Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame?

Gregorian12 · #1 Feb 24, '12, 5:43 pm

I watched this movie a while back and really enjoyed it. However, I have since been contemplating if the film is anti-Catholic or not. I have heard several perspectives on this. Some people say it is, some say it isn't, and others say it's actually pro-Christian. So, what's the genernal opinion by Catholics. I certainly don't want to watch something contrary to our faith.

followingtheway · #2 Feb 24, '12, 5:57 pm

I love it!

Gregorian12 · #3 Feb 24, '12, 6:07 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by followingtheway

I love it!

So do I! I thought it was a great film. I didn't think the rumors were true. I was just checking

.

Debora123 · #4 Feb 24, '12, 6:15 pm

You're always going to hear from people who are insulted or unhappy about anything and everything... even things that aren't remotely insulting at all. Watch the movie. It's good.

Allegra · #5 Feb 24, '12, 6:42 pm

I don't think there's anything that is anti-Catholic in the Disney version of the film, but I've heard that there is in other versions. Not having seen them, I can't really comment.

Kit15 · #6 Feb 24, '12, 6:52 pm

It was never my favorite but I...appreciate it and I'm more impressed with it as an adult than I was as a child. My husband and I discuss that one more than any other Disney animation withe the possible exception of Fantasia.

I know Frollo is a Catholic (albiet a very self-rightous and twisted one) but it could be worse. In the original novel, he is also the archdeacon.

Semper Zelare · #7 Feb 24, '12, 6:57 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gregorian12

I watched this movie a while back and really enjoyed it. However, I have since been contemplating if the film is anti-Catholic or not. I have heard several perspectives on this. Some people say it is, some say it isn't, and others say it's actually pro-Christian. So, what's the genernal opinion by Catholics. I certainly don't want to watch something contrary to our faith.

I love the film as well. I actually read the book because I liked it so much.

Anyways, in the book Frollo is actually a priest... and a very important one. He might've been a monsignor, I forget. I do remember that he was the superior to over 100 other priests in the book. But, in the movie he is some kind of judicial figure. And they portray the archdeacon of the Cathedral in a very positive light.

So... I'd say Disney went out of their way to not be anti-Catholic. Now... that means the movie is very loosely based off the book.

I hope it might get made into a movie again sometime in my lifetime. It's a very good story and the characters are very powerful/ compelling.

mandajane · #8 Feb 24, '12, 7:05 pm

I think it presented a good view of the Catholic church. Yes, the villian was a Minister Frollo, and though it appears he's a member of the clergy, he isn't (They never call him Father, or Bishop, or Cardinal). However, The examples of Catholics we do see are very human. The priest in the Notre Dame, and the Notre Dame itself, are portrayed as safe places throughout most of the film, so that at the end, when Minister Frollo leads the soldiers into the church, it offends the viewer. Any references to Catholicism in the movie are good ones.

**JharekCarnelian** · #9 Feb 26, '12, 9:24 am

And as usual Disney makes a sugary hash of the whole thing. Their animation is often technically excellent but when they adapt well-known works the results are often crnge worthy.

Marybeloved · #10 Feb 26, '12, 9:52 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gregorian12

I watched this movie a while back and really enjoyed it. However, I have since been contemplating if the film is anti-Catholic or not. I have heard several perspectives on this. Some people say it is, some say it isn't, and others say it's actually pro-Christian. So, what's the genernal opinion by Catholics. I certainly don't want to watch something contrary to our faith.

Anti-Catholic? It's very Marian. I watched it on you-tube recently (free of charge!

). The good people are the Priest/monk and the church itself (or the Madonna to whom it's dedicated) who punish the Pharisaical villain for killing the mother of the hunch-back. The church is where the innocents hide under pursuit by that evil ruler and are provided sanctuary and the priest is holy and compassionate and absolutely refuses to let the authorities take those who have sought sanctuary inside Notre Damme.

Perhaps, I've forgotten, but I don't recall anti-Catholicism in it.

**JharekCarnelian** · #11 Feb 26, '12, 10:01 am

The book and the movie differ hugely.That said Victor Hugo was capable of portraying both saintly and less than saintly Catholi clergy in his works and never suggested that clergy as a whole were always one or the other.

Chabambou · #12 May 13, '12, 9:16 pm

I read on wikipedia the article on Frollo and skipped to the Disney part. Apparently he is supposed to be a 'symbol' of religious hypocrisy. Yet, there was no reference for that statement. So I guess it's 'wik-inaccurate', as I term it

mom2em · #13 May 13, '12, 9:23 pm

I like it. I like most Disney animations. If anything just for animation alone. But I didn't find anything too terrible about it. I could probably stand to see it again and might just do that tomorrow. I bought it for my daughter and I last summer and we've watched it a couple of times together. I vaguely remember liking the song the gypsy sings once she claimed sanctuary. I've never read the book though!!! Going to see if perhaps I can find it on ibooks or kobo!!

**Dale_M** · #14 May 13, '12, 10:29 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by JharekCarnelian

The book and the movie differ hugely.

Yes, although I haven't read the book, I did see the film. There was no mention at all of football! No one played it, or even talked about it. How can you title a film The Hunchback of Notre Dame and not say something about the position he played??

Besides, the film had a happy ending. I don't think that was in the book.

Quote:

Originally Posted by JharekCarnelian

That said Victor Hugo was capable of portraying both saintly and less than saintly Catholic clergy in his works and never suggested that clergy as a whole were always one or the other.

Yes, although I haven't read Les Misérables (okay, okay... I am deficient on my reading of the classics

) I did hear occasional episodes of a reading which was broadcast on the radio. As I recall, Bishop Myriel is one of the outstanding good guys of the novel.

**JharekCarnelian** · #15 May 14, '12, 1:44 am

Bishop Myriel is based on a real clergyman as I recall. It's a shame that in most adaptions we only see his encounter with Jean when he forgives him for stealing the household silver. Then again the way Victor Hugo wrote is not always easy to translate to other mediums as he goes on long, long digressions in the book for many pages at a time where he details someone's life or the history of a region. A famous example is when he spends a number of pages detailing the history of the Parisian criminal underworld's secret argot and tells you how that secret language may have evolved and how some of it works.