Will the Expelled film “flop” like Bella did?

_{Denyse O'Leary

April 23, 2008

Expelled}

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Would you go to see a film about a pregnant New York waitress from a deprived background – estranged from her family, dumped by her lover, fired for being late, and about to arrange an abortion? Really?

If you said no, you would certainly be affirmed in your decision by critics at the top Entertainment sections.

But then Bella stunned film mavens by winning the Toronto Film Festival People’s Choice Award. Audiences have since made Bella a popular, award-winning – and well-rewarded – movie.

There is currently an enormous cultural divide between elite culture and popular culture in North America, and film’s future rests with popular culture. To understand what will happen next for Expelled, ignore the derision of the elite; note whether people “with jobs” go see the film.

Denyse O’Leary looks at what happened with Bella here at the ID Arts site.

Comments

Western Catholic Reporter (May 28, 2007):
The media portrayal of Hispanics in general demeaned both men and women, resembling nothing like the dignity and beauty of his mother and sisters in Mexico.
But leave it to such unbiased professional "critics" like Gary Goldstein Tom Long Lisa Schwarzbaum Desson Thompson and Stephen Holden to hone in on the positive contribution that the film Bella strives to make towards that end. JPCollado

Bella is almost five stars in Netflix (a great accomplishment given the rating of other "great" films). It's so popular, it's been in my waiting list for more than four weeks now. JPCollado

Denyse (off topic) This BBC radio programme may interest you (you can listen on the web). It's a discussion about the history and ideas of materialism (there are pros and antis among the contributors). You might find it all 'old hat', but I enjoyed it. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/inourtime.shtml duncan

ERuess, I think that in North America there is probably a huge overlap between average persons with a job and Christians. ;) O'Leary

I have a feeling that the average person "with a job" doesn't actually care much about this issue and that the audience will continue to be predominantly Christians alarmed by Darwinism. Question is - how many of those are there?! :) ERuess

Bella was a good movie. : ) Atom

I have already seen this film once, and because I support the film's message, I have invited a group of about 10 people from my church to see it with me again this Friday. If the film hangs around, I think we may issue a general invitation for the rest of our congregation to go see the movie. I don't know if this is a common practice for other films, but I think it is a strength of the movie that it has an automatic audience in houses of worship. russ

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