Charles Darwin is too controversial for the U.S.

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So, a new movie (starring Paul Bettany, one of my favorite actors) called "Creation," about the life and discoveries of Charles Darwin, is not getting picked up by any distributor in the U.S. because it is too "controversial."

Spoiler

Creation, starring Paul Bettany, details Darwin's "struggle between faith and reason" as he wrote On The Origin of Species. It depicts him as a man who loses faith in God following the death of his beloved 10-year-old daughter, Annie.


The film was chosen to open the Toronto Film Festival and has its British premiere on Sunday. It has been sold in almost every territory around the world, from Australia to Scandinavia.

However, US distributors have resolutely passed on a film which will prove hugely divisive in a country where, according to a Gallup poll conducted in February, only 39 per cent of Americans believe in the theory of evolution.

Movieguide.org, an influential site which reviews films from a Christian perspective, described Darwin as the father of eugenics and denounced him as "a racist, a bigot and an 1800s naturalist whose legacy is mass murder". His "half-baked theory" directly influenced Adolf Hitler and led to "atrocities, crimes against humanity, cloning and genetic engineering", the site stated.

The film has sparked fierce debate on US Christian websites, with a typical comment dismissing evolution as "a silly theory with a serious lack of evidence to support it despite over a century of trying".

Jeremy Thomas, the Oscar-winning producer of Creation, said he was astonished that such attitudes exist 150 years after On The Origin of Species was published.

"That's what we're up against. In 2009. It's amazing," he said.

"The film has no distributor in America. It has got a deal everywhere else in the world but in the US, and it's because of what the film is about. People have been saying this is the best film they've seen all year, yet nobody in the US has picked it up.

"It is unbelievable to us that this is still a really hot potato in America. There's still a great belief that He made the world in six days. It's quite difficult for we in the UK to imagine religion in America. We live in a country which is no longer so religious. But in the US, outside of New York and LA, religion rules.

"Charles Darwin is, I suppose, the hero of the film. But we tried to make the film in a very even-handed way. Darwin wasn't saying 'kill all religion', he never said such a thing, but he is a totem for people."

Creation was developed by BBC Films and the UK Film Council, and stars Bettany's real-life wife Jennifer Connelly as Darwin's deeply religious wife, Emma. It is based on the book, Annie's Box, by Darwin's great-great-grandson, Randal Keynes, and portrays the naturalist as a family man tormented by the death in 1851 of Annie, his favourite child. She is played in the film by 10-year-old newcomer Martha West, the daughter of The Wire star Dominic West.

Early reviews have raved about the film. The Hollywood Reporter said: "It would be a great shame if those with religious convictions spurned the film out of hand as they will find it even-handed and wise."

Mr Thomas, whose previous films include The Last Emperor and Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence, said he hoped the reviews would help to secure a distributor. In the UK, special screenings have been set up for Christian groups.


Charles Darwin film 'too controversial for religious America'

No one complains about religious movies or movies about religions, but they get their panties in a bunch about a movie about Evolution?

EDIT: Here's the trailer:



Looks to be more about his relationships with his family and friends than about Evolution. Although I am sure that won't stop people from saying this movie promotes godlessness.

 

No doubt.

 

This is a pity. Far from contradicting the Bible, I see Evolution as a study of the brush-strokes of the Great Artist. The approach much of the modern Church has taken to this is on par with the approach the Catholics took to Gallileo and the Sol-centric theory! It's encouraging to see this is only a fear in the US, but it's discouraging to see that the lack of it is chalked up to the non-religious nature of other countries' populations (indicating no more religious understanding of the theory there, just less religion to challenge it). I'm curious, though, whether there was actually any US uproar (aside from some online chatter) or whether the simple fear of such an uproar killed the distribution in the US?

 

Scalzi

Jesus Camp and Religulous had distributors, and I sort of doubt they're less offensive to crazy fundie sensibilities than Darwin.

 

Charles Darwin is a heretic. The world is 5000 years old. The Holy Bible is literally true, and contains all the answers.

An illustrative example for this outlandish world view is this sermon [mp3] and this sermon [mp3] by baptist preacher Steve Anderson. I don't know what I found scarier, him poking fun at science, or his audience supportively laughing.

 

I'm really surprised at this, because I believe there's a lot of Americans who would want to see this film. I don't know if I'd bother, but that would just be because I'm cheap and not because of religious opposition. I don't have any religious opposition to the film, theory, or the man, to be honest.

But there's no law forcing any distribution company to pick up and promote the film. Their loss of profits, I suppose. SOMEBODY's gonna get copies of the film and sell them in the States and make a financial killing.

 

I don't believe any of this for a second.

Woah, I better clarify, I don't believe for a second that there isn't an American distributor because Americans don't believe in evolution. This was just an attempt to rile up people, generate interest, and increase the amount of money the eventual distributor will pay for the movie.

 

As you can read in Saber's spoiler, Charles Darwin has been made into a caricature. An immoral, evil atheist who was responsible for "atrocities, crimes against humanity, cloning and genetic engineering".
From a scientific viewpoint, the personal life of the man was largely irrelevant. But those who see him as an evildoer don't want him to be recognized as a human being.
I happen to have it on good authority (a professor who did a study into Darwin the person) that he was indeed a racist. But it was normal at the time, so it fits entirely with the picture that he was just a flawed human being. Karl Marx was a sexist, meaning it was hypocritical of him to even talk about equality. Darwin was just another imperfect human, one who made a major contribution to our understanding of the world.

When these distributor speak of controversy, they mean they don't want the movie to be distributed. You can laugh because I jump to conspiracy theory here, but I think the owners of distribution companies also have a vested interest in keeping public perception of Darwin as it is.

 

Tal, looking at the other polls in there, I don't think they're really representative. I don't think the general US opinion shifts that much in a few years, and I definitely don't believe the polls that present the 'unsure' category as single digit. I'm also a little surprised by the poll that says 60+% of Americans believe it's possible to believe in both God and Evolution.

All in all, those polls don't really line up, and none of them have very good sample sizes for a national poll. Also realize that crafting a truely unbiassed poll question (or, in reverse, crafting biassed ones) is a fine art that requires a lot of careful work (I know, my wife took several courses on polling and surveys). I'd guess that, at best, those polls were written by a reporter or someone with similarly nil psychological training.

 

I guess I'm part of the 1/4 of weekly churchgoers who believe the theory of evolution is true. I thought there were more mainline Catholics & Protestants (who I suspect represent a good portion of this group) in the US. Interesting that the majority (slight) of near weekly-to monthly attendees do (a good sign IMO).

One of the things I get a kick out of is that 1/4 of non-churchgoers don't believe the theory of evolution is taking place..... would these be Creationist Atheists?

I've discussed things online with what are arguably Fundamentalist Atheists but they have more problems with history than biology-which is where Fundamentalist Christians often have issues.

 

Did you even read my post as I can't figure out why you responded in such a way?

I believe this entire thing is a marketing scheme and they will find a distributor who will release it to art theatres. I watched the preview and it didn't seem to fit the mold for a nationwide release.

 

That is true, distributors could have just figured since a lot of the country is still very religious, it wouldn't make a bunch of money. It's a shame an indie company isn't even picking it up for limited release.

Another interesting thing relating to Darwin:

http://www.livingwaters.com/

Check out the video on the right - Origins Into School. On the 150 year anniversary of Darwin's book, they are giving away free copies of his book at the top 50 schools in America (including Tufts, where I attend). However, the book has a 50 page introduction (available here) that basically "debunks" it (and claims it caused the Holocaust). The video is disturbing though (the one on the left is also disturbing) because he insists that college-kids are being brainwashed by all of the crazy atheist psychologists and teachers.

 

I went through a couple of psychology classes in college and never felt they promoted atheism. Then again I don't feel the theory of evolution undoes the possibility of God.

I haven't read what they added to the intro yet but to blame the Holocaust on Darwin strikes me as unrealistic and extreme at first glance.

One thing about the preview for the movie this thread is about. It seemed to imply that Darwin turned atheist. I looked up wikipedia (and I admit it could be wrong) but it said he died an agnostic. I think there is a difference between the 2 and I'm not sure if the movie captures that correctly, but then again the preview may not portray the movie well enough.

 

I have to agree with what a couple of people said. It's very doubtful that *all* the distributors in the US were afraid to promote the movie because 25% of US citizens have a belief contrary to those of the film. C'mon, Religulous was showed in theaters!

Let's speculate : 75% of the population (39% who believe in evolution and 36% who don't know) are not against the evolution theory. That's a lot of people who will potentially view your film...

It doesn't make sens to me that the movie wouldn't be distributed. There are a whole lot of smaller independent distributors who could jump in the wagon. I tend to agree with Snook. It's in all likely hood a marketing thing...

 

You're right, Snook has a good point.

I cannot answer it firmly one way or another but a lot of films have made it to a theater with smaller target audiences than it is likely aiming for.

 

@NOG
I came from a deeply religious country, and we had no problem with Darwin and his theories. I think the topic issue has more to do with the religious approach of the churches in different countries rather than religion itself. Anyway the differences in perspective seem more environmental than innate. We've had American and European priests come here on occasion and most of them have ended up... "sobered", would be the best word for it.

 

You mean it's a movie for adults? What's missing from this picture?

 

Scythe,
you're Catholic then? Catholic doctrine in the past decades has developed towards an acceptance of science, expressing itself also in steps like the exculpation of Galileo from heresy.

Considering that it took the Catholic Church, a well organised body with a very considerable intellectual capacity and sophistication, a couple of hundred years to reconcile their doctrine with science, just think about how long it will take far less cerebral, decentralised 'grass roots' Literalist Fundamentalists, like the one I linked to, to follow suit. They will merrily spend many of their days waiting for Armageddon on denouncing Darwin's 'heresy'.