Christianity in Noir

The noir genre calls explicitly for a departure from what Christian teaching deems “right” and moral. By their nature, noir works of fiction live in a world that Christianity does not exist, so when it ends up in a book or film, the contrast between the two worlds should be examined. In both Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song and the portion of Trick Baby that we read for Wednesday’s class, Christianity makes an appearance.

A notable similarity between Christianity’s role in Sweet Sweetback and Trick Baby is how they play a role in familiarizing the audience with the otherwise unrecognizable world of the margins. We have constantly hearkened back to this concept of the margins as at least partially defining noir. The reality of that part of society, though, is that it is known by relatively few. In a way, the foreign nature of it is part of the reason for the genres success – the audience is taken into a world that does not have the same rules and codes as they are used to. The appearance of Christianity brings the audience back towards a more familiar world. When Sweetback ends up back at a church, for example, the audience understands the setting better than when he visits the safe house of the biker gang or when he is in the brothel as a boy. Similarly, when Blue and White Folks encounter the man yelling about Jesus Christ, the audience meets their first familiar character. That is, people are generally more familiar with someone preaching and yelling about Jesus than they are with jewelry scammers.

An interesting point of contrast between both instances is how the preeminent Christian of each story treats the main character. In the case of Sweetback, he is turned away by the pastor who is worried that harboring the fugitive will get his parish and its rehab center shut down. Sweetback’s reception is one of unqualified rejection. Blue and White Folks are welcomed into the home of the Christian man though. Such obviously different receptions of criminals on the part of Christians appearing in these stories is certainly interesting because it makes one consider whether this perhaps sheds light on a difference of opinion on Christianity between the authors or if it is simply a narrative choice in each case that the authors felt was best for their respective stories. Personally, I believe it is the former, and I think that this is unfortunate because I think it points toward a larger view of Christianity that has taken hold of America in the last century. Sweetback’s rejection at the Church, if an intentional critique of churches by the author, indicates the rejection that the author believed someone like Sweetback would most likely receive. Such a belief stems from the natural imperfection of humanity that many call “hypocrisy” on the part of Christians because they wonder how could someone who claims to follow Christ reject someone in need like Sweetback. The Gospels make it clear that Jesus draws sinners and the poor close to him – he invites those who are weary to find rest in him.

While it is undeniably true that the living church on Earth falls short of this calling constantly, I think it is unfortunate that this is often used as an indictment on the church as a whole. Rather than allowing for the imperfection of the humans within Christianity, the attitude today seems to be something akin to throwing out the baby with the bath water. An obvious modern example is the sexual abuse scandal within Catholicism. Many have reacted to this scandal by writing off the Catholic Church as fully evil and without any merit. In reality, we are experiencing the imperfection of humanity as stewards of the faith that Christ left. The idea of Christianity as bearing no good fruit whatsoever seems, to me, to be the approach that the writer/director of Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song takes. While this may well be his lived experience, I remain hopeful that faith can make a comeback despite the imperfections of those who profess it, but do not live it.