Iesha Javed

[Your Name] [Instructor Name] [Course Number] [Date] The portrayal of Jewish People in The Passion of the Christ The movie The Passion of the Christ portrays the Jewish people at the time of Jesus in a manner that has evoked several allegations of anti-Semitism. Firstly, most of the Jews are depicted as either being loyal to the clergy and hence a party to the crucifixion or playing along as mute spectators. While the Jewish clergy are show to be wearing expensive garments adorned with Roman designs, the commoners are depicted wearing simple looking middle eastern robes. The language spoken by the people in the movie is Latin, which is actually historically incorrect since the Jewish people at the time spoke Koine Greek, which was a common street language of Jews and Non-Jews under the Roman. In fact, it has been claimed that by using symbolism that depicts the Jewish people as distinct from other groups in the movie, the movie ties to deliberately sever the ties between the communities which were otherwise living in a more homogenous society. In fact, the inscription on the Cross, ‘Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews’ is shown written in Aramaic instead of Greek, which was a common language of the time. Further, the portrayal of several Jewish characters as evil throughout the movie as well as the high priest’s manipulative ways with Pontius Pilate, seeks to reinforce several prejudices held against the Jewish people such as their alleged materialistic, wicked and hypocritical nature. Also, as far as the origins of Christianity are concerned, the movie seems to hint at the idea that Christianity replaced Judaism as God’s religion. The earthquake following the resurrection that causes a crack in the temple of Jerusalem is used to signify the end of the synagogue and the beginning of the rule of the church. Thus the movie seeks to enforce a Christian supremacist viewpoint as well as the idea that the Jewish people earned the curse of Jesus’s resurrection.