Vatican II Goes to Hollywood: Cinema, Conscience, and Ecumenism in the 1960s
In 1967, Fred Zinnemann's A Man for All Seasons swept the Academy Awards and received the first joint film award between the National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures (NCOMP, formerly the Legion of Decency) and the National Council of Churches. One year later, Michael Anderson's The Sho...
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
American Catholic Historical Society
2021
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| In: |
American catholic studies
Year: 2021, Volume: 132, Issue: 4, Pages: 27-46 |
| IxTheo Classification: | CD Christianity and Culture KAJ Church history 1914-; recent history KBQ North America KCC Councils KDB Roman Catholic Church KDJ Ecumenism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | In 1967, Fred Zinnemann's A Man for All Seasons swept the Academy Awards and received the first joint film award between the National Catholic Office for Motion Pictures (NCOMP, formerly the Legion of Decency) and the National Council of Churches. One year later, Michael Anderson's The Shoes of the Fisherman incorporated actual footage of Vatican II's closing ceremony while pursing the storyline of a progressive pope with remarkable ecumenical and interreligious acumen. Euphoric Catholic bishops quickly met the ire of secular and Protestant critics. The Academy Awards rejected the film, and joint awards between Catholics and Protestants later ceased altogether. What caused this shift in American ecumenical collaboration? This article analyzes the cultural reception of Vatican II through the lens of Hollywood and its explicit agenda to seize the "ecumenical outlook" of the council for stories on the screen. Expanding the scholarship of Anthony Burke Smith and Colleen McDannell, it charts the untold story of Hollywood's interest in the council. This story recovers memos, scripts, and letters from the Academy's archives in Beverly Hills and the NCOMP's archives in Washington, DC. Overall, it demonstrates the intersection of ecumenism and secularism in postconciliar American culture. |
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| ISSN: | 2161-8534 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: American catholic studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1353/acs.2021.0059 |