Comments on: NPR: The exciting new Christian film industry! CT: Make it stop!

By: Joel

Joel — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 23:36:30 +0000

Somehow, in the concert hall, explicitly sacred music can coexist with secular music. Even today, organizations are commissioning new works of explicitly Christian music that get performed in major concert halls. This is a huge success story for sacred art. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and B Minor Mass come out of this tradition, and are recognized far and wide as masterworks. There is a similar issue with visual art. HOWEVER, in music and art it’s generally viewed as OK to make a Statement as long as people know that’s the deal (although some might even object to that). In books and movies, however, this is not generally accepted. And stories are supposed to be more like real life, which is more part of the realm of General Revelation. If Special Revelation is to be incorporated, it must be done with grace and care.

By: Headless Unicorn Guy

Headless Unicorn Guy — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 17:19:21 +0000

We’re going to have our own filmmakers that can tell great stories, produce tremendous films, but they’re going to be doing it with a Christian world view, and they’re not going to be embarrassed about that.”

As in Facing the Giants VII and/or Left Behind XII?
Bonnet Romances with Altar-Call Endings?
Filmed Thomas Kincade Paintings?
Pitch sheets that read “Just like fill-in-the-blank, Except CHRISTIAN (TM)!”?

Ten-twenty years ago in local SF litfandom, we had an expression:
“It’s gotta be Christian — look how shoddy it is!”

By: jonnyflash

jonnyflash — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 23:15:14 +0000

I quoted some of your excellent piece when I wrote my response to the whole “Is Christian Film Industry Necessary for Good or Ill” question that was incited by the NPR piece. Nevermind that NPR is acting like this is all new, when we know that this has been kicking around for years, if not decades.

http://supercandid.blogspot.com/2009/03/everyone-else-is-wrong-truth-about.html

By: Nicholas

Nicholas — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:08:58 +0000

While I don’t remember the article linked in the update, I do remember laughing quite a bit reading the Matrix Reloaded review mentioned within, especially, if I remember correctly, a quote about the survivors of Zion more at risk of a syphillis outbreak than death by machines.

By: Mike Harris-Stone

Mike Harris-Stone — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 06:15:47 +0000

Your comments remind me a of what Illuvatar (God) tells Melkor (the Devil) in the first part of the Silmarillion: “And thou Melkor shall see that anyone who seeks to rebel against me shall prove but my instrument in the devising of things more wonderful than they can possibly imagine.” (It goes something like that. I don’t have a copy of the book here to make sure I get it right.)

If everything lives and moves and has its being in God and God made all…then his fingerprints will show up everywhere, even in films made by non-christians.

The core of this conflict isn’t about film at all — its about theology. Some take a slightly gnostic stance and see Christ as being against culture. In this viewpoint, culture reflects a depraved humanity and needs to be reclaimed. Others see God at work within culture and seek to celebrate that and participate in it. Cuture isn’t a threat to follow Christ, its an area to live out Christ’s commands to love God with all our heart and to love our neighbor as ourself. And as you point out Jeffrey, there are many ways to do this.

The confusion and damage will continue as long as this divide exists. What is needed is a reformation of the Evangelical church — one that re-embraces a fuller sense of God as creator, one willing to see the good beneath the ruin and the rust of wounded humanity — one embracing the notion that spirituality encompasses all of life, not just certain activities — that everything we do leads us one step closer to God or one step further away — especially how we treat our neighbor, who may be a non-Christian working in the film industry.

Film, like all art, grows out of culture. Some of it — like art films themselves — will only appeal to smaller audiences. In this sense, films made primarily for a Christian audience aren’t necessarily bad, though its an unlikely way to see great art made because, as you say, the message becomes the most important element. If a Christian film industry develops out of movies like “Facing the Giants,” etc. that could be OK.

The issue here is what is a Christian approach to culture and art. Is it only films like “Facing the Giants” that are explicit about faith? In that context, your book Jeffrey is an invaluable resource and a great gift to the church. Keep fighting the good fight! (And be sure while you’re at it to follow Christ’s command to love even those who treat you poorly — not an easy task…but then neither was the cross.) That said, I fully share your frustration!!

By: jen cox

jen cox — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 05:57:05 +0000

I heard that NPR piece and laughed when I heard “What was the biggest grossing independent film in 2008? No, not Slumdog Millionaire. Not Milk. It was a movie you’ve probably never heard of.”

By: Stephen Ley

Stephen Ley — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 01:37:51 +0000

Preach it, brother!

By: Mary DeMuth

Mary DeMuth — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:30:07 +0000

Thank you for this insightful post. As a novelist, I struggle straddling the CBA ABA fence, writing redemptive stories that don’t necessarily scratch the basic evangelical Christian itch. I want to write stories, and often the stories write themselves, devoid of obvious spiritual applications. And yet, God’s fingerprints are in the words.

In movie making, the question is the same.

Are we Christ-followers making movies, or are we making Christian movies?

By: Bryan

Bryan — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 23:26:36 +0000

“If we stop focusing on creating “Christian Spielbergs” we may realize that God is already revealing himself through Spielberg himself…”

Wow. Yeah.

By: winston

winston — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 22:38:47 +0000

I’m on a forum with many of these people who think that there should be a replacement industry, daily fighting against this idea.

It’s here: christianfilmmakers.org

I go by Winston on the forum as well, and if you read through you’ll see that there are numerous threads where we go in circles about this idea. For some idiotic reason everyone has the Arrested Development tendency regarding a Christian Filmmaking Industry in light of the CCM industry, which goes something like this:

Tobias: Perhaps there is another way! Some couples try what’s called an open relationship; they go out and date others in the hopes that it will strengthen their marriage.
Lindsay: Does it ever work?
Tobias: No no, it never works.
:beat:
Tobias: But perhaps it will work for us!

And the rest is really easy to guess.