|
I am a Christian, an artist, and a lover of movies,
music, and all forms of art.
That
will make many readers assume that I'm only going to like "squeaky clean" stuff
and that I condemn most serious art. After all, that's what a lot of so-called Christian
critics do.
But that's not at all what I'm trying to do here. I
just want to look in-depth at good movies, celebrating and examining "the good
stuff" in each one. Same goes for music. Hopefully, I'll eventually have the time and
energy to take on books as well. (This is a site I do in my spare time, on my own dime,
with the support of some donations
from readers and some help from Promontory Artists Association.)
Christians have a reputation of protesting
everything they don't like. It's a reputation that the Church has earned, thanks to
some outspoken reactionaries who easily get the attention of the press and the
anti-religious. In Jesus's day, this was the behavior of the Pharisees... to look down
one's nose at another and publicly condemn them for this or that sin. Jesus called those
pious judges hypocrites. He asked for love, compassion, and leadership by example. He
asked for love and close attention to one's own heart. And rather than rejecting popular
culture, he got involved, went to the parties, listened to the stories of others, and then
told good stories himself.
Some Christians scream about immorality on the big
screen. Some rage about violence and swearing and other evils. Some picket
movie theatres when they smell something suspicious. Some prefer the activism of
pointing fingers to the action of making something worthwhile that demonstrates what
goodness and excellence and beauty and truth are all about.
And in the process, they forget what excellence,
truth, beauty, and truth ARE all about.
The Church, as Jesus himself predicted, is full of
people who come in Christ's name and deceive many.
Believe it or not, some of the movies we protest
contain within them seeds of truth, of beauty, of excellence that, if we acknowledged
them, might actually speak to US as well as those who know better, who attend them and
think through for themselves.
Yes, there is a lot of garbage out there. But
there is a lot of good too. Scripture calls us to "test all things and hold
fast to what is good" and to "renew our minds".
C.S. Lewis wrote about how the religions of the
world are like pieces of a broken mirror. None of them can show you the entire
truth. Each piece is broken, incomplete, too small. But each piece can show us
SOME of the truth, that truth that was revealed in its entirety only in the life, death,
resurrection, and teaching of Jesus Christ.
To glorify God in the discipline of art, one must
pursue beauty, truth, and excellence. All beauty belongs to God. All
truth. All excellence. Movies, like any art form, can reveal for us pieces of
the truth, no matter who directed the film, who starred in it, or what it is about.
The better the film, the truer the film. All aspects of a film can work towards this
revelation.
It's true: a lot of movies these days appeal to our
baser appetites, seeking to entertain us through dishonorable methods. But the good
stuff is out there, and its worth hunting for.
Yes, Chariots of Fire is a powerful movie
that shows us something about the power of faith. But so is Dead Man Walking.
Blade Runner, that dark, violent science fiction epic, shows us something about
grace and forgiveness. The Insider teaches us something about integrity,
about truthfulness, about laying down one's life for the good of others. Jerry
Maguire tells us something about grace. Toy Story 2 is about
friendship. Babe is a parable about overcoming impossible odds through
determination and self-confidence. The Remains of the Day shows us something
about restraint, about integrity, and about sacrifice. The Matrix
emphasizes the need to pursue live differently than those in the world you see around
you. Even Star Wars holds a story of the power of humility, love, and
self-sacrifice.
On this page, I hope to "look closer" at
films... to see more than just whether or not there are good performances. We want
to find the bit of God's truth that is reflected there. Or, perhaps we will instead
find lies, carefully packaged, to go down easy.
It's a tricky business. I hope my work here
encourages dialogue. After all, I'm only one person in a very large audience. Write to me with your questions and comments
and let's make it a conversation, encouraging each other to deeper insights and an
appreciation of excellence.
Jeffrey Overstreet |
