Judas Iscariot: Damned or Redeemed

A Critical Examination of the Portrayal of Judas in Jesus Films (1902-2014)

Carol A. Hebron

• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Year: 2016
• Print ISBN:
  9780567686947
• eBook ISBN:
  9780567668318
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

At the beginning of the 20th century, Judas was characterised in film as the epitome of evil: the villainous Jew. Film-makers cast Judas in this way because this was the Judas that audiences had come to recognize and even expect. But in the following three decades, film-makers - as a result of critical biblical study - were more circumspect about accepting the alleged historicity of the Gospel accounts. Carol A. Hebron examines the figure of Judas across film history to show how the portrayal becomes more nuanced and more significant, even to the point where Judas becomes the protagonist with a role in the film equal in importance to that of Jesus'. Hebron examines how, in these films, we begin to see a rehabilitation of the Judas character and a restoration of Judaism.

Hebron reveals two distinct theologies: 'rejection' and 'acceptance'. The Nazi Holocaust and the exposure of the horrors of genocide at the end of World War II influenced how Judaism, Jews, and Judas, were to be portrayed in film. Rehabilitating the Judas character and the Jews was necessary, and film was deemed an appropriate medium in which to begin that process.

Chapter 1

STUDYING THE FILMIC JUDAS CHARACTER

Introduction

Film is a powerful, influential and far-reaching medium, which reflects social and cultural beliefs, values and practices. The prevailing Zeitgeist similarly affects religion and theology. In short, how does film and theology interact in its understanding of Judas? This study of the filmic Judas character addresses the following three questions:

1.How is Judas portrayed in film?

2.Why does the Judas character change?

3.What are the theological implications of these changes?

The central focus of enquiry in each of these questions is on change. One approach to studying and measuring change in film is to follow a chronological framework in which films are viewed and studied in the order of their production. I adopt this approach. These changes point toward differences in trends in attitudes to the Bible, religion, theology and authority of the Church.

Question 1: How Is Judas Portrayed in Film? Film Studies

Any analysis of Jesus films necessitates both understanding of scriptural texts and the medium of film. George Aichele and Richard Walsh propose that there is no inherent connection between Scripture and film and that the viewer provides any correlation that they wish.1 Similarly, Margaret Miles suggests that often, religious motifs are in “the eye of the beholder,” but in order to recognize them, the viewer requires a theological perspective and theological language.2 What is self-evident is that films transform the scriptural texts in question, re-writing and re-conceptualizing them.3

Jesus films are adaptations of literary texts. Joseph Boggs and Dennis Petrie identify two types of adaptations from text to film. Faithful adaptations “translate nearly every character and scene from page to screen” whereas looser adaptations omit many elements from the original work and add others.4 In order to convey the Jesus story on the big screen, some filmmakers have harmonized the often-contradictory Gospel accounts, “melding them all together, so that Jesus says and does all the things that each of the Gospel writers identify.”5 Bart Ehrman criticizes this hermeneutical methodology:

Anyone who interprets the Gospels this way is not letting each author have his own say; anyone who does this is not reading what the author wrote in order to understand his message; anyone who does this is not reading the Gospels themselves—he or she is making up a new Gospel consisting of the four in the New Testament, a new Gospel that is not like any of the ones that have come down to us.6

Ehrman’s criticism is valid for the study of the Gospels but is not applicable in the context of filmmaking. The filmic Jesus (and Judas) stories in most instances are biographies in that they tell the story of Jesus as told in the Gospels. The Gospels do not record the same Jesus events. In order to produce a Jesus film that begins with an angel telling Mary that she is to bear a son, his birth in Bethlehem, a visit to the Temple in Jerusalem when he was twelve and then his years of ministry and miracles, culminating in his death and resurrection, filmmakers need to draw from the four Gospels.

Arie Zwiep notes, “The tension between biblical scholarship and theological interests comes into sharp focus with the figure of Judas Iscariot: ‘Tell me what you think of Judas and I will tell you what your exegetical method and your theological convictions are.’ ”7 Clearly, a study of the biblical Judas and the filmic Judas is complex.

To answer the question “How is Judas portrayed in film?” I undertook a systematic approach, which included the following steps: selection of films, viewing films and analyzing films for close study.

Step 1: Selection of Films

The selection of films is obviously of prime importance. My decision to look beyond Hollywood Jesus films—which merely reflect American culture and values—and to include foreign films, was based on their wide diversity of Judas portrayals. French, Danish, American, English, Italian, Mexican and Indian productions are addressed with reference also to Iranian and German films. Criteria for the selection of films included availability of the film, year and country of production, genre and the number of appearances made by Judas. To narrow the study and to guarantee a relatively accurate comparison of the Judas portrayals, decision was made to focus on one incident in the Jesus/Judas narrative: the Last Supper. This scene was chosen for the following four reasons. First, the Last Supper is included in most Jesus films. Second, the Last Supper scene is pivotal to the Passion narrative and is of fundamental importance to Christian theology. Third, the Last Supper scene is restricted to one location, enabling deeper focus in a mise-en-scène analysis. Fourth, the diverse representations of the Last Supper in these films raise significant theological questions.

In deciding which Jesus films would be suitable for analysis of the Last Supper scene, a number of factors were considered. These included the length of the scene, the presence of Judas at the meal, embellishment of Gospel narratives and harmonizing of the Gospel texts, the meal’s composition and setting, Judas’ response to, or refusal of, receiving the cup and the bread and the naming of Judas as “the betrayer.” This elimination process resulted in the selection of the following twenty-four films:

•La Vie et la Passion de Jésus Christ (France, Ferdinand Zecca and Lucien Nouquet, 1902–1905)

•La Vie du Christ (France, Alice Guy, 1906)

•From the Manger to the Cross (USA, Sidney Olcott, 1912)

•Christus (Italy, Giulio Antamora, 1916)

•Blade af Satans Bog (Denmark, Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1921)

•The Kings of Kings (USA, Cecil B. de Mille, 1927)

•Golgotha (France, Juli...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Dedication
• Title
• Contents
• Figures
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Introduction: Who Was Judas? Christianity’s Evaluation of Judas
• Chapter 1
• Studying the Filmic Judas Character
• Chapter 2
• The Silent Era (1902–1927)
• Chapter 3
• Between the Biblical Epics (1930–1960)
• Chapter 4
• The Biblical Epics: The Sixties
• Chapter 5
• The Seventies
• Chapter 6
• Moving Towards the New Millennium
• Chapter 7
• The New Millennium
• Chapter 8
• Judas as Portrayed in Film
• Chapter 9
• Judas, the Holocaust and Shoah Theology
• Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Filmography
• Index of References
• Index of Authors
• Index of Subjects
• Copyright