Force Awakens Thoughts (Spoilers upon spoilers)

Spoilers. Spoilers. Spoilers ahead. If you don’t want to know what happens in the new star wars movie, DO NOT READ AHEAD.

This movie is great. It is a lot of fun and everything a star wars movie should be. In some sense it makes some of the same mistakes too - like the unbelievable coincidences one after another- but if you are willing to put it aside and enjoy the movie, you are in for one enjoyable ride. 

What I loved the most about Awakens is the parallelisms that you find in the film. What made the original films great is that they played off of basic story archetypes. Awakens used these archetypes in new forms to get the story across and possibly hint at what will happen in the future.

BB-8

BB-8 is the obvious new R2D2. Both bots look alike and start each movie finding the new hero/heroine with a mission that sends off the new hero/heroine on an adventure and (for the most part) is their constant companion thereafter. Of course, in the end of the film BB8 is with Dameron and R2D2 is with Rey (and Luke), so it will be interesting to see if BB-8 will end up by Rey’s side or maybe even follow Finn. But BB-8’s existence does make one wonder what will happen to R2D2. The two little robots have almost the same character. Is this the end of the bot in blue? Is his role taken over by the newer, smaller, and slicker product? BTW, praise God BB-8 doesn't come with a new C3PO. One is just enough and maybe still too much. 

Poe Dameron

Poe is a great character. I admit that I entered the film rooting for him because I already joined the Oscar Isacc fan club bandwagon. I thoroughly enjoyed Isacc’s performances in Inside Llewyn Davis and HBO’s Show Me a Hero. (Looking forward to him in this coming summer’s X-men movie, but I’m admittedly more skeptical about him playing Apocalypse). Now Poe’s character could be just the back up x-wing fighter pilot that didn’t get much airtime in the original films. Maybe he’s the glorified Wedge Antilles, Dax or [insert other pilot I’m too embarrassed to have remembered the name of]. 

But maybe Dameron is more. He also plays the leader of the rebellion role similar to Princess Leia. He hides important rebel info in a droid which sets up the plot for the remainder of the film. He’s captured and interrogated by the film’s antagonist and then rescued by a suspicious stormtrooper (Luke in 4, Finn in 7). His exceptional pilot skills may hint at potential Jedi abilities, but I doubt they will take the story that way. You’d think that someone from the resistance would have cued Luke in on his Jedi potential earlier if he had any. (He does fly an x-wing with the new version of R2D2- bb8- so who knows?) I think he will end up continuing to be a mentor for Finn in future films, maybe a more loyal Han Solo type with his snark. I wont be surprised if he doesn’t make it through the whole 7-9 trilogy. I say he gets killed off in 9. (But this is Star Wars so he might survive. They definitely didn't kill off enough guys in Return of the Jedi. Really, why is Lando still alive?)

Han Solo

Han Solo ends up being the sage archetype in this storyline taking the hem of Obi-Wan Kenobi and even Qui-Gon Jinn. When Solo meets Rey, he introduces her to the reality of the force just as Kenobi does with Luke and Jinn does with Anakin. All of these conversations happen in the first film of each trilogy. And just like those trilogies, the sage character dies at the hands of the main antagonist (of that film). In episodes 4 and 7 the death of the sage happens while their mentee watches (You could even say that Jinn dies while Kenobi watches so episode 1 kinds works too). What makes it unique is he is the first nonJedi to take on this role. Great twist.

Snoke

Snoke is obviously the new emperor. The bad guy behind the bad guy. Emperor Gollum. It will be interesting to see his story unpacked. Where did he come from? Is he another former servant of Palpatine? Palpatine's clone? Resurrected Frankenpalpastein? 

Kylo Ren 

Great, great bad guy. He’s obviously the new Vader, trying to be like him in every way. He’s dressed like him, doing the choke holds, killing innocents, and following some ambiguous evil Emperor. (Plus, he gets mutilated by the end of Awakens which make him more machine than man going into episode 8). Also, he has a similar relationship the protagonist, Rey, as Vader had with Luke. Ren's goal is to pull Rey to his side. He sees her potential. One thing that is different is that we get to see Ren’s struggle with the light side from the beginning. We just see Vader change to the light at the last second as the emperor is killing Luke. But Kylo Ren is open and honest and frankly embarrassed that he feels the light side inside him and this struggle is evident to good guys and the bad. 

Plus, we are begging to wonder how Ben Solo became Kylo Ren, just like we wondered how Anakin became Vader. I’m sure we will get more unpacked in the second film in this trilogy as we did in the second films of the other two series. We do already get some glimpses of Ren’s mutation. We see he has some Daddy issues in his jealousy of Rey’s relationship with Han Solo. BTW, Ren also was a developing Jedi who was trained late by a inexperienced mentor- same as Anakin with Kenobi. So, I’m hoping we’ll see what happened in the next film how Snoke pulled him to the dark side.

Finn

Gotta love Finn. In some ways he’s the new Han Solo, but he’s the anti-Han Solo. (I think that may be why their scenes together are great). Han Solo is fearless, skilled, and awesome. Solo is the allstar QB. Finn, well, isn’t. Finn is cowardly, inexperienced, untalented and awkward. So why is Finn the new Han Solo? Both have a past that is trying to catch up with them. Solo was had debts with Jabba the Hutt and Finn (Anti-Han) is a First Order deserter. Also, both spent their introductions trying to not be part of the rebellion/ resistance but in the end were fated to be one of the good guys. I do think that like Solo, Finn’s past will catch up with him and Finn will pay both for leaving Captain Phasma’s unit and for forcing her to bring down Starkiller base. (BTW, what a terrible use of Phasma the first cinematic star wars villain. Obviously, they are setting her up for the future because any storm trooper could have said her lines and been used by Finn so why get a great actress and put her in a sweet suit. But for her to let Solo and Finn force her help the resistance makes absolutely no sense at all. Oh well…) Anyway, my prediction is that Phasma captures Finn in the coming films just as Jabba gets Solo. Finn will probably not end up encased in carbonite, but I imagine he will not be in a good place at the end of episode 8. 

For those who are wondering, I don’t think Finn will end up with Jedi abilities although it is weird that he is the only storm trooper to switch sides. I also doubt his back story comes up again. (Please don't be the lost son of Lando Calrissian, Mace Windo, or some absurd origin). And I am concerned that Americans and well, the rest of the world, have too many race issues for Finn to get the girl in the end. Its a shame to say, but it would take a lot of moxie for disney to let them end up together even though this is 2015.

Rey

Rey is the most interesting character of the new group. She is, of course, Awaken’s protagonist. She is an obvious new Luke. She is found on a desolate planet who finds small, endearing robot that sends her off on an adventure. She is introduced to the force and learns to use new powers. By the end of the film she becomes triumphant over the antagonizing Sith Lord. I’m sure I could go on more on those parallels, but I’ll stop there. I will add, she is also a little bit of a new Leia as well, She is a strong-willed feminine hero that wont be bested or ordered around by anyone. She holds her own against Finn, Solo, Kylo Ren and others. I think my favorite scene depicting her female fortitude happens early on when Rey fends off Finn’s grabbing of her hand when he is the one in need of her hand holding. 

There is much to be asked about her background too. With all of the crashed x-wings, TIE fighters, and Star Destroyers, in the beginning of the film you have to ask, what in the world happened to Jakku? Did that battle happen at the same time Rey’s family left? Also, some speculate that Rey is Luke’s daughter.  That deduce this because when she finds Vader/Luke’s light saber, she has a vision of the island Luke was at. But I think Rey was just seeing her future as Luke does in Empire when he sees his friends tortured at Bespin. And wouldn’t Han Solo or Leia have put that together. People also see the hug she has with Leia at the end of the film as a hint of their kinship. But I’m not sure their hug hints blood but rather its just the combined mourning of someone who lost a lover and another who lost their mentor. I kinda hope she has no Skywalker relation, but we’ll see. I think I remember Kylo Ren taking a questionable notice of her involvement in foiling his plans early on, but it may be nothing.

Another thing I will say about her character is that she is the young Anakin that we always wanted. She can do anything. She can fight. She can fly. She can intuitively fix things. She picks up how to use the force like its her job. And she’s likable! Then as she fights Kylo Ren at the end, you see her rage. You can see her starting to turn to the dark. Ren sees it too. “All you need is a teacher,” he says. Here is how I hope things play out. I want to see Rey turn to the dark side and Ren (Rey/Ren, Ying/Yang) turn to the light in episode 8. Then Rey come back to the light in 9. Maybe a fight between Snoke and Rey and then a fight with Luke and Ren to do it. Admittedly, their are some issues with my proposed desired scenario. One, it looks like Rey will once again fight Ren and his Ren squad according to her vision with the light saber. Second, it took the whole first trilogy to turn Anakin bad and they handled that poorly, so how could they do turn Rey to the dark in just one film (Plus, it took another 3 films to turn him back again). I admit I may be a little disappointed if the next two films just focus on turning Ren back to the light. Or if they have him turn back to the light as he is dying at the end of episode 9. “You were right about me Rey. Tell my mom. Tell that that deserter, wuss Finn. You were right.”

I would love to hear your thoughts. What did you see that I didn’t see? Any predictions?

Faith at the Movies (Part Three)

There are three places I think Christians get hung up on the most as it comes to movies. The sad thing is, as I was thinking about these three, I found myself either tempted or and giving in to all of them. Although I would like to think of these issues as juts stuff others deal with, I am in their with everyone else. But I think we need to take this stuff seriously if we are going to live holy lives.

1) ESCAPISM

A lot of us use films to escape life. We feel trapped by the toil and monotony of our own lives and we turn to film to make us feel better. When I was in High School, we had a German exchange student that stayed with us for a couple months and she was obsessed with Star Trek Voyager. She had a tough family situation and not a whole lot of friends and she saw the characters on Star Trek Voyager as her family and friends. Her reality was so hard for her to deal with that she felt the need to immerse herself in a different reality that was not really a reality at all.

Although that is an extreme case, I admit that I struggle with this all of the time. After a hard day of work or after a stressful conversation, I want to go home and plop in a movie and escape life for a while. And although film as an art is supposed to make our lives more fulfilling and help us understand ourselves and the world around us more, when habitually use media to escape, we become lost to our actual existence.

So I urge you, after that tough test, after that hard conversation, after hours of labor on that project, go to Jesus. He is the well that will satisfy. He is the one who always brings you to the true reality. Leave that film for another time. Don’t escape life, live it.

2) VIOLENCE

            I know what I am about to say will get many of you mad at me and you will be tempted to shut down, but I pray hear me out. We live in a culture inundated with violence. The average 18 year-old hasseen 200,000 acts of violence and 16,000 murders on television. Ninety percent of movies, 68% of video games, and 60%of TV shows show some depictions of violence. I remember going to a house of a pretty fundamental Christian home as a teenager and when it was time to watch a movie the Mom said, “You can blow each other up as much as you want but make sure there is no sexual stuff.” I feel like this is the standard we have in America. We don’t see violence as a problem. 

Just in the past couple months, we have seen a commercial for the latest call of duty game showing the fun of ultraviolence with Sinatra singing in the background. We have also seen friends singing “Oh what a perfect day” as they chop each other heads off, shoot each other, and blow up everything around them. And its all a big lie. It doesn’t show the death and misery that real violence brings. It doesn’t show the loss of fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, sons, and daughters. Violence is a game to us. It’s a joke to us. And the more savage it is, the more we get in line with cash in hand. I believe the culture of violence in our society is so thick we have no idea how sick and messed up we have become.

And when we go to scripture we see God respond in a different way to violence.

Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw that the earth was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its ways upon the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them; now I am going to destroy them along with the earth. - Genesis 6:10-13

The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, and his soul hates the lover of violence. - Psalm 11:5 

            God hates violence. He hates its so much that he would rather see the whole world destroyed and start afresh rather than see it filled with violence. If we consume violence, do we not then glorify it? Are we then standing for the thing God hates?

            Media violence and been shown time and time again to lead to people being more aggressive, more depressed, and more willing to use violence in problem solving. Studies on college students playing games with E-rated violence - not M-rated or T-rated, E-rated - have shown to produce more aggression as well. Studies also show that media violence causes people to be less empathic and less of a willing to help others who are in need. 

In other words, media violence leads to us having the antithesis of the fruits of the Spirit. It leads to less love, less peace, less patience, and less kindness. If the eye is the lamp of the body, how much darkness are we going to allow in? How great is our darkness. Is violence what we are going to minds with, or are we going to set our minds to what is true, honorable, just, and pure?

3) PIRACY

            I know I am touching a nerve with some of you now. And I hate to break it to you, but I’m just getting warmed up. I can’t talk about movies at RIT if I don’t talk about piracy. For some reason, we as Christians throw the seventh commandment to the side when it comes to pirating movies. We want to watch what we want to watch when we want to watch it. And if I can find something on the internet to watch that’s illegal, why shouldn’t I? If I want to borrow some else's netflix account, why not? Everyone else does it. The movie producers aren’t struggling; they can afford it. Big deal.

            I think its funny that when we call people to follow Christ, we make some big demands on how they should change their lifestyle. But when it comes to our lifestyle, as soon as we are called to make a little sacrifice like paying a little bit of money to watch a film or waiting a few months until its released legally, we just give in.

            And I admit that I have done this. Last year, I was watching Mad Men on Netflix and wanted to see the latest season. A simple google search helped me find a pirated copy online. It so simple we think, who cares? But if we want to live lives of integrity, maybe we should handle things differently.

WHAT THEN SHOULD WE DO

            So where do we go from here. I have some challenges for you. The season of lent is coming up three Wednesdays from today. Lent is a traditional time for the church when we give up luxuries in order to focus more on Christ’s sacrifice. Maybe this coming Lent might be a good opportunity for you to reevaluate your habits with media.

1.     Challenge 1: If you are an Escapist, if you are quick to watch movies to get away from stress of your life, I would encourage you to give up movies or TV for the season of lent.

2.     Challenge 2: If you find yourself watching shows and movies or playing video games that involve a lot of killing and bloodshed, challenge you to give up those things for the season of lent.

3.     Challenge 3: If you choose to give up movies, TV shows, or video games for lent, try to go through the past year and figure out how money you spend on movies. If you are an escapist, use the money you would normally spend on a movies and invest it in your spiritual development. But a devotional or go on a retreat. If you are an RIT student, put the money towards Basileia. If you love violent movies, TV shows, or video games, use the money you would usually use and give it to a domestic violence shelter or victims of violent conflict like Syrian refugees.

I love the movies. I cannot imagine a day when I will stop watching them or stop loving them. But as a Christian, I want to approach them with the right gestures. Some films I will have to condemn. Some I will critique. Some I will consume and let them make me a better person. As each of us walks into a theater, may God give us wisdom, may our eyes always draw in light, may we absorb whatever is true, righteous and pure. May we find out who we all are. May we find God.

Faith at the Movies (Part Two)

Here are what I think are some basic biblical guidelines to help us think about what gestures may be appropriate when it comes to watching movies. 

First, Paul says,

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. - Eph. 2:8,9

      The foundation of Christianity is not about doing the right things to earn our way to God. There is nothing we can do to earn our way to God. Watching all the “right” movies and condemning all of the “wrong” ones does not put you at a better place with God. You cannot earn your salvation. Jesus Christ died on a cross because you and me and everyone in here deserves punishment, deserves to die, and deserves eternal death. But Jesus died in our place and God brought him back to life and he will also bring us back to life if we put our faith in him. Being a Christian is not about being good, it is about putting our trust in the only person who has ever been ultimately good and that is Jesus Christ.

            When we think about what movies we watch, we know have freedom in Christ. Because of his death and resurrection and because we have put our faith in him, we do not have to worry about condemnation. God is with us. God is for us.

“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything” - 1 Corinthians 12:6

            We can go out and watch any movie we want. Our eternal destiny is secure. God loves us no matter what. But Paul is saying here that it does not necessarily mean everything is good for us. We can go indulge in whatever we choose, but that does not mean that the things that aren’t of God wont do their best to control us.

            I remember I was talking a student leader about a superhero movie that just came out. I went to see it and I was dumb about it. I didn’t do my usual background checks on the movie and it was filled to the rim with sex and violence. Although it did have some interesting philosophical elements, it was just way over the top. So I told this student that he probably didn’t want to see this movie because it as all of this stuff in it. But his response to me was, “I have to experience this for myself.”

            And I think its funny. When it comes to drugs, or murder, or suicide, our response is, “No, I’m not going to do that.” But when it comes to movies, I feel a lot of us say, “I’ll have to experience this for myself or judge for myself.” And there is a disconnect. We indulge ourselves on things not beneficial to us and when we do, those things start to dominate us.

Jesus himself said,

"The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" - Matt 6:22,23

      I remember in High school, we would get together and watch these violet films. And sometimes we would bring some high school freshmen to watch some films with us and the violence would be too much for them. And we would talk amongst ourselves, “Oh we shouldn’t have done that. They aren’t as mature as we are. We should look out for them more.” Now that I look back, when did becoming numb to violence become a strength? When did becoming numb to vulgarity and sexual exploitation become a sign of maturity? I think the most oxymoronic idea is that movies and video games that are hypersexual or ultraviolent are rated M for mature. Is it the real “mature” people in the world who go and watch these films? 

The eye is the lamp of the body. What the eye sees either lights up the body or fills it with darkness. What you watch makes a difference. Whatever you gaze your eyes on has an impact. What you are watching is what you are filling your heart with. It is what is what you are filling your life and your soul with. They say that theaverage 30 year-old has consumed 35,000 hours of audio-visual narrative. All of that stuff goes in you. What you consume makes a difference. It changes who you are.

            When I was a teenager, I remember watching an X-men cartoon and they were fighting Apocalypse who was the epitome of all evil. And Beast, the smartest of the mutants, made a philosophical comment that they could only contain Apocalypse and not destroy him because the world would always need a balance of good and evil. And I didn’t think anything of it until I was at Youth group the following week and we were talking about evil and I said something like, “But there always needs to be balance of good and evil.” My youth leader was wise enough to say, “No, there doesn’t.” Then it occurred to me that my brain was hacked. Media makes a difference. It changes how we perceive life and how we engage life.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God—what is good and acceptable and perfect. - Romans 12:2

Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. - Phil. 4:8 

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. - Matt 5:48 

What we put in our minds matters. What we indulge in makes a difference. What movies we watch changes who we are and how we see the world. When we choose to condemn, critique, or consume cinema, we must keep this in mind.

But there is the other side of the coin. It is no surprise that Christians are often criticized for being out of touch. As we have stated, film is a cultural phenomena that impacts much of our daily life. Karl Barth once said, “Take your Bible and your newspaper and read both, but interpret the newspaper with the Bible.” While we should continue to engage the news as the objective reality of our time, we should also engage film as the subjective reality of our time. Approaching film with a complete posture of condemnation is clearly not an option.

Paul has stated,

I have become all things to all people in order that I may save some.- 1 Cor. 9:22

If we live in a culture of cinemaphiles maybe we need to become cinemaphile’s ourselves. We can get to know what movies people are watching and what that says about what they believe and how they see the world. While Paul was in Athens, he first took notice of the things the Athenians thought were important to them and he used that as a starting point to engage with them what he believed. Gareth Higgins says that one pastor he knows has 90% of the spiritual conversations start by talking about movies. Our movie going can transform how we engage the world around us.   

But I say this with a disclaimer. We do not need to see the Wolf on Wall Street to understand systemic greed or see the latest horror movie to have relevant conversation with our friends. Your friends don’t need you to be like everyone else they have in their lives. If you are a Christian, they need you to be first a Christian. They need you to love them with a sacrificial, unconditional love. If you love them well, they wont care what movies you have seen. If you love them well, you will be relevant to their lives.

But some film is good for consumption as well. Film is a incredible art form that helps us better understand our past. It helps us understand the soul of human nature. It helps us understand the culture we live in. It helps us see the tragedy in the world. But even as we consume watching movies it comes with a price. For example, Higgins also says, “Watching a movie about poverty and doing nothing is like a pre-revolutionary French king being read biblical passages of justice while the poor were dying at his gates.” As we consume film and learn about the realities of this world, we must respond to the injustices in our day. If we see a film about human trafficking, war, greed, poverty, we must respond. We must be the church and make an impact in the world around us.

Now that we have some biblical roots to help us choose what gestures of condemning, critiquing, and consuming film, I will share a little about what I do. Its pretty simple actually. Usually I wait until a film comes out and I check rottentomatoes.com to see how most people have reviewed the film over all. If the movie was poorly made I won’t waste my time or money with it. If the film looks good I will check a website like kidsinmind.com. Kidsinmind.com will break down for me how much violence, sexuality, and vulgarity is in a film. If I see the film is rated much more graphic than I desire, I skip the film. And sometimes I change my gesture based on some other circumstances, but that’s generally how I roll.

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.