The arguments: part two
So, I had recently posted about arguing semantics when it comes to Christian art. The comments really helped me along: particularly, in a response, I said:
There ought to be at least two discussions occurring:
1. What does a movie that reflects/supports/advocates/illustrates a Christian worldview and Christian values look like?
2. What should the quality of a movie that reflects/supports/advocates/illustrates a Christian worldview be like?
Because right now, the conversation breaks down at “is it a Christian movie / song / painting” and breaks down into semantics like, “There’s no such thing as a Christian movie.”
So, I thought perhaps we could try to discuss those two things… and the other day we started with question 2. So, today, it’s on to question one:
1. What does a movie that reflects/supports/advocates/illustrates a Christian world view and Christian values look like?
I’ve come up with three things (I’m sure there are more!) that a movie that reflects a Christian worldview should look like:
a) The characters experience a normal range of emotions
They are not superficially happy all the time. They have character flaws. They struggle. They get angry, upset, sad, happy, manic… they are, in a word, human. There’s a tendency in Christian movies and books to write characters the way we hope other people perceive us. Of course, there’s also a responsive tendency to make bad characters as bad as can be. That’s almost as harmful. The characters need to be like real life people. Strengths, weaknesses, things that are endearing, things that are aggravating.
b) the situations are difficult
Not superficially either. You know, bad boy seeking reform rides back into his hometown and falls into the arms of the girl he’d always loved. While there is power in stories to help us see truth through circumstances that are not necessarily “as mundane as life,” some sense of realism needs to be maintained.
c) Not everything resolves
Happy endings are great… I understand that. But man, when the happy ending involves resolution of every problem that the characters have, truth feels loss. People who get saved by the power of God *still* struggle. It’s kind of like my wife’s broken leg — my wife broke her leg back before we were married. I sent flowers, I came to visit, a few months later, we were engaged. That’s a neat story. But you know what? She still feels the effects of having broken that leg. It hurts. It’s frustrating. Life is like that. For our art to reflect truth, our art needs to be balanced like that.
So, those are my three… what would you add?
I might add that, in general, all the rules that apply in making a movie good at all apply to people making movies who are Christians.
We (me) often see the world as an enemy (and as 1 John 2:15-17 says it, yes, it’s true), but God created the world. God designed humans to react to stories. The Bible is teeming with literary features and IS literature.
So, whatever makes for a good story anywhere makes for a good Christian story.
We need to understand how COMPREHENSIVE the Xian worldview is.
Is sin devastating, and man in a heap of trouble> Yes.
Is man an incredible creation, capable of beauty, heroism, joy, love, sacrifice? Yes.
We think of limits in content so much (and I think we should avoid exposing ourselves to things that lead us to sin) but what we don’t see, it seems, is that the stories we can tell are many and multifaceted.
Everything doesn’t have to be a “redemption” story. What about a “creation” story? Or, a subcreative story?
I will also say (in this windbag comment) that we need to be exposed to multiple genres (esp in books) so that we may fully experience the various genres of Scripture, and the way all kinds of different storytelling impact us as humans made by God and living in God’s world.
Say Uncle and I’ll shut up.
SD Smith
11 Feb 10 at 8:31 am
“That’s a neat story.” Oh, I love that story! One of my very favourites!
The Hermit Editor
11 Feb 10 at 9:51 am
Helpful consideration, Mack. I might add that a major motif of Christian creative power that ought to be included is hope. I mean that our literature and art should express that our joy is lacquered with, our sorrow steeped in, and our misery tempered by the hope in something outside of ourselves.
As you suggest, it should not be blockishly one-sided, perhaps not even a complete hope, but it should emphasize a pointing beyond the human experience with confidence.
Consider the hope in Dickens’ novel, “A Tale of Two Cities.” Charles Darnay is saved by a societal outcast (Syndey Carton) who is moved out of love for Darnay’s wife to exchange places with him right before he is taken to the Guillotine. Dickens description of Carton’s hope in the resurrection is a powerful and delicate reverberation of a stance toward life that is not thoroughly materialistic, modern, and temporal.
Todd Anderson
11 Feb 10 at 12:40 pm
Before I forget, I absolutely love the blocks!
So, Sam (oops SD) said “Is man an incredible creation, capable of beauty, heroism, joy, love, sacrifice? Yes.”
Is he outside of Christ? I know I’m going down a rabbit trail but it does affect my view of movies. Maybe I’m not thinking clearly and have been too influenced by the “even our tears of repentance are sin soaked” emphasis – anyway, an example would be a movie I watched last week called Amal. The protagonist was an autorickshaw driver in India who was portrayed as sweet, altruistic, non-materialistic, and basically totally contented with his life. (I am absolutely over simplifying here.)
I found myself thinking – his concern for others has to have a wicked motive – he is outside of Christ.
Should that just be our bottom line assumption about every “non-Christian” movie we watch?
Aunt Deb
11 Feb 10 at 4:24 pm