Oh, Shit. "The Chosen" Might Actually Be Pretty Good.

Jesus is always political, and contemporary Christian media is always bad in the 21st century. Unless...

Image via IMDB

I’ve seen a lot of Christian media. I watch the profane, the pure, the Christian-made, the secular-made, the cheesy, the authentic, the modern, the overly edgy, the ancient… almost anything I can stomach. (Sorry, I couldn’t watch God’s Not Dead or Sound of Freedom, even for science.) Whether it’s music, dance, performance art, visual art, movies, books, TV shows… contemporary Christian media (as in, made by Christian producers and studios and people who create clean, marketable, Christian content under an explicit Christian label) is… well, bad.

It’s a wonder that our dominance of art and music from earlier centuries has become something so horrifically sterile and soulless, built for censors and not for real people — but that’s American evangelical capitalism for you. Art exists only for profit, and people want spoon-fed similarities. They don’t want to be provoked or forced into thinking about something new.

But when I visit my parents, I always indulge myself by watching something they want to watch. It’s their house, first of all, and it’s one of the ways they like to unwind (and boy, with my mom being in a cast for the holidays and a growing, always loud, always chaotic family, we sure did need it) and it’s an excellent way for us to bond over innocuous things. I enjoy these moments with my parents, who live nine hours away in Nashville. It’s like a look into their lives that I don’t get to see since I’m not there.

Previously, I’ve watched the CSI reboot (did you know there was one?) and other procedural dramas, which always make me nostalgic for my parents. Last year, I watched the new Top Gun while my dad explained every trick in the movie. They’re not nerdy parents. They don’t watch science or fantasy, and my sister and I have our uncles to thank for our interest in these topics, not our parents. They like pretty much the most basic American boomer television out there. But I can set aside my thoughts on policing and the U.S. and militarism to be an average person and watch something with my parents.

So when they had me watch The Chosen, I expected another super cheesy, clearly conservative-coded piece of Christian media produced by some idiot assholes who make a billion dollars for crap art with saccharine dialogue and poorly produced… everything. Always eager to prove to my parents that I am a “real Christian” (yes, I’m still insecure even though I’m proud and confident and unapologetic), I hopped on board. I expected something like Mark Burnett and Roma Downey’s The Bible series.

This time, though, my assumptions were wrong.

Now listen, I watch a lot of TV. Like, I pretty much treat TV the way Letterboxed people treat film. I watch too much of it, and I’ve seen almost all of the big dramas, animated comedies, and quality sitcoms. And yeah, The Chosen is… high-quality TV. Is it clean TV? Sure, mostly. It’s Christian-produced. There’s no swearing or nudity or sex or vulgarity. But it doesn’t matter: it’s still good. And maybe even (a little) progressive. Really.

I tried not to look anything up about the creators because I knew I’d just end up disappointed by their inevitably conservative beliefs and maybe things they said about it. But… from what I’ve seen, it’s not like that. Many of the people involved in the making of the series have been accused of having Mormon and Catholic influences. (For instance, I don’t think James is considered the IRL brother of Jesus in the show, while we Protestants believe he is) but most of them seem to just be evangelical.

There was also, however, a minor controversy when a behind-the-scenes photo showed someone involved in making the show had a rainbow flag on their belongings. Did the creators totally denounce that person when it happened? Nope, they just said they had various people with various beliefs working on The Chosen. That’s probably as good as it’s gonna get for Christian-produced media. (And, no matter what people say, more and more mainstream Christians, especially younger ones, are pro-LGBTQ.)

I’m only halfway through the second season now. The vibe and pacing are incredible. The actors are unknown; many (including the actor playing Jesus) have Middle Eastern heritage. The dialogue has modern sensibilities with Biblical and ancient historical references. Everything feels authentic, and it’s like being taken into the real-time’ real-time location. Even if it weren’t for the divine miracles and the fact that this is literally my religion, I’d love watching the show for its realistic portrayals of what life was like for Jews until Roman occupation.

And, something else I appreciate about it? It presents gender issues as they were. Sometimes I worry that liberal (usually, newly exvangelical) theologians try to make it seem like because Jesus was a radical who included women, things in the Bible were super progressive. They weren’t! Things have sucked for many women around many cultures in many time periods, including this one! We see how women are treated in the culture, but women are still essential to Jesus’ ministry in the show — as they were likely in the Bible. They go out of their way to tell women’s stories, show women’s duties, and show women subverting those duties and tropes against cultural norms… without making it seem historically inaccurate.

The show could get worse, I know. I don’t think the series is over yet — I don’t think Jesus has been crucified yet. And when he is, will they continue? I’d LOVE to see the adventures of Paul and the apostles after the ascension, but I’m not sure if they will continue going that route or end it at that moment. Will the show be more like The Passion of the Christ, where the violence is the point? The Romans (the literal ruling authority!) get off scot-free while Pharisees alone are considered the evil baddies… or will it continue portraying the Romans as the fascist, colonizing, imperial force that they were while they egged along Pharisees and religious hypocrites? (I particularly like the depiction of Nicodemus in The Chosen. By the way, don’t forget that a lot of discussion around Pharisees from modern Christians is antisemitic.)

I can’t ignore the fact that the setting is intense, too. There aren’t any anglo-white people, which is excellent, but it’s all reminiscent of… the Middle East, which, of course, makes me think of Palestine amid its devastation right now. The Chosen was actually shot in Texas and Utah, but they do a pretty good job (in my opinion — I’ve never been to the Middle East) making it look authentic to the region.

The conversations in the show aren’t just about “go and sin no more,” which is the rallying cry of all Jesus movies. There’s one discussion where one of the James’, whose actor has cerebral palsy and scoliosis in real life, asks another disciple why Jesus would heal others but not him. I love that they’re not afraid to bring up difficult topics. That’s probably my biggest gripe with Christian media: no nuance, no authenticity, no realism.

I wouldn’t call this a progressive series, and I’m not sure if non-Christians would enjoy the show the way that I, a Christian theology and history nerd, do. But it’s been meaningful to me that I can watch a show about Jesus, someone I’m a big fan of, and not want to cringe and throw up. I look forward to watching the rest of The Chosen.

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Now, onto some other less fun business… Substack is becoming a platform increasingly known for hosting Nazi-level writers. I’m no saint regarding ethical consumption, whether it’s media or purchases. Still, I’ve been told of a platform called Ghost where they move over your subscribers, paid subscribers, content, format, and everything… but you (me, not you) have to pay for the service. I make about $25 a month total from Substack, maybe a little more. It’s something I do primarily as an outlet and in hopes that I can one day make a living writing about the things I want to write about.

I’m in the middle of renovating my house, which I just bought. We are struggling with finances and have dropped almost all our savings. I just took on a new part-time editor position, which pays hardly anything. I’m unsure if you get to keep your Substack link (which I have posted EVERYWHERE). I don’t know if it’s worth it to me to have to PAY for Ghost. The only people I see preaching about “Switch to Ghost, don’t support Nazis!” are people with substantial followings and, I assume, income.

However, I don’t want to lose subscribers or potential subscribers because I chose to stay on Substack because it’s easier, and I don’t want to do the wrong thing when I have other valid options. Sure, all online platforms are flawed and problematic and, at some level, unsafe for LGBTQ+ or POC… but I don’t know. What do you think?