by cedars 64 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
So true about large, prob. flannel, plaid shirt with tie. It is not a cowboy accent, either. A regular, boring tie. He could have used a wife.
I can't recall the details. How did Freddie Franz' family become Witnesses? Was he close to Bethel geographically growing up?
Reading his first book was a major turning point in my life. I already left but the inner information was awesome.
How did Freddie Franz' family become Witnesses? Was he close to Bethel geographically growing up?
Band on the run- to you mean Freddie or Ray? I have no idea how Fred Granz grew up, and I don't really care TBH, but there's a bit of background on Ray's family in Crisis of Conscience. His father, mother and sister were all in the truth and involved in witnessing campaigns in the 40s that were dreamt up by Hayden Covington as a way of provoking persecution (bizarrely enough). Ray ended up in a prison cell as a teenager on more than one occasion through these "shock and awe" witnessing drives. That was even before he went to Gilead, and ended up in the caribbean dodging bullets during political unrest before being invited to bethel. The guy had a colorful life to say the least!
"based on a true story" you can add all kinds of action. including fragging the governing body with a grenade before the credits appear.
I thought I'd share a video to maybe try to inspire some of the more negative among you (not the I blame you for being negative, it's how we're trained to think). It's a poor trailer, but it's for a truly brilliant film, one of my all-time favourites. I hope you can see the metaphor...
"Two hundred and fifty??! You're crazy, you ought to be locked up... 250 guys just walkin' down the road, just like that...??"
cedars: I don't think I'm too negative on this but I think more realistic about the topic. If you can get something that would outrage the viewer, bring out some sort of reaction out of the general public you might have something. Ray's life was typical JW life - boring. I didn't read ScenicViewer's when I posted the original and reading it doesn't change the fact that we're talking about a cult that nobody cares about. Sports are huge in the US so you can sell tickets just based on that fact with a bit of a story you can make a hero out of nobody. Religion is a bit difficult subject to approach unless you can spice it up, outrage the viewer or bring out some sort of feeling out. Maybe a story about a child abuse victim, raised to JWs who was abused by an elder who wasn't kicked out because of two witness rule while wts ignored the problem.....the child takes it to court and fights the big wealthy cult.....win or gets screwed over by the cult. That might work, but Ray's life was too simple for a movie. Documentary might work but not a movie based on true story unless you spice it up a lot. Just my opinion but if there is someone that wants to make a go at it, I wish them all the best.
Thanks diamondiiz, I apologise for calling you "negative"!! That was unkind. I just think that movies on a whole range of subjects other than crime and love become successful, and Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code proved that both readers and film audiences alike will embrace the subject of religious intrigue if it is done a certain way. Ray's life was by no means boring when you re-read COC purely from a biographical perspective. The real challenge of writing the screenplay is that of portraying the doctrinal issues in a simple way that audiences will understand and engage with - THAT's the real challenge. Otherwise, who are we to say what topics make a good movie? A religious organisation that calls at the homes of every family in the free world has just as much right to have a blockbuster movie made about it than any other subject, and Ray Franz's experience would be the perfect introduction for any layperson who wants to know what all the fuss is about, IMHO.
Humour is a powerful tool, maybe something along the lines of the Musical " The Book of Mormon" would be good. If only we could get some good writers, no disrespect Cedars, but writing a Musical is very specialist.
But oh, it would be so much fun if someone did !
I think a movie like that could be successful if it focused on the treason part. The fact that the man had everything (was on top of a huge organization, could fly anywhere, was admired, etc). To loosing everything: no retirement plan, no savings, nothing. Just for questioning some doctrinal teachings that in the end, should not be deal breakers.
A movie like this would blow the WTS out of the water. The world would learn more about the workings of the org. than the rank and file ever knew. There is enough personal information in both CoC and In Search... to make this an excellent and revealing personal drama that would have just about every viewer siding with a good little guy with a real conscience facing a loveless, conscienceless Goliath organization .
