Faith at the Movies (Part One)

With the Oscars coming up, I thought I would do a series of posts on how I relate to movies both as a Christian and as someone who absolutely loves movies.

First, I said it before and I will say it again. I love movies. I find film to be the most sublime form of art we have today. Not that every other art form is inferior, but film takes the best of every craft and adds them together in a beautifully knit display. Film puts together story telling, photography, acting, lighting, costuming, music, and sound effects. Animations can combine drawing, sculpting, and puppetry. In our digital age film can use technology to create worlds as far as our imaginations can take us.

And what all of these arts bring together is such beauty, such creativity, and it can touch your soul in such a way that only a few things can. George Macleod called film “A thin place – a place where the line between the harsh reality and the transcendent is so subtly blurred that it is difficult to tell one from the other.” Author Gareth Higgins says films hit us in all of our senses and can “irritate, heal, challenge, affirm, inspire or sadden.”

Just think about this past year. Film has transplanted us to fantasy world of elves, dwarves, and hobbits. It has taken us to far off planets like Krypton and Kronos. We have seen snow queens and iron men. We have seen despicable villains find families and monsters go to college and find friendship. We have a glimpse of what it would be like to float off into space and we have seen what it means try to survive dystopian futures in the midst of oppression, fame, uprising, and politics.

I love the movies. But the church hasn’t always agreed with me. Many churches over the decades have forbid their congregants from going to the theaters. Up until the 1960’s there was a lot of restrictions on movies being made about how religion and religious leaders could be displayed. As films have become more violent and more sexualized, there have been those who have given up on movies. They unquestioningly boycott whatever goes on the screen.

            But most Christians I know are much more lax when it comes to what films they watch. They see whatever they want to see. Sometimes, when movies are obviously over sexualized or seeming to focus on a message Christians don’t agree with, we will skip the film, but for the most part we go and watch what everyone else watches. We are consumers just like everyone else. We unquestioningly accept whatever goes on the screen.

Andy Crouch, in his book Culture Makers, reveals that Christians have many responses to culture which film in our modern world is an important part of. Crouch says Christians can condemn culture, critique culture, copy culture, consume culture, or create culture.

            Crouch goes on to say that all of these responses to culture are valuable at different times. Obviously, it was right for Christians to condemn the culture of Nazi Germany. Likewise, at times it is good to critique a piece of culture to reveal what it values and what it doesn’t. It can also sometimes be good to copy some styles that we see in art that inspires us (without plagiarizing of course!). Plus, some pieces of culture are just enjoyable to consume like a beautiful Monet. Lastly, creating culture brings something new into the world that hasn’t been here before and that brings glory to God as well.

Crouch then discusses this idea of postures and gestures. He argues that sometimes it is helpful for Christians to have a certain posture when it comes to some elements of culture. A posture would be a firm stance on a given topic. For example, Christians take a posture of condemning pornography. We see porn as degenerating to men & women, treating them like objects rather than people, and porn fills its viewers with a lustful appetite that is not glorifying to God. Condemnation is the posture we take toward it. Gestures are different. Gestures are the stances we take about specific circumstances. I believe when it comes to the movies, making gestures are more appropriate.

When it comes to a certain film, I may choose a gesture of just condemning it because of its content. Other films, I may make a gesture to go and critique it to try to understand what the filmmakers are trying to say, and what that says about the world. Other films I may want to make a gesture to consume- let it affect me- and learn for myself something new about the world I did not know before. Filmmakers out there can make use the gestures of copying and creating films.

And Christian filmmakers are much needed in the world today and they need to do their craft well. The focus of Crouch’s book is that you can condemn, critique, consume, and copy culture all that you want, but if you are going to change culture and make a lasting impact on culture, you are going to need to create something new. You will need to add a new perspective, a new voice to the table of ideas. Film is profoundly influential and you have skills to make a lasting impact. Those that are called to filmmaking need to bring something new into this world in the name of God’s kingdom.

But for the rest of us who aren’t filmmakers, we are left to figure out when to condemn, when to critique, and when to consume. And when it comes to gesturing, I don’t think it is a clear-cut issue. It’s not going to be black or white. It’s gray. Posturing easy. It’s either good for all of us or bad for all of us. Gesturing means that what might work for one person may not for another. Gesturing is hard to do well. But when it comes to how we deal with film - and all types of culture – it’s a balancing act. In my next post, I’ll try to highlight some biblical guidelines I think are helpful in gesturing well.