequality is the root of social ills.” • “We can no longer trust in the unseen forces and the invisible hand of the market.” • Economy: “the art of achieving a fitting management of our common home.”

32. Catholic Teaching - Poverty Evangelii Gaudium (Pope Francis, 2013) • Concern for the vulnerable [209-216] • “The current model, with its emphasis on success and self-reliance, does not appear to favor an investment in efforts to help the slow, the weak or the less talented to find opportunities in life.” • Specifically mentioned: the homeless, the addicted, refugees, indigenous peoples, the elderly, migrants, victims of human trafficking, mistreated women, the unborn, creation as a whole.

33. Catholic Teaching - Poverty Evangelii Gaudium (Pope Francis, 2013) • The common good and peace in society [217-237] • Time is greater than space • Unity prevails over conflict • Realities are more important than ideas • The whole is greater than the part

34. The Dark Knight (2008) • Gotham City, “NJ” • Batman must stop the anarchistic Joker • Good vs. evil • Do the ends justify the means? • Is anyone “beyond good and evil”?

35. The Dark Knight – Dignity of the Human Person • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4GAQtGtd_0

36. Conclusions • What we get from a film  what we bring to it • Worldview • Lens • Frame • All the world’s a film

37. Discussion