Mary Magdalene :The Essay

In World Religions class we watched a film which discussed, the figure of Mary Magdalene. The film defied the modern day conventions of books like Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Codewhich claims that Jesus had a child with Mary Magdalene. However, the movie also defied the traditional conventions of the Holy Roman Catholic Church which (currently) believes that Mary Magdalene was of little consequence. (However, the movie points out that the Catholic Church has wavered on their views throughout the years.)

One element that seems to be agreed upon is the fact that Mary Magdalene was from a popular fishing village called Magdala. It points out while all the other women in the New Testament are referred to by their husbands, such as Mary of John or Mary Mother of God, Mary Magdalene is the only woman who is referred to by her town. The film questions this and asks why? Was she a widow? Was she unmarried? Was she really a prostitute after all? It asks questions about Mary Magdalene and her name not being tied to a man’s.

Next the film addresses the role of Mary Magdalene in the early Church. Why was she the only follower of Jesus to show up at the cross? (Or why were the women in general the only ones to show up?) How did she manage to support Jesus and the other disciples when they were wandering around Galilee? Did she inherit her money? If so how? If Mary Magdalene was such a devout follower of Jesus and perhaps guided others in learning about him why is she not mentioned more? What happened to this woman and why were her actions covered up? In all this film asks more questions than it answers and leaves the movie-goer quite perplexed and wanting to know what actually happen. The history of Mary Magdalene portrayed in this film is sketchy and a big blank void.