Portrayals of Nuns in Film and Popular Culture

Wasn’t there a nun who was a detective? I vaguely remember watching re-runs of a show. I’d surely say she was a dynamic character.

There are also the gratuitous nun shots in movies and TV. I think in Return to Me, there’s some nuns on a bicycle at the end of the movie. Occasionally on shows such as E.R., there will be just a nun who walks by in the background in usually modified veil and habit. Sometimes they’re in airport scenes. These are more innoculous I think, but it is amusing to spot them since they pop up unexpectedly. But then on Law and Order they portrayed a nun in a veil and pants/jeans which looked silly.

To Desiree, are you thinking of Sister “Steve” on Fr. Dowling mysteries?

I am not all that familiar with nun flicks. I adored “Dead Man Walking” though. In fact, I’m going to see Sr. Helen talk again in a few weeks. And even though this film is not American, the portrayal of Teresa of Avila in the Spanish documentary was wonderful. It presented well her strugges, joys and strength of character. It appeared very authentic to me. I don’t know if any of you have seen the program “Judging Amy” (It’s off the air now in the NYC area). But they occassionally had “nuns” sitting in the halls of the courthouse. At the end of the every program, the production company showed this strange nun -like figure walking down a dark hallway away from the camera. Not sure what that meant!

Although the depiction of nuns on Sister Act is admittedly not realistic, and does at times perpetuate some stereotypes, I found the film portrayed some of the sisters as quite joyous. I don’t know if any of you like that gospel song “Oh Happy Day.” But there is a clip of that on you tube of the kids performing for the Whoppie Goldberg dressed as a nun. I find it energizing. If you are interested, google “youtube” and type “Oh Happy Day” in to the search engine. Click on the image of the male black teen from Sister Act and you can hear/see it.

I remember The Father Dowling Mysteries. The nun wa depicted as spacey but persistent. Father Dowling himself was not shown as much more sophisticated a character though.

One of my favorites is “Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison” from 1957.

Moving to the TV realm, there was a character on Law & Order for a while named Sr. Peg. She wore jeans and helped the homeless. She was cool.

Sr. Anne: That is all very interesting. I didn’t know the writer of the show was Catholic but I’m not surprised. Aside from the nun at the end and in the halls of the courthouse, Amy’s assistant Bruce was a devout Catholic. And on one episode they talk about a cousin who was a Carmelite nun. Even though Amy was a typical, cynical, agnostic, progressive ex-Protestant character, she struggled with her beliefs. And in contrast, the Catholic Bruce in the show was portrayed with much respect. Ironically, in an odd sort of way, that show was rather Catholic -friendly.

Other Sr. Julie: Wow! That’s way cool! And you got to sing on the stage inbetween takes? You are gutsy! And probably a very good singer. Is there a youtube segment of this scene with you in it? If so, post it. If not, maybe you can submit it to youtube. I once saw Whoopi speak at a communications conference. She is a piece of work – funny and very charismatic. How was she to talk to? I see you are a Felician. I am friends with a few Felicians in the NJ province. I’ve been up to their motherhouse for a few events. They seem to be a very close-knit community.

Yep, it must be that. She was my favorite nun, besides the daughters of st Paul whom I only saw in magazines. Unfortuately the only sister I knew growing up was a older nun, a steryo-typical “vatican 2 screwed with my life plans so now I’m a liberal nazi” type figure who who wore a veil and a pants-suit. I was amazed to meet PVMI’s and also CFR’s. They are really cool. I also know some Daughters of St paul (though most are older so its harder to connect on a friendship level)

My personal favorite for worst TV portrayal of a nun is the “Revelations” mini-series that was on a few years ago. Sister Jo with her long hair hanging out under the back of her veil was pretty classically awful. America magazine published a funny review of the series.

I was wondering Sister, do you not like movies such as Sister Act and Sound of Music then? Despite the silliness of Sister Act, I actually thought it was quite thoughtful. Whoppi’s character grows up fearing nuns due to her past experience, and feeling unapproved by them. She ends up living with them and realizing that not all nuns are like those of her youth – conversely, the Mother Superior realizes that not all change is bad. It’s not terribly realistic – the major point of Hollywood movies is to make money, after all, but they don’t portray nuns in any bad way, really. And that scene where they’re making rosaries and Sr. Mary Robert asks Whoppi about when she got “the call” is just too funny! And Sound of Music is a beautiful movie…Maria really wanted to become a nun, and her Mother Superior felt that maybe her calling was elsewhere. I guess I don’t see how either one of those movies is offensive or stereotypical? (not that there aren’t some that are, of course).

I love Brides of Christ – that definitely portrays nuns as human beings, and the acting and writing are superb. And oh, I loved the Father Dowling Mysteries so much growing up. I learned to play pool because of Sister Stephanie. I have all the episodes on DVD, yeay!

Samantha: I really liked Sister Act and the Sound of Music too. Having lived in Austria for a while though, some of it seems so silly. The real scoop on Maria was not essentially that she was joyous and carefree, but she had a real attraction towards the opposite sex and didn’t mind making those relationships physical. I believe her parents had her join the convent. I don’t think it was a choice of her own. But I’m not sure about that. The other part is true about her sex life. An Austrian friend’s grandmother who knew Maria personally told her that.

I love that show “Grounded for Life”. I live near Staten Island and relate to that whole urban, East Coast Catholic culture that it portrays. Admittedly it’s full of Catholic (Irish-Italian) stereotypical characters who are somewhat exaggerated, but it’s not that far off the mark. The one episode that comes to mind is when the lower middle class, subway construction worker-bar owner Mr. Finnerty is trying to save money to take his family on a cruise. When he talks to Sr. Helen about this, she tells him she was on a cruise. He was shocked thinking/telling her that nuns had to live in poverty. He responds something like, wow, YOU went on a cruise!?! They let YOU go on a cruise. The nun asks Mr. Finnerty who he thinks the “they” are. Dumbfounded, and before he can answer, Sr. Helen retorts, Oh, GOD, you mean did GOD let me go on a cruise? And Mr. Finnerty is just so confused at this point – he’s licked.

Although Sr. Helen is generally portrayed as intelligent, she is also depicted as overly sarcastic, mean and scheming. I wouldn’t want her as my kid’s principal.

Samantha: Yea, that swearing one was really good too. I also remember the one about the office hours. Very funny as well. Do you remember the episode when Sean complains about Sister Helen and his dad rebukes him claiming that all those holy nuns are “infallible?” Then wife Claudia replies that “infallibility” only applies to the Pope. Then the shrewd, seedy, underworld-type character, brother Eddie adds in his raspy voice, yea, “infalliblity” only applies to the Pope – but that’s only when he speaks from the Chair!

I think the main reason Sean’s interaction with Sr. Helen is so funyy is because he has no clue what to do with her! That’s probably true for a good number of people when they meet nuns. They are not sure what to make of them.. They think they need to act in some special way. Bob Newhart sometimes alludes to this when he talks about his sister, the Sister.

Perhaps the message of this story for today’s sisters (if they want to change their image) is to get out there a little more among the regular folk randomly, not just other Catholics, family members and the “poor”. But perhaps take a photography class at a local public high school, go to the local women’s club (not only Altar Rosary Society) fashion show, join the county historical society, volunteer to be on the town’s 4th of July celebration planning committee. This way all different people will actually experience nuns and many false images will crumble.

I know. The nuns reading this will think, with what time am I supposed to engage in all these extra activities? And it is really not their job to perpetuate a special view of themselves. But it can’t hurt. Actually, though, Sr. Julie does that quite nicely with this blog! You go girl!

I know this is dated, but a new reference to the project on contemporary images of nuns brought me here.

I continue to be surprised when even today in TV series I consider pretty good we find nuns portrayed as childish and escapist, mean (usally a notion of repressed sexuality), or otherwise simply irrelevant. The program I saw (maybe a year or more ago) which brought this home to me was an episode of House. The patient was a nun with a hard-to-pin down allergic reaction to a very old copper IUD placed before she entered and forgotten when she had a miscarriage. She was the childish/escapist stereotype (and of course a life of prayer was not only naive and completely silly, but underscored the rest). One of the other sisters was the “mean” stereotype: judgmental, speaking out of school, arrogant, hypercritical, etc. (She was also portrayed as juvenile in her own way. House offers her something to eat — a piece of chocolate or something — and she looks at him coyly and says, “Oh, I really shouldn’t. . .” as though this is not okay for nuns, but of course, she does — either because she is dying to “sin” or is out from under the thumb of superiors, or whatever other reason illustrates the not-so-subtle accusation of “hypocrisy” which runs through the show. In no cases were these women portrayed as deeply loving or faithful to reality (including God and their own commitments or selves). In no case would they be seen as capable of success in the “real world.” Anyway, the whole thing was VERY disappointing given that I tend to like the show.

By the way, what is it about TV habits (and no I am not talking about a hermit watching TV occasionally!)? Ears and hair ALWAYS stick out in ways they never do even with uni-caps (for those of us who wear modified habits and veils!). (Of course most of the time it seems the costumers have no inkling that there is usually a CAP under the veil. Hence the bobby pins and sense that white bands are cut from someone’s bed sheet and pinned in place without much thought, etc.)

Re Judging Amy: wasn’t the nun-like figure Amy walking down the hall in her robes? That’s what I always thought anyway.