Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Frozen, Russell Brand and Pope St. John Paul II
Not long
after Frozen became the highest
grossing animated film of all time, a cyber scandal accusing the masterminds of
Disney of a “gay agenda” blew up all over social media. Whatever the potential
motivations of Disney may or may not have been, the movie actually left me surprised
by hope.
In these
seemingly dark times when the culture of death looms around us, the plan God
has for us written in our hearts, inscribed in and revealed through our human nature (qua embodied souls) is so
undeniable that even adorable cartoon characters get it. When the lead
character, Elsa, tries to repress and suppress her magical powers, she is left
feeling alone, miserable and with a burden she was not meant to bear. When the
pendulum swings the opposite way and she embraces self-centered “freedom”
indulging her icy powers, the entire fairytale kingdom of Arendelle suffers
from an eternal winter. Clearly, we are not made to suppress or repress our
deepest desires, nor should we overindulge. Elsa learns that all is well when
we order our “magical powers,” if you will, to love.
I was floored last week when I read this Life Site News article featuring a recent
YouTube video by Russell Brand, the British comedian, former husband of Katy
Perry and now…outspoken anti-pornography activist?!? The video is worth
watching – though fair warning that it includes Brand’s naked chest and casual
bedroom backdrop. He uses personal experience backed by sociological evidence
to deliver his argument and the best part…he mentions a quote commonly
attributed to Pope Saint John Paul II (he refers to him as a “priest,” we’ll
take it),
“I
heard a quote from a priest that said ‘pornography isn’t a problem because it shows
too much, it’s a problem because it shows too little.”
He denounces the book and film, Fifty Shades of Grey and says, “Our
attitudes towards sex have become warped and perverted and have deviated from
its true function as an expression of love and a means for procreation. Because
our acculturation—the way we’ve designed it and expressed it—has become really,
really, confused.”
 |
| "Elsa" by Sam Howzit is licensed under C.C by 2.0. |
Whether you are a princess covered from head to
toe in sparkly attire or an outspoken and rugged bloke, clearly you don’t have
to be a graduate of the John Paull II Institute to know that you are made for
more, to know that you are made for authentic, life-giving love. Even in the most unsuspecting places we find
echoes of the call God has written on our hearts.
Taking
a cue from Russell Brand, I leave you with these words from our favorite
“priest’s” 1979 encyclical Redempter
Hominis,
“Man
cannot live without love. He remains a being that is incomprehensible for
himself, his life is senseless, if love is not revealed to him, if he does not
encounter love, if he does not experience it and make it his own, if he
does not participate intimately in it.”
Fifteen
years later in his Letter to Families, he further
explained,
“The
love which the Apostle Paul celebrates in the First Letter to the Corinthians -
the love which is "patient" and "kind",
and "endures all things" (1 Cor 13:4, 7) - is
certainly a demanding love. But this is precisely the source of its beauty: by
the very fact that it is demanding, it builds up the true good of man and
allows it to radiate to others.”
As a
high school religion teacher, I am aware of how very daunting communicating
this truth is – and I am even more aware of how my task is actually quite
simple. As Disney might put it, I need only awaken them to “their heart’s true
desire.”
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