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.
