Negativland mashupt Jezus

Het creëren van rumoer kan aan Negativland, de oervaders van de mashup, rustig overgelaten worden. In onderstaande video The Mashin’ of the Christ wordt deze praktijk losgelaten op Jezus Christus, zoals verbeeld in 28 Hollywoodfilms.

The Mashin’ of the Christ was/is Negativland’s top-secret-not-for-viewing video response to the number one film in America. Negativland decrypted, downloaded and mashed up the most violent religious film ever made along with over 27 other Hollywood portrayals of Jesus to create their own vision of the last moments of Christ’s life… all in four minutes and 14 seconds. Is Christianity still stupid? Is Communism still good? Negativland hoped that no one would ever find out for sure.

Als soundtrack diende het geruchtmakende Negativlandnummer Christianity is stupid. Deze song werd door hen aangevoerd als reden waarom de Amerikaanse tiener David Brom zijn ouders, broer en zus in 1988 met een bijl om het leven bracht. Het feit dat de media deze volledig uit de duim gezogen claim zonder haperen overnam, was koren op kritische houding van de band tegenover de werking van de massamedia. Van Wikipedia:

When their 1987 album, Escape From Noise, proved to be more successful than they expected, Negativland, a sound collage band, canceled the tour they were expected to do and released a fake press release stating the band would be placed in house arrest until investigations concluded as to whether the track “Christianity Is Stupid” was implicated in Brom’s murders. The resulting media craze, stemming from journalists neglecting to fact-check, is lampooned in the title track of their 1989 album, Helter Stupid, whose insert also includes background information behind the band’s prank.

Voor de video werden de volgende bronnen gebruikt:

From the Manger to the Cross (1912, Sidney Olcott)
Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ (1925, J.J. Cohn, Fred Niblo, Charles Brabin, Rex Ingram)
The King of Kings (1927, Cecil B. DeMille)
The Robe (1953, Henry Koster)
Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ (1959, William Wyler)
King of Kings (1961, Nicholas Ray)
Barabbas (1962, Richard Fleischer)
Shake Up In The Kremlin (1963, King Features)
The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964, Pier Paolo Pasolini)
Greatest Story Ever Told (1965, George Stevens)
Home Front 1917-1919: War Transforms American Life (1966, Encylopaedia Britannica Educational Corp.)
A Clockwork Orange (1971, Stanley Kubrick)
If Footmen Tire You, What Will Horses Do? (1971, Rev. Estus W. Pirkle)
The Ruling Class (1972, Peter Medak)
The Holy Mountain (1973, Alejandro Jodorowsky)
Jesus Christ Superstar (1973, Norman Jewison)
Jesus of Nazareth (1977, Franco Zeffirelli)
Leonid Brezhnev: The Rise to the Top (1977, Hearst Metrotone News)
Jesus (1979, John Krish and Peter Sykes)
La Vida de Nuestro Senor Jesucristo (1986, Rafael Gil)
Christianity Is Stupid (1987, Negativland)
Jesus and His Times (1987, Kaari Ward and Readers Digest)
Children’s Bible Story: The Story of Jesus – The Resurrection (1988, director unknown)
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988, Martin Scorsese)
The Easter Story (1989, Don Lusk)
Jesus (1999, Roger Young)
The Life of Jesus the Revolutionary (1999, Robert Marcarelli)
Mary, Mother of Jesus (1999, Kevin Connor)
Jesus Christ Superstar 2000 (2000, Gale Edwards and Nick Morris)
The Miracle Maker (2000, Derek W. Hayes and Stanislav Sokolov)
Live Out Loud (2001, Steven Curtis Chapman)
The Story of Jesus for Children (2002, director unknown)
The Passion of the Christ (2004, Mel Gibson)

bron: Ubuweb