WASHINGTON — Some who see the wonderful new movie "Signs" will be shocked to hear its ex-priest hero (Mel Gibson) whisper to God, "I hate you," when his family is endangered.
Others will be like me: stunned to hear a film character speak to the Deity at all.
In movie after movie, TV show after TV show, people face every manner of terror, crime, illness and betrayal without ever turning to, or even acknowledging, a higher power.
In real life, however, millions of people blurt, "Oh my God!" at the first sign of trouble. They close their eyes or tumble to their knees in prayer. They visit churches seeking comfort, guidance or intervention. Remember the bump in attendance after Sept. 11?
But in movies and on TV, when things go wrong, characters lean on drugs, sex, psychologists, friends’ advice — anything but their spirituality. Why does mainstream entertainment so often ignore people’s everyday relationship with Spirit? Why is the commonplace belief in a higher authority — and people’s reliance on it during crisis — rarely depicted?
Example: In 2000’s "Cast Away," the marooned workaholic played by Tom Hanks is seen sobbing, befriending a volleyball, even urinating — but never once questioning or beseeching God. C’mon, crash-landing in the Pacific wouldn’t make you pray?
So, maybe the guy was an atheist. But the 90 percent of Americans who are believers have a hard time finding quality entertainment reflective of their faith. Once, religious-themed movies were common.
But today, popular entertainment with spiritual themes — think "The Apostle" (1997) and TV’s "Touched by an Angel" — is rare.
Perhaps praying and seeking spiritual counsel are too boring, passive or wordy for today’s action-obsessed audiences. Maybe writers and producers fear that viewers with differing beliefs will stay away, offending Hollywood’s favorite deity: the almighty dollar.
Or are we all just less spiritual these days?
Even die-hard skeptics might relate to Gibson’s character, a man whose wife’s tragic death has caused him to abandon any acknowledgment of the God to whom he was once dedicated. At some point, everyone faces faith-shaking circumstances, actor Gibson recently told reporters, adding that he never lost his conviction because "I’m too scared about getting a lightning bolt up my posterior."
That gifted "Signs" director M. Night Shyamalan wasn’t afraid to tackle faith as a theme isn’t surprising. Nor was his decision to throw aliens, cute kids and possible world domination into the mix. The failure of Shyamalan’s first major feature — "Wide Awake," about a Catholic boy’s search for God — taught him: When you’re tackling serious subjects, adding serious thrills doesn’t hurt.
His next film, the hugely successful "The Sixth Sense," had all of America seeing dead people.
That the living see precious little spirituality on screen reflects the Rev. A. Knighton Stanley’s sense that religion has become America’s "most carefully guarded secret." People have faith, says Stanley, of Peoples Congregational Church in Washington. "But it’s often not reflected in church attendance or in the ethics of the workplace."
Americans’ religious reticence may explain the media’s "corny" portrayal of religion, says Stanley, in which "white church choirs are invariably singing ‘Amazing Grace,’ while at black churches, people are always jumping up and down. … Popular culture is popular because it doesn’t have depth. Anything profound is problematic."
Stanley believes religion is best approached "subtly. … ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ — that was a love story about human sacrifice, about loving the unlovable. Those are religious themes."
Indeed, some terrific "spiritual" entertainment would hardly be called religious. The first two "Godfather" movies’ religious underpinnings deepened their impact. HBO’s "The Sopranos" acknowledges the title family’s church ties while exploring their contradictions.
What isn’t subtle is how negatively religion — and the people to whom it matters — is often portrayed. Washington-born filmmaker Sushama Austin-Connor puzzled acquaintances when she headed to Harvard Divinity School in 2000 after obtaining her master’s in documentary film production.
She cited the 1994 film "The Shawshank Redemption" as explanation.
The film’s despicable prison warden — who quotes the Bible while decimating inmates’ lives — illustrates how in movies, religious people are "fanatical or odd, not what we’d think of as normally spiritual," says Austin-Connor, 28. Only rarely is religion portrayed "as anything most people want to be a part of."
As a filmmaker, Austin-Connor would like to see religion as accepted as race and homosexuality. "Can you think of a major character in a major TV show who goes to church or who’s guided by that?" she asks. "Everyone has some spiritual identity — and if not, they’re opinionated about why they don’t."
By ignoring that, movies and TV — both of which claim to be about "reality" — miss out on a huge piece of our lives," says Austin-Connor. "Eliminating spirituality, this huge chunk of who people really are, isn’t just not real.
"It’s detrimental."
Donna Britt can be reached at The Washington Post Writers Group, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, DC 20071-9200.
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