Once a Bride, Always a Bridesmaid
Oscar has sorted the sheep from the goats, and throughout LA the sound of horns in traffic is drowned out by weeping and gnashing of teeth. But for best supporting actress nominee Michelle Williams, the only thing worse than losing the Oscar might have been earning a nomination.
Why? Because according to some, it may have cost the poor girl her soul!
The problem lies in the movie in which Williams chose to play a virginal bride: Brokeback Mountain. A film about gay cowboys may have won praise among more liberal folk, but to the principal of Williams' Christian alma mater her association with this movie is nothing short of an abomination. Quoth Jim Hopson, the principal of Santa Fe Christian high school:
"Michelle doesn't represent the values of this institution. We would not approve of her movies and TV shows (including the teen drama “Dawson's Creek”). We'd not like to be tied to 'Brokeback Mountain.'"
For certain Christians, this open condemnation of Williams is serious stuff. In the New Testament the only unpardonable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which many believe is apostasy. Within this community, to be a believer and then fall away into open worldly unbelief is not merely backsliding. It can be a sign that the person was never truly a member of the church--the bride of Christ.
What does this have to do with the Blingdom? Glad you asked!
Perhaps the most incisive portrayal of the spiritual politics of Christian high school is the movie Saved!, the source of "Christian Jewel" pin pictured here. In the film, "Christian Jewels" is the name of the Christian girl band that is the ultimate in-crowd at the local Christian school, and receiving this pin is a sign that you are indeed one of Jesus' most chosen few. However, when one of the group's members seems to lose her faith, her Christian Jewel pin is taken away--and with it, the certainty that she was ever one of the elect.
Like Michelle Williams, the writer/director of Saved! is a Christian high school graduate. While many Christians also condemn him, at least one teen interviewer at Christianity Today actually thinks this movie "nailed it."
Having attended public school myself I'll leave this debate to the experts--what I really want to know is how to find a way to add this unique piece of movie bling to my collection. Good thing for me that "unpardonable sin" doesn't refer to breaking the Tenth Commandment!
EXTRA: The Eleventh Commandment