Fair representation in entertainment for religion always seems to be overlooked! I mean, maybe i prefer people to just avoid religion in books than to make it a main theme and misrepresent it, but if authors care about equal rep for the LGBTQA+ community, why can’t they care about correct religious rep too? But honestly it’s amazing how. misinformed. people. are. I’m not Catholic, but I can think of so many Catholic character that are mis-portrayed now that you’ve mentioned it. And not just that, but characters from other Christian religions too. I often get squeamish when a book mentions a character that lives my own Christian denomination because we have a history of being brutally attacked in literature and the stereotypes are just WILD now (it’s upsetting when handled incorrectly). But it doesn’t stop there either—people of ANY religion are being attacked and misrepresented in literature on purpose, including Muslims, Jews, etc.
Thanks for this post, Nicole! The entertainment world really needs to hear people speak out for correct rep of religion. :|

Oh, this post!!! I agree, it's really sad that this is happening!! Why??!! Really good points, Nicole.

Oh, you were talking about the 2018 Robin Hood, that makes sense. I claim to be sort of an expert (more like just someone who is a little obsessed) on the legend of Robin Hood because I've seen or read 11 different versions. I agree, the 2018 one bugged me (But I was in the theater and didn't have anything to throw). The aesthetic and cinematography was kind of cool, but the whole idea and moral of Robin Hood went downhill. Definitely not my favorite, but sad to say, not my least favorite either. In the books especially, Robin Hood does everything in the names of Our Lord, and Our Lady. He brings Friar Tuck into the merry men so that he will help them to pray and be good men. Other books/movies that I can think of with priests: Les Miserables (He is a key element, though not in it for very long), and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. With Robin Hood and THoND there are members of the clergy not shown in a good light. At first I struggled with this, but then I realized that they represent the Pharisees. They show that greed, pride, and other types of sin are in all of us, but there are good members of the clergy to counteract them. Robin Hood never steals from people who love and honor God with all of their hearts.

You know what is really sad about this? Like everything, I have to go back to classics to find these things. It would be awesome if newer books would show us Catholics in a fair way. Sorry for the monster comment!

I'm not Catholic and I don't know much about it, but I feel like Catholicism is really misunderstood even by other Christians. Like, everybody focuses on Mary and ignores the fact that Catholics love Jesus! I've known several Catholic bloggers, you being one of them of course, and they're always talking about how much Jesus means to them. Again, that's just my very limited perception of the matter... but I feel like Catholics are viewed pretty unfairly.

Religion and Christianity DEFINITELY needs some better representation in media. It's like it's either portrayed in a way that shows us way more lenient than we should be, or totally stiffnecked and boring. *joins you with an eyeroll emoji*

theonesthatreallymatter.blogspot.com

I NOTICED that in Strange the Dreamer. Although, in fairness to the book, I'm not sure if it would have bothered me a ton if not for the fact that EVERY OTHER YA BOOK DOES THIS. Orphanages could be pretty miserable places...But why are monks always evil in YA?

And it really gets to me when someone takes a medieval legend, when the original writers were obviously coming from a medieval Christian worldview, and then proceeds to portray all the religious people as evil. And I think the original Robin Hood legends (if I'm remembering correctly, I barely remember the story) DO deal with church corruption, because the story dealt with societal corruption in general, but from what you're describing, that movie sounds like they handled it awfully.

And it is so hard to find books that deal with religions other than Christianity. I can probably count all the books that have done that on one hand, and I've read lot of books. Anyway, religion in YA is something I've been thinking about for a while! Great post!

Ahhhh I'm totally going to get you to be one of my sensitivity readers when I get to writing my his-fic book so I can make sure I get the Catholic rep okay <3 I'm not Catholic myself, but I understand your pain here. For sure. (I do really love the Catholic priest in Scorpio Races! He's a very good and empathetic character, even if his role is kinda small, if I'm remembering correctly).

I will say that the Southern Baptist sex scandals have been a major deal, and so have a lot of individual Protestant pastors whose scandals have gotten out? I've heard a lot about the Catholic stuff, but also plenty about Protestants, so it might depend on where you're seeing your news *shrugs*

This was an excellent post! You never need to feel bad about ranty posts xD <3

Very well-written rant, Nicole! It's sad that the media is portraying Catholics in this way. Christianity and anything related to it seems to be getting a bad rap. :/ I'm disappointed, but I'm also not surprised - this is how God said in His Word that the world would be and become. He's coming soon. 💛 And thank God that, as Clare pointed out above, there ARE gems out there with really good representation! :D

Great post!!!

FAIR REPRESENTATION FTW!!!

Ugh, yes. I agree with EV-ER-Y-THING you said in this post, Nicole. #CatholicBloggerBuddy :D I (fortunately) have not seen any of the shows you mentioned, and that turned out to be a good thing when I read this post. I am so SICK of the movies and media feeding us stuff like "Oh yes, diversity is SOOOOOOOO needed. Include everyone! *rainbows* Make everyone feel like they belong! *confetti* And hey. No bashing anyone else. *sparkles* Everyone have a cupcake--BUT ALL THE CATHOLICS ARE EVIL AND ARE GOING TO HELL--AND NOT EVEN IN A HANDBASKET. RAWR *flames and darkness*"

Um.
No.

Either they're stupid, or they REALLY don't realize what a turn-off it is to see one's religion bashed like that. That really ruins a movie/book for us being misrepresented, even if it's only a small portion of said movie/book.

So maybe this was a ranty/over-reactive comment, but heck. Ya know? Venting is good in moderation.

:D

other denominations definitely have their scandals *nods* but I don't even follow news so I can't say how much they cover haha!! I only hear all this stuff from the Relevant website. I'm so sorry that we've done a poor job representing Catholics in fiction. one Catholic friend really liked The Scorpio Races, though - I cannot remember what the rep was, but the mc was Catholic and my friend thought it was great :)) especially cos it was secular ya. to make you feel better, even tho I'm not Catholic I love Christian nonfiction by Catholics <3 been trying to read more of it - so hit me with recs, if you have any!!

1. Don't apologize for ranting if it's intelligent and good ;)

I'm not catholic, but I agree with you. Except I've actually been reading some books that portray Catholics in a more realistic, mostly positive way. Ender books by Orson Scott Card. And the original Robin Hood of legend was a DEVOTED Catholic. But I don't like the new version of Robin Hood at all ;/

As for scandals, Christians actually get them a lot. And there was a huge one among the writing (christian) industry recently that made me pretty sad ;/

keturahskorner.blogspot.com

Weeeelllll heeyyyyy I really know next to nothing about the Catholic faith but what you just said, it makes a whole lotta sense. I get angry every time I hear something like this, misrepresenting a certain group or minority or nationality or whatever just because... why? It doesn't make any sense. Why would you do that? It's ridiculous and petty and stereotypical and lame and cruel. For a world of people who claim to want shared representation and equal rights for everyone, they sure have an interesting definition of the term "everyone."

Yeah, it's totally not cool. I've experienced this type of righteous anger before (for different reasons, of course), and bigotry is not cool.

I also don't know anything about the new Robin Hood movie, so yeah. xD I do love the original legends of Robin Hood, in which, as Keturah pointed out above, Hood IS a devout Catholic! And Friar Tuck is real cool! Now everything you've been saying about all this is starting to tick me off too-- yeesh. Some people. I mean, there are bad Catholics out there, just like there are bad people of any other Christian denomination or religion or whatever, but there are good people out of all that too! You know... ^^

Yeah... mini-ranting here. Sorry.

Speaking of Catholicism, I'm curious about it and would love to know more about the Catholic faith. I don't think I know anyone else who's Catholic... so may I ask you some questions about it, Nicole? :)

I hate when books and media do that. It makes everyone look bad.

Wow, fabulous post, Nicole! I so agree with you--I've met so many non-Catholics who have mistaken beliefs about the faith, just because they've been exposed to media that clouds or warps the truth! I'm hoping that we'll be able to achieve fair literary representation for all religions and cultures, Christian or otherwise.

Have you seen the new Tolkien movie? I have not, but I do hear that it glosses over the fact that Tolkien was raised by a Catholic priest--although I'm not going to say anything more until I see the movie myself. :)

It's so hard to find good catholic books!
The friars in Shakespeare's plays tend to be good and helpful! (Though they also usually use "Well have you tried faking your death?" as a solution to everything...at least in the two plays I've read with friars...)

I watched Pan awhile ago and the nuns were AWFUL. I hated it and ended up getting up and walking away. Every nun I've met was just the sweetest person ever!
Bad priests and nuns should be the abnormal character, not the most common ones.
I wish people would just write catholics as normal characters and put them in contemporary novels. LET THEM BE NICE, NORMAL PEOPLE!

I'm a little late to this post but oh my gosh, I 100% agree!! Thank you for this! The only Catholic I can think of that has been portrayed correctly (let me add, in most of the adaptions) is Nightcrawler from the X-Men. I've always appreciated that in all the shows and movies they never took his faith from him. It may not be 100% accurate all the time, but I always appreciate that they do make it clear he is Catholic. In one of the movies he's even seen and heard praying to God and no one tries to take that from him. But other than that, yeah, most movies and TV shows show Christianity in a very bad light and it's sad. :( Like you said we're either portrayed poorly or in cheesy, overly done Christian movies.

www.melodypersonetteauthor.blogspot.com

I agree. While I'm not Catholic (I am a Christian and was raised in a pretty liberal Protestant household) it's always frustrating to see people stereotyped. The parents of the MC in my book are Catholics, and totally cruel but they're just bad PEOPLE. Her siblings, the priest and her first boyfriend are all Catholic and wonderful and kind people. But, yes, I noticed that (in YA especially. It's not in Middle-Grade as much, I don't think....).
But great post.
fAiR RePrEsEnTaTiOn PlEaSe.

Yes!
Thanks, Nicole. I think that people can be good and bad regardless of religion or political standing. And the publishing industry should show more of.
Some MG books do but they tend to explore less controversial or intense topics. Although, honestly, how would religion be too intense???
yEs!!!