Every thirty seconds, a new film blog is born.
And every day, one of those is about movies “from a Christian perspective.”
The more film blogs there are, the more I’m losing interest in participating in them or reading them.
The more I discover and enjoy great movies, the more I come to think that most of the films that rate in the U.S. box office Top Ten each week seem trivial and disposable by comparison. Oh sure, they’re relevant because people are seeing them and talking about them. But in search for meaningful dialogue about art, I want to spend time talking about the best films… not just the most popular. And most film blogs are about commercial entertainment more than they are about art.
Over the last few years, I’ve had a lot of fun throwing around trivia and rumors and watching favorite comic book stories become movies. But I’ve also wasted a lot of time pondering trivia and rumors. People could have read such speculation, or found links to those “breaking news” stories on hundreds of other sites, spelled out in wild variations. Such stuff is starting to bore me. These days, I often prefer blogs of writers with whom I vehemently disagree because, well, they inspire those strong feelings in me by demonstrating passionate thoughtfulness. I’d rather read an aggravating perspective by a thoughtful, attentive moviegoer than just another post about who might play Wonder Woman.
As a longtime film-trivia blogger myself, I’m criticizing myself here more than anybody. Lately, I’ve felt an urgency to invest my time in more meaningful writing. I mean, anybody can find out who’s being cast in The Avengers on a bazillion blogs. Does Jesus really need me to join the chorus?
So I’m less and less interested in investing time here at Looking Closer with just another link to Variety with casting news for another potentially-blockbusting, potentially-disappointing superhero movie. I’d rather focus on trying to contribute something personal and unique to the dialogue about film, or else drop the subject altogether. I want to do something that helps us live our lives inspired by the beauty and truth of art, not something that keeps us from living meaningful lives by wasting our time with entertainment buzz. There are too many more important things to do.
I mean, really: Do we need one more film blog that’s going to post the trailer for Star Trek? Or that’s going to rush to be the first to declare “the movie of the year” when it’s only March? Or that’s going to contribute to time-wasting, lurid hubbubs around things like, oh, the Joaquin Phoenix appearance on Letterman? “Hey, look! A celebrity’s embarrassing himself! And I present this to you for the glory of God!”
Way to be relevant.
As these questions and frustrations have gone from a nagging whisper to a shout in my head, I’ve recently received several invitations to blog for other websites. They offer to post high-profile links to my website on their site. And I’m grateful for the compliment and the opportunity. But frankly, I really don’t want to spend time writing about movies unless I feel that it’s really going to contribute something meaningful to people’s lives. I believe that art is essential, and in a culture that buzzes about the director chosen for the sequel to Alvin and the Chipmunks… I think we need even more people taking time to teach us how to engage with art in a way that will enrich our lives.
It’s not my intention here to condemn film-buzz sites. I’m just encouraging people who blog that way, as I have, to stop and ask themselves if this is really the best thing they could contribute to the experience of art for their readerships with that time and space. Are we really serving people? Or are perpetuating “idle talk”? My fellow Christians often go into hysterical convulsions if somebody uses the word “shit,” but does anybody care if pages and pages of “engaging pop culture” amounts to… well… a load of crap?
I could spend all day reading details that have almost zero relevance to my life, my vocation, my relationships. How much time do I spend reading this stuff when compared to how much time I spend talking to friends and family about the details of their lives?
Confession: I know more about the upcoming Wolverine movie than I do about what’s going on in my brother’s life right now. How sad is that?
I really, really, really don’t care who’s currently being considered for parts in Dawn Treader. Especially since the folks running those movies are clearly more concerned with ticket sales than preservation of Lewis’s vision. Call me when the movie arrives. Then we’ll really have something to talk about. (But, on the other hand, I *am* interested in who’s involved in the adaptation of Silence, because that is a work of literature that has changed my life, and I see the potential for the film to inspire a passionate conversation in our society about the definition of faith. But I don’t want to waste time musing about the buzz so much as I want to make people aware of a story that has tremendous significance to me.)
So if you notice less trivia, and fewer posts, here at Looking Closer in the coming months, that’s part of the reason why.
Why am I bringing this up?
Friends of mine are brainstorming a new film site. I’m interested in their perspectives on film, so I’m excited to see what they come up with. They’ll be unveiling it soon. So I want to hear from you:
- Have you had enough of film blogs?
- What would you advise these writers and moviegoers NOT to do?
- What would you like to see them do that other film blogs aren’t doing?
- Would you encourage them to make room for comments? Or does that take away from the appeal of the site?
- Would you like frequent, short posts, or occasional, more substantial quotes?
- What would inspire you to tune in?
- Some, if not all, of the writers are Christians. What shape should “Christian perspective” take?
- Are there other blogs that you’re excited about that you would recommend as examples of significant contributions to film dialogue?
I’m curious. Pick one or two of these questions and let me know what you think. Or, heck, answer them all!
I frequent your blog, as well as Brett McCracken’s and Relevant Magazine’s site, regularly because I think the level of discourse in terms of frequency and depth of posts is just right. Occasionally I check out Entertainment Weekly’s site for some updates, but not very often because it does get pretty tiring trying to follow every single change in director or writer or star or release date.
So I love the more substantial posts that actually have something to say rather than the small ones that are mostly filler. (Though I do really enjoy your Browser updates because you don’t waste them.) If the “Christian perspective” on film and culture descends to sound-byte mentality as so many other blogs have, I think it will lose its purpose.
Most film blogs, and even the newspaper reviews (e.g. The New York Times), tend to be pretty homogenous in their perspectives. If these friends of yours come from different backgrounds and perspectives, I would like to know what those perspectives are and where they’re coming from. Another way to facilitate diversity and discussion could be to have more than one review of a film available on the site, especially if two of the reviews had competing reactions; have them both post their thoughts, or even talk about them in an interview/podcast format, so readers could be exposed to multiple opinions and then decide for themselves which one they agree with. Or if they even agree at all.
The challenge, of course, would be to keep it on a civil and respectful tone and not let it degenerate into aesthetic name-calling.
I’m going to answer your general question of what I would find interesting in a new film blog in a roundabout way…
After reading some of the discussion about the merits (or lack thereof) of the movie Gran Torino, I thought it would be nice if someone wrote a book that provided a spiritual study guide to films (secular or otherwise). I was one who felt Gran Torino was worthy of great spiritual discussion, and I came up with over a dozen questions about various aspects that could lead people to think about the spiritual/Biblical elements within it. Although a bit similar to “Through a Screen Darkly,” my vision is that a book like this would be more focused being a study guide for films, for providing specific questions about specific films, to encourage an in-depth spiritual study of each film, like asking questions about symbolism, plot points, Godly elements, Biblical elements, etc.
(Keep hanging with me…I’m about to make my point…)
Soon after Gran Torino, my wife and I saw (for the first time in a long time) “Stranger Than Fiction.” I found it interesting that when I saw it again, I found the analogy between the Emma Thompson character and God and the Will Ferrell character and Jesus quite startling. (I’m not sure why the symbolism and plot didn’t strike me that way the first time, but it didn’t.) As I did after watching Gran Torino, I came up with about a dozen questions about Stranger Than Fiction that could lead someone through a discussion of the elements/plot within the movie that could be viewed as spiritual and Biblical.
(Point now being made…)
The reason I mention this is because your question about what I’d like to see in a film blog got me thinking: rather than someone writing a “film study guide” book like that, someone could create a blog instead. Maybe it’s a “film study guide blog” in which, after seeing a current movie (or even delving back into older movies), the blogger comes up with a bunch of questions and creates a spiritual study guide for its readers.
Naturally, a blog like this would allow for comments from readers who will no doubt want to share their answers and interpretations. My thought would be that it would even allow readers to post their own questions, and thus in a way help the blogger craft the spiritual study guide of a particular movie. Maybe the site even has a “film discussion forum,” in which it takes a film a week (for instance, Stranger Than Fiction) and asks readers to watch the film and come back to discuss it. Or maybe the site provides questions for readers to think about before watching it.
Anyway, that’s the kind of new “film blog” that would interest me.
I really only tune into a few movie blogs, and to be honest yours is the only one that I believe writes from a biblical worldview.
I read your blog, I read /Film, and I read themovieblog.com. I am sure there are other great film blogs out there, but I read only a few. I would enjoy your recommendations as well.
Jeffrey, a very revealing post here, one that’s almost bursting at the seams in eagerness for a response. So I’ll go ahead and give you my 2 cents. I’m numbering your questions & apologize in advance for taking up so much e-space:
1. No. I think anyone who loves film loves at least the idea of film blogs. There have always been some that I love more than others, but that’s a different question, isn’t it? Even where I agree with your sometime disgust, I think it was Milton who said what I’m going to slaughter in paraphrase: “If a thing can be abused, doesn’t that suggest that there is a proper use for it?”
2. Don’t become less than human (i.e., shallow) in an attempt to be Christian.
Don’t convince yourself that being Christian is the same thing as being moralistic.
Don’t assume that every review or article will be *obviously* Christian.
Don’t limit yourself to films that seem Christian in some sense or another.
Don’t feel that you always have to agree with other critics, or that you always have to bash other critics.
Don’t just write for your fans or the people commenting on your blog.
3. Encourage dialogue – not just leaving posts open for comments, but asking questions, leaving gaps for discussion, refusing to write in a way that closes down thought, diversity of good opinion, and so on.
4. See #3
5. I think this depends on the gifts of the writers (both thinking gifts & writing gifts), as well as the style that best fits those gifts & the way the bloggers want to have conversation with their community-to-be. Either would be fine, and probably a mix of each, though not a 50/50 mix. That gets a little confusing for readers.
6. Honesty, real honesty. Films that I’m interested in, along with films I’m not and films I haven’t heard of. An unusual perspective, or an admission that for some films there’s only one. Honesty, mostly, and a unified, consistent voice.
7. This is the real question I think your entire post is asking: Just what is a Christian blog? Of course we could go back to Schaeffer’s provocative diagram from Art & the Bible here, but there are at least two kinds: a blog called Christian but not one fueled by a Christian worldview; or one that is fueled by it, & doesn’t [need to] call itself a Christian blog.
My thoughts? A truly believing perspective, what Harry Blamires might call ‘reviewing Christianly’, should be a thoroughly human exercise, rooted in the imaginative, faithful belief that this was one of the professions God had in mind when his creativity gave birth to creation. If making films and reviewing films are *normative* parts of creation, they will be filled with all of the thoughts & experiences you’d expect from an image-bearer. Sometimes they will be obviously Christian, sometimes theistic, and other times doubting, fearful, angry and hopefully … repentant.
There’s often too much “acting” that goes into something labeled “Christian”, and it’s why only the die-hard fans in that group buy it and/or believe it. But human? Truly human? That’s something rare, even though we all consider ourselves human. And who is more in touch with what it means to be human, to be an image-bearer, than believers? So, talk to us as one image-bearer to another.
8. I think yours is, Jeffrey, which is why I’ve frequented here since somewhere around 2003 and recommended your writing to others. I tell you this not because you seem to need flattery, but because I sensed some recognizable notes of mid-reviewing-life crisis in your post. If it’s any encouragement, you have gifts in this area. If these doubts are leading you to use them even more creatively, seize the day! Otherwise, keep plowing a straight line.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts & allowing me to share mine. My hope is that in all my blathering I’ve been able to give away one thing that I’ve been given, something that will be a help to you. Best to you!
Well as you can see my film blog is actually more of an archive now…but I agree. It reminds me of an article that Geneva College students have to read by Nick Wolterstorff about how the Christian college is irrelevant for the same reasons you just described…we don’t do anything significantly different. It’s called “The mission of the Christian college at the end of the twentieth century.” in Educating for Shalom
Great post. Since I started doing the “film blog” thing about two years ago, I’ve had to face variations of these questions from time to time. Personally, although I like to read reviews and commentary on the latest releases, I’m often most interested in thoughtful posts about great films of the past . . . which have the added benefit of being open for discussion in a spoiler-conscious medium.
Content aside (and maybe this is blindingly obvious), my favorite blogs are kept up by people who stick to the subjects they are passionate about, and let that passion show in their approach.
*Cheers for Will* I’d never have managed to say it so well, but put another tally mark behind his points.
I would like to see longer, more substantial posts by a number of writers in a single film blog. Maybe one post every 1-2 days that is well thought and written.
The reason I like longer posts is that when a writer takes the time to go deeper into a film or look at several films side by side, old and new, I usually learn more about the author and more about myself. That is infinitely more interesting than covering plot points quickly and opening a debate on an obtuse topic.
Jeffery, I met you at Laity Lodge last year. I am the son of the director Mark Roberts. I have enjoyed your book a great deal, and continually enjoy your website.
I thought that I could answer some of your questions.
Film blogs based on trivia certainly tire me. One of the reasons I love your blog is because every so often your readers get a personal and thought-out article based on a recent movie or a movie that you are truly passionate about. I don’t think information itself could create something worth reading. This is partially because much of the information gained on these blogs is tentative in terms of being factual, and learning trivia is not fulfilling. You could read all you want about the most fascinating movie, and it could still mean nothing to you. I will be excited about Iron Man 2 when I see the movie, not when I simply hear about the cast of it. Also, the majority of this information is already on thousands of blogs, so information like this is not exciting once you have heard it.
What I would like your blog, or any blog based on film, to do is to post less. However, but when you post, post thought-out insights about cinema. I am inspired specifically in your reference to popular cinema and your ability to find Christ in the sometimes inglorious and greedy films of Hollywood. I am inspired to be a better person not by complaining about that lack of inspiration in Oscar choices, or sulking about the lack of quality art in the box-office hits, but when through the problems, violence, and thought presented in cinema you can still discover inspiration.
I have a little blog that I am still in the process of, nathandroberts.com. There are notable things that are not even in existence, such as the “bio” page, and the “NAV Studios” page. Yet, my blog has begun. And with it I will always try not to mainly give silly anecdotes of pop culture, but to kindle a flame of thoughts and ideas, from as much of a human perspective as a “Christian perspective”.
Once again, I have very much enjoyed Looking Closer and all that you have written.
and, forgive me for spelling your name wrong. 🙂
From a writer’s perspective, the sort of introspection you’re undergoing is probably a good thing and I applaud you for it. Every once in awhile we need to check our perspective on things to make sure our priorities are in line with what God wants.
From a reader’s perspective, I must echo the others who have said they come here because of you do provide more serious and thoughtful posts. You have been a fierce advocate for works of art that you love and through that, you’ve helped me discover those very pieces. And when I follow you’re recommendations, I am rarely disappointed. Without them I would have never read anything by Kate DiCamilo or Patricia McKillip, probably wouldn’t have gotten around to seeing “Once” yet, and would have never heard of “Over the Rhine.” And in all seriousness with no empty flattery intended, you’re own writings are included in that list.
I doubt I covered any of your questions about what I want in a Christian Film Blog. But I think I come to yours as often as I do because you do not limit your topics to film. As can be inferred from above, I appreciate your occasional foray into literary and musical discussion as well your insights into the writing process. So, I doubt I’ve helped much with this post, but I can tell you that I feel you’ve used your blog well so far.
I’m all for another meaningful and purposeful film blog. But if it’s not too much to ask, let’s just please stay away from film reviews that consist merely of relaying and rehashing and rephrasing the entire plot of the movie. I feel like that’s what the vast majority of film reviews do. It spoils the movie if you’re reading beforehand or is simply useless and redundant if you’re reading afterwards.
* Have you had enough of film blogs?
Nope, although it should be said that the film blogs I check out are years old. I haven’t read many unestablished film blogs in awhile.
* What would you advise these writers and moviegoers NOT to do?
Stay away from simple reviews you can get at a million other blog sites. Avoid more rumor spreading and “confirmed actor” bytes. Yes, this stuff gets easy eyeballs, but as soon as someone else has the scoop first, you’re no longer worth reading. Knock off the “10 best fight scenes with a chick” type gimmicks.
* What would you like to see them do that other film blogs aren’t doing?
Instead of reviewing the latest film out there, take a chance with something that flew under the radar last year or last decade. Tell me why it’s good. Start a series on a theme — anything from great Soviet-era film to stories of redemption in American cinema.
* Would you encourage them to make room for comments? Or does that take away from the appeal of the site?
Comments are cool, but too many comments from bored people attempting to parse every word of a post kill the mood. Make room, but don’t let them run the place.
* Would you like frequent, short posts, or occasional, more substantial quotes?
Substance is the key — I can wait a few days for something of merit.
* What would inspire you to tune in?
Creativity, eloquence, and content I can’t get anywhere else.
* Some, if not all, of the writers are Christians. What shape should “Christian perspective” take?
Tell me what movies show your faith, be it a vampire movie from China or The Passion. Be discerning, not angry about F-Word counts, but not ignoring glorification of carnality.
I’d like to echo Nate’s sentiment: plot summaries masquerading as criticism are too common -which is part of what sets your page apart and keeps me coming back; I also enjoy the refreshing tact and insight displayed in the comments (hi Will!).