The Gospel Cinematic Universe

As I walked through Times Square and Jesus stared down at me from a giant illuminated billboard, I couldn’t help thinking of Marshall McLuhan. The Catholic father of media studies famously said that “The medium is the message.” What would he make of The Chosen, a show about the Gospels and Jesus’s public life, which will stream its fifth and most anticipated season in June? During Lent, when the season received an early theatrical release, images of the Last Supper adorned New York City’s taxis, subways, and billboards.

I never got into The Chosen. Many people have urged me to watch it over the past few years, but my previous experience of Christian media—such as God’s Not Dead and its endless sequels—had burned me out. But “This one is different,” a friend assured me. “It’s well made and has great character development.” So I relented.

I wish I hadn’t. Though The Chosen depicts the events of the Gospels with great care and often movingly, the extra-biblical material (which is most of the show) is a drag. The runtime is padded tremendously by secondary characters and made-up backstories, which play out in fifteen to twenty minute scenes. The cinematography adds no dynamism. The camera barely moves, as if the director were terrified of it.

None of this is really surprising. For obvious reasons, film and television often fail to depict religious material in a way that is pious without being stale. What is surprising is the show’s failure to separate itself from commercialization and triviality. The marketing of The Chosen turns the Gospels into a franchise property. Like Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit, season five was divided into a three-part movie event titled The Last Supper. Merchandise—everything from message hoodies (“Binge Jesus”) to tumblers to puzzles to children’s “adventure kits”—is available for purchase at gifts.thechosen.tv. The show’s YouTube channel features videos such as “A Slice of Life (& Pizza) with Judas Iscariot | The Spy Who Fed Me,” “Jesus Not Backing Down for 18 Minutes,” and “The Chosen Cast Plays ‘Never Have I Ever.’” The show’s actors have been making the rounds in right-leaning media. Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus, has formed a parasocial relationship with The Chosen’s Christian audience, giving speeches, doling out spiritual advice, and lending his voice to the Catholic app Hallow. Several spinoffs have been announced, including The Chosen in the Wild with Bear Grylls, in which the show’s actors and director join the famous survivalist in extreme conditions.

When McLuhan wrote his often-misconstrued aphorism, he meant that culture is recreated by the tools of communication by which it spreads. A message’s method of delivery affects its content, whether the source of that message intends it or not. The content of the gospel is affected irrevocably by the medium of film. By presenting the story of Christ in “Marvel” fashion—background music, cinematic pauses, and cliffhangers—The Chosen signals that the gospel is entertainment. But Christ is not a superhero.

Inevitably, to keep the gospel message appealing to a broad spectrum of Christians, the showrunners focus on what they imagine all can agree on. In Part Three of The Last Supper, the establishment of the Eucharist is accorded little importance compared to other events, such as the washing of the disciples’ feet. This emphasis avoids giving offense to sacrament-shy Protestants, but at the price of scanting Catholic sacramental theology.

The Chosen is far from the only production commercializing the gospel message. When it comes to new movies about the first Christmas, you’re spoiled for choice: Journey to Bethlehem, starring Antonio Banderas; Netflix’s Mary, starring Anthony Hopkins and directed by the acclaimed artist who brought you XXX: Return of Xander Cage; the upcoming Zero A.D. (produced by Angel Studios, of course). If these choices are too strong for your tykes, fear not. Your kids can watch The King of Kings, a cheaply animated film with a star-studded cast in which Charles Dickens tells the story of Jesus to his son. Or they might prefer The Star, in which cute animals help the Holy Family during the birth of Christ.

Some would argue that, whatever their imperfections, these shows and movies are valuable tools of evangelization. It is said that one-third of The Chosen’s 280 million viewers are not religious. But I would argue that the good they do in introducing non-believers to the gospel is outweighed by their distortions of the gospel narrative. Reading the Gospels is not—should not be—easy or entertaining. The sobriety of the written word challenges us. For the evangelists set down no fluff, only what God wanted us to hear.