Last night, one of my Twitter friends, who follows many of the same people I do, noted that there were no preachers tweeting during the Oscars—which is very rare when anything significant is happening! Many, many legitimate reasons come to mind for this inattention, but the Tweet insinuated something often true of Christians, i.e., that they might not be interested in the most popular stories of our culture and time.
Here are the reasons many Christians hate Hollywood:
- The majority of films depict a completely secular, godless worldview.
- Some films/filmmakers are overtly anti-Christian and often resort to ridicule.
- Hollywood celebrities usually do not share conservative Christian moral or political values.
I myself see Hollywood, not as the enemy, rather as the reflection of the Enemy. When you look around at your world, what do you see? I suspect that if you do not live in a church building or a Christian commune, you see a secular, godless culture, ridiculing Christian faith more than in the past, and that you do not share common values with very many people. Hollywood zips the culture we live in down into two intensive hours—and such an intense confrontation disturbs us deeply—as it should!
Hollywood is the prophetic voice, not the First Cause of our increasingly secular and materialistic culture. The best painters, musicians, authors, and, yes, filmmakers tend to operate from the fringe of a culture, not from the mainstream nor the lagging edge. Years, sometimes decades are needed before mainstream society accepts as “the norm” what creative artists previously produced from the fringe. Artists don’t create the future; they just recognize the first stages before most people do. (I recognize the influence of Thomas Kuhn’s Structure of Scientific Revolution in my thinking here.)
The numbers have not been reported, but most likely over 40 million Americans watched the Oscars this year. In 2009, Americans bought 1.42 billion movie tickets. Add to that the significant number of movies that are included in the twenty-eight hours of television weekly per capita in the U.S. and you get the feel that somebody out there is finding something they need or can identify with in these productions. Perhaps if we watched, not passively, not fearfully, but thoughtfully, we Christians might discover more connections from which to converse about Christ. “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” Ephesians 6:12 (TNIV)
Question: Is disengagement from a decaying culture the only appropriate Christian response?
Mark,
Christians have long wrestled with the appropriate manner of engaging culture. The monastic movement was started in response to what was viewed as the corruption of the church after the Empire embraced Christianity. Their voice and response was probably a valuable one in alerting other Christians to the crisis of corruption.
Jesus tells us we are not of the world, but we are SENT into the world. He further tell us–through his prayer in John 17– that we are sanctified by truth. If we, as Christians, remember our sanctification, then we need not fear being corrupted by the world.
The issue of movie-watching is a complicated matter. Yes, it is true that we will hurt our ability to engage thoughtfully with the world, if we cut ourselves off from movies. I think most movies we can watch with discernment and learn something valuable about our world (and for the record I love movies!). However, I also believe there are certain movies that simply glorify the darkest desires of human nature. Christians may be better off simply as a witness by being counter-cultural in those cases.
Watching movies is generally a passive activity (like listening to music) and therefore it can be easy to lose our sense of being “sent” and allow ourselves to instead be “shaped” by what we watch. I am for engagement with our culture through watching movies, but I think it is wise to recognize the spiritual effect watching particular movies has on us. If it is harmful, then stop watching and engage culture in another way!
I agree with you, David. Christians do not/should not have to engage with every artifact of culture in order to be relevant. I do think that almost anything we do passively–except submission to Christ–can be dangerous. Christians are transformed by the spirit of Christ and then are to be a part of the process of transforming the world. Perhaps the football adage is true at some level here: the best defense is a good offense! Thanks for your comment.
I’m always amazed by the number of “secular” movies that deal with “Christian” themes of forgiveness, grace, salvation, etc. While they almost never point to Jesus as the answer (at least overtly), many times there is an inherent message of hope. So I agree with you — movies often reflect the longing our culture has for the brokenness of this world to be made right again.
Sometimes, they do allow a character to deliver an overtly Christian message. The opening few minutes of Les Miserables (with Geoffrey Rush and Liam Neeson) is a great example of this.
If God is a creative God (and I believe he is!), then the artful form of movie-making is certainly a way to express the image-bearing way in which He has created us. I find many movies to be a reflection on the longings our culture holds most deeply too. I also find that most of those longings are ultimately, at their core, something which connects with the heart of Scripture. In the end, we all desire/hope the same things. So, yes, I agree; more of thoughtful engagment with those who put pictures to our culture and less throwing of stones.
Mark,
I agree completely. Wise Christians will listen with discernment to film and music and find in each that the artist is trying to wake us up to realities that are not yet generally available. I find that many of the questions directors and musicians raise find at least some substantive response in the gospel. And, I’m always overjoyed to find secular stories of love and reconciliation that echo and even illumine the gospel story powerfully.
Carl