| “Do you think that movie makers place the Christian themes that you discuss in these movies on purpose?” | ANSWER |
| “Do you use the movie ratings from the Motion Picture Association of America to help you decide what movies to watch and what movies to avoid?” | ANSWER |
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“What is a ‘Christ’ film?” |
ANSWER |
| “Have you seen many ‘Jesus’ films?” | ANSWER |
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“What do you mean by a ‘metaphorical’ film?” |
ANSWER |
| “How did you become interested in movies and film studies?” | ANSWER |
| “Do you think that Christians should watch films which contain violence, crude language or inappropriate sexuality, particular R-rated films?” | ANSWER |
The modern movie-making process is so complex and multi-leveled that they seldom involve any single level of meaning. Any contemporary movie is the result of the labor and input of scores of creative minds. However, movie makers (producers, writers, directors, actors and actresses) are eager to make films that make money. By placing Christian themes in films and by creating appeal for serious minded Christians, they are able to increase marketability. Therefore, the Christian themes and images discussed on this web page were nearly always deliberately incorporated into the various films. The motives behind the inclusion of such themes are sometimes financial and sometimes religious. Regardless of the movie-makers’ motives, Christian movie-goers can appreciate these themes and use them to further their understanding of the gospel and to further their witness to Christ.
The MPAA ratings are helpful in evaluating whether my daughters (ages 4 and 12) can watch a film with me. For more mature viewers, however, the ratings offer little guidance about the value of a film. The MPAA rates only language and images in relative isolation from their narrative context, but a film’s language and images are best evaluated in light of the goals they serve within the film’s larger narrative context. A “G” rating offers no assurance of content consistent with Christian faith and practice. An “R” rating does not preclude the possibility of a profoundly Christian message. Mature Christian viewers often find significant value in watching films that they would not view with their children.
For more on MPAA’s ratings, see www.filmratings.com.
A “Christ” film portrays a leading figure who gives his or her life in order to “save” someone else. These “Christ” films have a lead character who brings redemption or liberation to a group of oppression or repressed people. These films usually end in the death of the main characters. In other respects, they vary widely. For example, Mel Gibson is a violent Christ figure in “Braveheart” and Paul Newman is a non-violent Christ figure in “Cool Hand Luke.” Leonardo DiCaprio is a highly sexualized Christ figure in “Titanic.” The Christ figure in “Savior” is a newborn baby and the Christ figure in “Spitfire Grill” is female. See the bibliography on Bryan Stone's page.
“Have you seen many ‘Jesus’ films?”
Since the advent of film, over 100 “Jesus” films have been made. I have seen many. I have reviewed a few on accompanying pages. These films are useful because they help us to see how different people interpret the gospels from their different social and religious contexts. For a quick introduction to this genre, I recommend “Jesus” (1979, directed by Peter Sykes) as an example of an Evangelical Jesus film, “The Lamb of God” (1993, produced by the Church of Jesus and the Latter Day Saints) as an example of a Mormon Jesus film, “Jesus Christ Superstar” (1973, directed by Norman Jewison) as an example of an “objective,” but interested and sympathetic, Jesus film, “Jesus” (2000, directed by Roger Young) as a Catholic example of the genre, “King of Kings” (1961, directed by Nicholas Ray) as a classic ecumenical Jesus film, “The Life of Jesus: The Revolutionary” (2000, directed by Robert Marcellini) as a politically-minded Jesus film and finally “Life of Brian” (VHS 1997, directed by Terry Jones) as a spoof of the entire genre. For complete essays on the genre of “Jesus” films, see bibliography on Bryan Stone's page.
“What do you mean by a ‘metaphorical’ film?”
Modern movie-making is first and foremost a business, and as such, its primary mission is to make money. Because movie producers want to make money, they work very hard to give movies the broadest possible appeal. Part of this mass market strategy is creating movies that speak on multiple levels. Thus, it is common for movie-makers to create movies that tell one story on the surface and another decidedly different story beneath the surface. This second, deeper, level of meaning is often described as a metaphorical meaning. These metaphorical meanings are often explicitly Christian. For example, on the surface E.T. is a story about boy who meets an extraterrestrial. On a deeper level, E.T. is a story about the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Similarly, The Majestic is both a story about a guy who is confused with a dead war hero and a story about the meaning of Christian baptism.
The short answer is that I think Christians should neither violate their own consciences (if a movie offends you, don’t watch it) nor question the sincerity of those who disagree with them (if others decide to watch the same movie, don’t judge them). Because of our God-given individuality, we develop different convictions and sensitivities. A movie may prove deeply offensive to one person and yet be deeply inspirational to another equally committed Christian. In my experience, the context and use of images and themes are more important than the mere presence of those themes and images. For example, the movie Savior (starring Dennis Quaid) contains extremely disturbing senseless violence and brief nudity, but I find the movie deeply moving and conducive to significant Christian theological reflection. Other movies, like the popular Rambo series, contain a “heroic” type of violence that is less disturbing on a surface level, but I think that movies in the Rambo genre subtly promote a glamorization of violence that is inherently sub-Christian.
“How did you become interested in movies and film studies?”
I grew up in the Church of the Nazarene where one of my Nazarene friends jokes that we spelled cinema with an “s” (sinema). With the exception of a brief flirtation with the theatre in the 80s, I almost never attended the theatre until the mid-nineties (after the advent of the VCR made movie watching a household phenomenon). At first, movie viewing and theatre attendance were strictly diversions from the demands of my Ph.D. program at Southern Methodist University. Eventually, however, I began to note similarities between the movies I was viewing and the work I was doing in narrative theory in my study at SMU. (I was studying narrative theory as it applied to the gospels and Acts in the New Testament.)
After graduating from SMU, I began teaching at Eastern Nazarene College in Boston, where I regularly had students join me at my home to watch a movie. As these students and I viewed and discussed various movies (thanks to Brent & Heather Temple, David and Jessica Kiragu, Rod Nicklaw, Jonathan & Michelle Batchelder, Matt Haskin and others), I became increasingly interested in movies as a theological medium. This interest grew as I began reading scholarly writings on faith and film. Pleasantly, I found that my background in narrative theory proved a good base from which to study films. Then, Colorado Christian University, where I taught from 2001-2005, offered me the opportunity to teach courses on faith and film.