Our Sunday Visitor has posted a timely article by Emily Stimpson in which Barbara Nicolosi (screenwriter, author, genius), Dr. Eugene Gan (Communications Professor at Franciscan University), and me (obscure blogger) call the Church back to her rightful role as the patroness of great art.
And you know that any article mentioning Flannery O’Conner and Walker Percy is bound to be good:
“Flannery O’Connor once said, ‘When people tell me that because I’m Catholic I can’t be an artist, I tell them that because I’m Catholic I can’t afford to be anything less than an artist.’ That’s the same attitude we’re obliged to have about our work in the media,” said Vogt.
……..
“There is no movement of Catholics using the medium of cinema to do what Flannery O’Connor did with the short story or what Walker Percy did with the novel,” she said. “And when we do make a movie, we don’t use the medium anywhere near how it should be used.”
Read “Catholic Media Matters” here.
The article isn’t completely sour on Catholic media. It does highlight a number of people who are making great art including Fr. Robert Barron, Spirit Juice Studios, CatholicVote.org, and Little iApps. It also praises The Passion of the Christ for its “lush cinematography, a moving score, award-winning actors, a first-rate crew, sensitive directing, and, of course, one heck of a story.”
How can Catholics can make better media?
Image Credit: “The Passion of the Christ” from Film.com