blog # 3

I believe the movie “Saved “ was a very well done comedy that tries to teach its viewers that everyone is different and that you should accept people for who they are and not try to change them or force your own views on them. It does this through its use of stereotypes and labels which the movie exaggerates in order to make the viewer see how wrong and unnecessary it really is to use such devices. Andre tells us that a stereotype is “a conventional, formulaic, and usually oversimplified conception, opinion, or belief; a person, group, event or issue considered to typify or conform to an unvarying pattern.” This idea is personified in the character of Hillary Faye. She is the stereotypical “crazy Christian” that sees everything as black and white and believes that anyone who does not share the same view is a blasphemer and as she put it “a heathen”. The main character is an average Christian girl who learns that not everything is black and white as Hillary Faye says and tries to find balance. Meanwhile Hillary Faye is constantly trying to fit her into a category based on who she hangs out with and her changing behavior and at one point even tries to change her back into her views through the radical approach of performing an exorcism. So I think that this film is not about stereotypes but about our own behaviors towards others and our beliefs of right and wrong, which the movie portrays through the use of stereotypes. I believe that this message is most seen in the end of the movie when the gay ex-boyfriend crashes the prom and Mary tries to convince the Pastor that he should be allowed to stay. She says the message of the film when she states “why would God have made us all so different, if he wanted us to be the same?” meaning that differences are not necessarily bad just different.