Tonight I finished the sixth of the movies I chose for a weekend (and a day) film festival that looked at how faith, culture and media mix and what messages about humanity, God and faith may be implicit in these films and what messages may be explicit. (Here's the original blog with the movie list.)
My interest stems from an acknowledgment that pop culture is a place where these conversations are happening, just as in social media today, and I haven’t been present, let alone participating.
Where was I? Well, for one thing, 4 of the 6 films were rated R. I pretty much stopped watching anything stronger than PG-13 in 1995 when my oldest daughter was born. 4 of the 6 films were set in a post-apocalyptic world where artificial intelligence had overrun human beings. I am more likely to read Agatha Christie than George Orwell and was perhaps even more telling, I was convinced upon finishing college I could find a job that didn’t require a computer. (Clearly, I don’t have a future in telling the future) Finally, 2 of the 6 films were set on death row, and 1 of the 6 was released when I was 12 (1982) so I definitely missed those.
What were the common themes?
- All of the films looked at the criteria we use to value life and create identity. Do humans have greater intrinsic value than other created beings? Why or why not? Does it matter who one’s parents are, where someone came from, how they experienced childhood? Are we malleable? Can we change our identity?
- There were questions about sin, judgment, and grace. What is sin? Or some sins worse than others? What does judgment look like? What does hatred and division spawn? What does fear do? What is redemption? What is integrity? How do we preserve hope? Can hope be restored? What does grace look like?
- There were questions about love. What is unconditional love? Can love exist among difference? Can relationship exist apart from physical intimacy? How do children love differently than adults? Are love and faith related?
- There were questions about human finitude, grief, compassion and death. Why does our world have disease? What happens to us at death? What happens to the people who are still alive? What distinguishes life from death? How are freedom and life related; what about slavery and death?
Eventually, I want to write up the extensive notes I have on each film, and dig more deeply, particularly into intersections with Scripture, but for now this experiment in mixing theological reflection and popular culture has taught me to listen more carefully to the world around me and to look at how we ask questions about ourselves, others and about God in our everyday lives and experiences, whether that’s in a Friday night movie, a Saturday morning cartoon, church on Sunday morning or a lazy afternoon in a hammock reading a best-selling novel.
6 comments:
Congrats on finishing your movie marathan. You've pick some of my favorite "recent" movies. There is also a fairly strong theme of redeption and restorationin several of the movies that you listed, in particular Signs. I keep trying it to see if there is any hint of the Passion of the Christ in how Gibson plays his role.
Movies can certainly have a powerful effect on us. A national men's ministry, that I'm involved with, uses a lot of film clips during its large retreats usingthem to ilustrate the tehems of redeption, restoration, authentic masculinity and faith, and brotherhood. Used in the right context movies can be profoundly moving. They are also probably the quickest way to insert social media into ministry, especially in a setting where people are use to being passive recipients. Thanks
I want to acknowledge your endurance in this task.I hear you saying that when you start opening your eyes and ears you see God in everything, especially in our human struggle with identity.Once we see through that lens there is no going back.
I have seen several of the movies you picked and have to say you are a brave woman to watch all of them at once. I gave up watching movies that "sacred" me about ten years ago. I was sitting in a theater with my eyes closed wondering what I was doing paying money to scare myself.
I can see how you could write volumes about the religious themes of these movies. Especially Shawshank Redemption, Dead Man Walking and Signs. I am about to meet with a group of senior high youth at our church to watch a movie together and then pick out the Christians themes as well as to look at the ethics/morals of the main characters. I am hoping to have a good conversation with them about how they feel when they watch movies. Do they come with Christ in mind or are they there strictly for entertainment and they don't see God anywhere in the movie. Thanks for your blog.
Thanks, Biker. With you, I stopped watching or reading most dark or violent movies and fiction c. 1996. (Harry Potter and the earliest Batman movies may be the exceptions)
This collection surprised me. I don't think I'll line up at the theaters any more quickly, but it does make me rethink film in general and appreciate it as a medium.
I'd be interested to hearing more about your conversation with the youth; I think more often than not, we don't hear or see the implicit, or maybe even the explicit, messages because we are only tuned in for entertainment. What was startling to me is how much I tune out.
I also wonder what the writers or producers would say; were they trying to launch a theological conversation? Perhaps not explicitly, but they may have been trying to find a way to talk about humanity and hopefully in leading ministries and congregations, we have something to say about what it means to be human and alive.
Comment from a classmate at http://transplantedlife.wordpress.com/
I was unable to post to your blog...so here is my response.
This project (watching the movies) gets me very excited!!! I wonder did you do this alone or did you watch the movies with others? Did you take notes or did you just have a heightened sense of awareness? I have to admit that I have not seen the Matrix, but I do love the Shawshank Redemption (It is one of my all time favorites.). The intentionality of seeing God in all things is a skill that I have not yet mastered. I pride myself on having a spiritual component to most seemingly secular concepts but have not taken this to the next level. I can't wait to read your theological perspectives on these movies. I am doing a similar experiment with music. I find that this type of awareness opens up God to us and our conversations about God to others.
Thank you for your insights on the films you viewed. I too have been gathering a movie list but will not likely watch them until late this summer. One thing I like about movies is that they exaggerate life in a such a way that we can more clearly see the questions we are wrestling with even if we don't know we are wrestling.
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