"The Last Temptation of Christ"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the furor surrounding the release of the film and novel "The Last Temptation of Christ" and points to a strange complicity between the sacred and taboo. The paper shows how novels and movies with a religious theme often create their own marketing by the controversy that surrounds their release. The writer also explores the issue of spirituality and religion in literature in general.

From the Paper:

"The public reception of controversial works, specifically those deemed blasphemous or heretical, is paradoxical because the very works that attract such criticism and censure are often deeply religious. In the case of Nikos Kazantzakis 1955 novel, The Last Temptation of Christ, and the subsequent film adaptation directed by Martin Scorsese, the allegedly blasphemous work illustrated the contradictory, but true, nature of the public reception of controversial works. Scorsese's film invited criticism for representing Jesus as a struggling man in essence, as a human. The film explores Christ's humanity as well as his divinity, and in doing so illustrates his final infallibility."

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