News, movies and furore

Movies, I cannot get enough of them. Went to see two today, Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Kingdom of Heaven. I'm not going to review them both but they were very enjoyable.

What I wish to discuss about the movies is the furore that is created around some movies. Namely, I wish to discuss what Kingdom of Heaven dealt with and how it's been reported upon. It's about the Crusades and in our current political climate this is rather a big deal.

Before I went to see it, the only things I had heard about the movie by the media was the fact it is set in the Crusades period and that Christians and Muslims had denounced the movie as being trash that will only spark more misunderstanding. Nothing about the movie itself, about how Orlando Bloom is taking a starring role and whether or not he could carry the movie upon his shoulders. Nothing about how the movie goes and shows that religion is used as a cover to hide or justify some crazy ideas.

I'm not sure when it was but I feel lot of the news that is reported to us has gone from being 'factual entertainment' to 'factual entertainment'. So much so that we have the army taking in cameras wherever they go to show us their "shock and awe" tactics. Who needs Private Ryan when my next door neighbour's son is out there in the thick of battle being captured on film? It's all sensationalism, driven at getting the highest audience possible. That last comment sounds harsh but I don't need to see in-depth play-by-play detail of a war based on false information.

So anyway back onto topic, how does this relate to Kingdom of Heaven? We have the media making much ado about nothing. I've read lots of positive comments from both Christians and Muslims, yet all I ever hear about is how Ridley Scott has received death threats (this report was from Fox News though so take with a truckload of salt).

Nothing about how even-handed a piece of work this is. Why? Good news doesn't sell. Telling people that all sides are shown as being human is such a story that's not news to report. That is to say reporting that both sides in the movie show qualities that are both good and bad, and that many scholars of both sides have advocated the movie won't be considered as news worthy.

Again I'm unsure whether this piece has a focus throughout but news today, by and large, doesn't seem to be news at all. It doesn't seem to be anything that could be considered a news report, just nonsense designed at stirring up the most fuss in order to sell.