Backlash: comparing opposition to Francis and Disney's Star Wars (part I)
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
The Second Vatican Council repeatedly urged Catholics to discern the "signs of the times" (e.g., Gaudium et Spes 4). One of those signs today is backlash. In the Catholic Church, we have seen a backlash against Pope Francis, which began almost immediately upon his election in 2013 and became solidified in 2016. In the United States, the 2016 election of Donald Trump was widely interpreted as a backlash against "coastal elites" and the presidency of our first African American president. Although many commentators have made the connection between Francis and Trump, I wish to explore a different cultural backlash that resembles the one against Francis: the backlash against Disney's new Star Wars movies, especially 2017's The Last Jedi. I find four parallels: a false pereception that the new undermimes the old, sexist rhetoric, appeal to an earlier still-living authority figure, and use of social media. I explore this first point in this post.
Undermining the past?
Whether we are talking about the papacy or Star Wars, the list of complaints against the newest incarnation of the institution is long and varies depending whom you ask, but the main idea is fierce opposition to a (mis)perceived attempt to undermine something sacred. The old was good and holy, but the new is trying to destroy it!
For Star Wars, the claim is that Disney and director Rian Johnson are trying to contradict, subvert, and undermine the hallowed originals. For example, a theme of Star Wars is lineage. The reason Luke and Leia can use the Force is that they are the children of a powerful Jedi. The first of the Disney-produced films played on this theme by intimating that the mysterious new hero, Rey, herself was descended from a powerful Jedi, perhaps Luke himself. The new villain, Kylo Ren, was the son of Leia. When The Last Jedi came out, it flipped this theme on its head by declaring that Rey was a "nobody," whose parents were "filthy junk-traders." The movie ends by showing a simple slave-boy using the Force, a reminder that it is not about where you come from or who your parents were, but who you are. The somewhat aristocratic idea from the originals was democratized.
Star Wars is an archetypal fantasy-adventure story, a fairy tale: a farmboy leaves his dusty home to save the princess, defeat the bad guys, and become a powerful warrior. Luke is a classic hero who uses sword and spaceship to defeat the villains. But in The Last Jedi, we find Luke thirty years later in seclusion, now a washed-up failure, bitter and regretful about being responsible for the creation of Kylo Ren. He declares that the Jedi were a corrupt and decadent institution that deserved to die. Luke scorns as a childish fantasy Rey's hope that he will return to save the day. It is not merely that The Last Jedi is different from the earlier Star Wars movies; it is alleged to undermine the originals.
This is the same perception that Pope Francis's critics have of him with respect to his two immediate predecessors. A strong theme of the papacy of John Paul II, which Benedict continued, was the Church standing proudly for its values in the face of an increasingly secular and relativistic culture. Although one could cite several examples of this, the one that stands out the most in the realm of culture is homosexuality. While Western culture rapidly came to legitimate gay relationships, even to the point of affirming gay marriage, John Paul II and Benedict labeled it "instrinsically disordered" and banned gay men from becoming priests. Among conservative Catholics, even to use the word gay was considered unacceptable, and they coined the neologism same-sex attracted (SSA) as a replacement.
Then along comes Pope Francis (the Rian Johnson of Catholicism!). The first major thing that he did to rock the barque of Peter remains the most famous: when asked about gay priests, he responded, "If someone is gay and seeks the Lord with goodwill, who am I to judge?" This simple, Christian message sent a shockwave through the Church and around the world. He received many plaudits, most notably from the LGBT magazine The Advocate, which declared him Person of the Year and put his face on the cover with the logo "NO H8" on his cheek. At first conservative Catholics used a tactic which they deployed several times regarding Pope Francis, namely to "explain" what the pope "really meant." More often than not, this amounted to explaining it away. As time wore on, though, the more common response among conservatives has been to reject his words.
The second major convulsion was the pair of synods of bishops on the family, held in Rome in October of 2014 and 2015. The mid-term relatio (report) of the first synod contained some powerful sentiments about the inclusion of LGBT people in the Church. Although not written by the pope, it was consistent with his own remarks. It said in part:
More central to the two synods was the question of the divorced and remarried, who are excluded from Holy Communion. This one issue threatened to take over the synods entirely. The resulting magisterial document, Francis's 2016 post-synodal apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, permits some remarried Catholics to receive Communion "in certain cases" (305, n. 351) It is unclear what exactly those cases are, though guidelines later approved by the pope offer some direction. Critics point to the fact that a similar proposal was rejected by John Paul II in his own 1981 post-synodal apostolic exhortation, Familiaris Consortio. More than anything else, this change of Pope Francis led to the permanent fixing of battle-lines for and against him. Leading this battle from the beginning has been American Cardinal Raymond Burke. A more-recent opponent of the pope, German Cardinal Gerhard Müller, defended Amoris Laetitia at the time. In fact, he was part of the German-language group at the synod that unanimously supported an "internal forum" solution to the problem of the remarried (source). Awkward.
Lastly, Francis's emphasis on social justice, the poor, peace, protecting the environment, the abolition of nuclear weapons, the abolition of the death penalty, and the obligation nations have to welcome and love migrants and refugees is routinely derided by the far right as a "secular" or "liberal" agenda. They think this strays from the Church's traditional values, which are apparently nothing more than sexual morality and opposition to abortion. (Such claims litter the pages of all anti-Francis outlets, and I will not bother to link to them.)
Misperceptions and misreadings
The critics persistently misinterpret both Catholicism and Star Wars. Although the change is real, so is the continuity. First of all, advocating for social justice, peace, and human rights is 100% traditional Catholicism! While Francis may emphasize certain things, and changes in times have led to some changes in thinking (such as regarding the environment), he stands in continuity with the social teachings of his predecessors. The new dissenters were not paying close attention before. The social encyclicals go back more than 100 years and form a beautiful chain of consistent teaching. Both Benedict and JP II advocated all of Francis's "liberal" positions. On the sole point where it is possible to claim a contradiction (a total opposition to the death penalty), Francis merely brings to a conclusion the line of doctrinal development begun by his two predecessors.
Without downplaying the significance of Amoris Laetitia, which did update and re-contextualize the Church's pastoral practice regarding some remarried people, the move was theologically grounded in the Church's tradition and even re-affirmed the ban as a general (but not absolute) rule. The mistake of Francis's opponents is making a pastoral law into an absolute dogma, which it never was.
Finally, regarding homosexuality, Pope Francis talks again and again about welcoming LGBT people into the Church and accompanying them with love, but he has not changed the Church's doctrine. In his book, The Name of God Is Mercy, he wrote:
It is the same way with Star Wars. Liberal themes were there all along. From the get-go, it was always about fighting fascism in the name of freedom, a liberal value if ever there was one. Furthermore, the Force was never the property of just one family; there were hundreds if not thousands of Jedi before the Empire. The message that anyone can make a difference has always been there as well, and is probably best illustrated by Han Solo. Luke was never a perfect hero; in fact, he was rather whiny at first. His later mistakes are presaged in his impatience and refusal to listen to Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back. When he became powerful in Return of the Jedi, he also became arrogant and nearly fell to the dark side. He was never perfect; indeed, classical heroes, such as those of the Bible, never are. Abraham, Moses, David, and many biblical heroes are shown to be flawed.
Just as Pope Francis's words are often twisted by critics, so too are the words of TLJ. Sometimes it seems like they turned the movie off before the end! The infamous line, "Let the past die; kill it if you have to" is supposedly what Rian Johnson believed about old Star Wars, but that line is said by the villain. It is wrong, and Rey immediately rejects it. Although Luke is bitter at first, by the end of the movie he realizes that he had let himself be defeated by his shortcomings. When Kylo claims that Luke will be the "last Jedi," Luke says otherwise, and the movie cuts to Rey, showing clearly that she will indeed become a Jedi. By the end of the movie, the viewers are brought full circle and the timeless values of the originals are strengthened, as the screenwriter of the newest film recently observed.
To sum up, the substance of internet opposition to both Pope Francis and the new Star Wars is the misperception that the new deliberately undermines the old, but in both cases this is based on misinterpretation and misunderstanding. In part 2 of this essay, I will talk about how both opposition movements use a lot of sexist rhetoric.
The Second Vatican Council repeatedly urged Catholics to discern the "signs of the times" (e.g., Gaudium et Spes 4). One of those signs today is backlash. In the Catholic Church, we have seen a backlash against Pope Francis, which began almost immediately upon his election in 2013 and became solidified in 2016. In the United States, the 2016 election of Donald Trump was widely interpreted as a backlash against "coastal elites" and the presidency of our first African American president. Although many commentators have made the connection between Francis and Trump, I wish to explore a different cultural backlash that resembles the one against Francis: the backlash against Disney's new Star Wars movies, especially 2017's The Last Jedi. I find four parallels: a false pereception that the new undermimes the old, sexist rhetoric, appeal to an earlier still-living authority figure, and use of social media. I explore this first point in this post.
Whether we are talking about the papacy or Star Wars, the list of complaints against the newest incarnation of the institution is long and varies depending whom you ask, but the main idea is fierce opposition to a (mis)perceived attempt to undermine something sacred. The old was good and holy, but the new is trying to destroy it!
For Star Wars, the claim is that Disney and director Rian Johnson are trying to contradict, subvert, and undermine the hallowed originals. For example, a theme of Star Wars is lineage. The reason Luke and Leia can use the Force is that they are the children of a powerful Jedi. The first of the Disney-produced films played on this theme by intimating that the mysterious new hero, Rey, herself was descended from a powerful Jedi, perhaps Luke himself. The new villain, Kylo Ren, was the son of Leia. When The Last Jedi came out, it flipped this theme on its head by declaring that Rey was a "nobody," whose parents were "filthy junk-traders." The movie ends by showing a simple slave-boy using the Force, a reminder that it is not about where you come from or who your parents were, but who you are. The somewhat aristocratic idea from the originals was democratized.
Star Wars is an archetypal fantasy-adventure story, a fairy tale: a farmboy leaves his dusty home to save the princess, defeat the bad guys, and become a powerful warrior. Luke is a classic hero who uses sword and spaceship to defeat the villains. But in The Last Jedi, we find Luke thirty years later in seclusion, now a washed-up failure, bitter and regretful about being responsible for the creation of Kylo Ren. He declares that the Jedi were a corrupt and decadent institution that deserved to die. Luke scorns as a childish fantasy Rey's hope that he will return to save the day. It is not merely that The Last Jedi is different from the earlier Star Wars movies; it is alleged to undermine the originals.
This is the same perception that Pope Francis's critics have of him with respect to his two immediate predecessors. A strong theme of the papacy of John Paul II, which Benedict continued, was the Church standing proudly for its values in the face of an increasingly secular and relativistic culture. Although one could cite several examples of this, the one that stands out the most in the realm of culture is homosexuality. While Western culture rapidly came to legitimate gay relationships, even to the point of affirming gay marriage, John Paul II and Benedict labeled it "instrinsically disordered" and banned gay men from becoming priests. Among conservative Catholics, even to use the word gay was considered unacceptable, and they coined the neologism same-sex attracted (SSA) as a replacement.
Then along comes Pope Francis (the Rian Johnson of Catholicism!). The first major thing that he did to rock the barque of Peter remains the most famous: when asked about gay priests, he responded, "If someone is gay and seeks the Lord with goodwill, who am I to judge?" This simple, Christian message sent a shockwave through the Church and around the world. He received many plaudits, most notably from the LGBT magazine The Advocate, which declared him Person of the Year and put his face on the cover with the logo "NO H8" on his cheek. At first conservative Catholics used a tactic which they deployed several times regarding Pope Francis, namely to "explain" what the pope "really meant." More often than not, this amounted to explaining it away. As time wore on, though, the more common response among conservatives has been to reject his words.
The second major convulsion was the pair of synods of bishops on the family, held in Rome in October of 2014 and 2015. The mid-term relatio (report) of the first synod contained some powerful sentiments about the inclusion of LGBT people in the Church. Although not written by the pope, it was consistent with his own remarks. It said in part:
Homosexuals have gifts and qualities to offer to the Christian community: are we capable of welcoming these people, guaranteeing to them a fraternal space in our communities? Often they wish to encounter a Church that offers them a welcoming home. Are our communities capable of providing that, accepting and valuing their sexual orientation, without compromising Catholic doctrine on the family and matrimony?
Without denying the moral problems connected to homosexual unions it has to be noted that there are cases in which mutual aid to the point of sacrifice constitutes a precious support in the life of the partners. Furthermore, the Church pays special attention to the children who live with couples of the same sex, emphasizing that the needs and rights of the little ones must always be given priority.This caused panic among the more conservative bishops at the synod, and it was dropped from the final document. With respect to homosexuality, Pope Francis has advocated a change of attitude if not doctrine. In the eyes of his critics, this was a repudiation of the defensive attitude of the previous popes.
More central to the two synods was the question of the divorced and remarried, who are excluded from Holy Communion. This one issue threatened to take over the synods entirely. The resulting magisterial document, Francis's 2016 post-synodal apostolic exhortation Amoris Laetitia, permits some remarried Catholics to receive Communion "in certain cases" (305, n. 351) It is unclear what exactly those cases are, though guidelines later approved by the pope offer some direction. Critics point to the fact that a similar proposal was rejected by John Paul II in his own 1981 post-synodal apostolic exhortation, Familiaris Consortio. More than anything else, this change of Pope Francis led to the permanent fixing of battle-lines for and against him. Leading this battle from the beginning has been American Cardinal Raymond Burke. A more-recent opponent of the pope, German Cardinal Gerhard Müller, defended Amoris Laetitia at the time. In fact, he was part of the German-language group at the synod that unanimously supported an "internal forum" solution to the problem of the remarried (source). Awkward.
Lastly, Francis's emphasis on social justice, the poor, peace, protecting the environment, the abolition of nuclear weapons, the abolition of the death penalty, and the obligation nations have to welcome and love migrants and refugees is routinely derided by the far right as a "secular" or "liberal" agenda. They think this strays from the Church's traditional values, which are apparently nothing more than sexual morality and opposition to abortion. (Such claims litter the pages of all anti-Francis outlets, and I will not bother to link to them.)
Misperceptions and misreadings
The critics persistently misinterpret both Catholicism and Star Wars. Although the change is real, so is the continuity. First of all, advocating for social justice, peace, and human rights is 100% traditional Catholicism! While Francis may emphasize certain things, and changes in times have led to some changes in thinking (such as regarding the environment), he stands in continuity with the social teachings of his predecessors. The new dissenters were not paying close attention before. The social encyclicals go back more than 100 years and form a beautiful chain of consistent teaching. Both Benedict and JP II advocated all of Francis's "liberal" positions. On the sole point where it is possible to claim a contradiction (a total opposition to the death penalty), Francis merely brings to a conclusion the line of doctrinal development begun by his two predecessors.
Without downplaying the significance of Amoris Laetitia, which did update and re-contextualize the Church's pastoral practice regarding some remarried people, the move was theologically grounded in the Church's tradition and even re-affirmed the ban as a general (but not absolute) rule. The mistake of Francis's opponents is making a pastoral law into an absolute dogma, which it never was.
Finally, regarding homosexuality, Pope Francis talks again and again about welcoming LGBT people into the Church and accompanying them with love, but he has not changed the Church's doctrine. In his book, The Name of God Is Mercy, he wrote:
I prefer that homosexuals come to confession, that they stay close to the Lord, and that we pray all together. You can advise them to pray, show goodwill, show them the way, and accompany them along it. (Source)In fact, he has even reaffirmed JP II and Benedict's opposition to ordaining men with a "rooted tendency" to homosexuality (source).
It is the same way with Star Wars. Liberal themes were there all along. From the get-go, it was always about fighting fascism in the name of freedom, a liberal value if ever there was one. Furthermore, the Force was never the property of just one family; there were hundreds if not thousands of Jedi before the Empire. The message that anyone can make a difference has always been there as well, and is probably best illustrated by Han Solo. Luke was never a perfect hero; in fact, he was rather whiny at first. His later mistakes are presaged in his impatience and refusal to listen to Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back. When he became powerful in Return of the Jedi, he also became arrogant and nearly fell to the dark side. He was never perfect; indeed, classical heroes, such as those of the Bible, never are. Abraham, Moses, David, and many biblical heroes are shown to be flawed.
Just as Pope Francis's words are often twisted by critics, so too are the words of TLJ. Sometimes it seems like they turned the movie off before the end! The infamous line, "Let the past die; kill it if you have to" is supposedly what Rian Johnson believed about old Star Wars, but that line is said by the villain. It is wrong, and Rey immediately rejects it. Although Luke is bitter at first, by the end of the movie he realizes that he had let himself be defeated by his shortcomings. When Kylo claims that Luke will be the "last Jedi," Luke says otherwise, and the movie cuts to Rey, showing clearly that she will indeed become a Jedi. By the end of the movie, the viewers are brought full circle and the timeless values of the originals are strengthened, as the screenwriter of the newest film recently observed.
To sum up, the substance of internet opposition to both Pope Francis and the new Star Wars is the misperception that the new deliberately undermines the old, but in both cases this is based on misinterpretation and misunderstanding. In part 2 of this essay, I will talk about how both opposition movements use a lot of sexist rhetoric.
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