Being Critical About the Movies You Watch

Summer is upon us.  Well, it is finally upon me and that means I get to read what I want to read, go to the mountains with with my chacos on my feet, do some massive multi-person-multi-tube tubing, and apprehend my time for movie viewing experiences.  Most blockbuster hits intentionally come out during the summer, and most of us have the time to watch more then usual.

We love movies!  And in all reality, movies not only give us the most recent and up-to-date cultural commentary but they tend to create culture in and of themselves.  Movies are the biggest and best preachers of our day.  Movies communicate messages to the people, and more often-then-not, people relate to these messages and are influenced by these messages without even thinking critically about them.  

We must be honest with ourselves, most of us (myself included), watch movies brainlessly without any form of critical lens or without any form of biblical lens only seeking to be entertained.  We must watch critically and we must watch through the lens of the Bible.  

Think of Avatar for example.  What were some of the main themes/messages of the movie?

1. Pantheism.  God, or mother earth, is a part of everything.
2. Humans have essentially used up all of her resources and we are no longer ‘green.’
3. Whenever we want things we usually just take them (war) instead of using any form of diplomacy.
4. Humans were presenting as evil and you found yourself cheering against them.
5. We long for a ‘perfect’ pandora where everything is beyond beautiful and ‘mother god’ is connected with her people through the stewardship and care for her planet.

Or, how about the not-so-obvious message of a movie like The Hurt Locker?  Honestly, I enjoyed watching both Avatar and The Hurt Locker, but even a movie like The Hurt Locker if not watched carefully can affect you negatively.  Here are my thoughts on this movie and movies similar to it:

• Just because a movie is entertaining does not mean that it’s message, and the way it affects you, is wholesome.  What does this movie preach?  What is it communicating… intentionally and unintentionally?  In this movie particularly, we are left with a somewhat true message of the realities of war and its affects on the lives of those who partake.  The message was real and it was about real people.  We must watch without just wanting to be entertained but we must ask hard questions about how this movie portrayed sin, authority, God, sex, manhood and womanhood, materialism, etc.  In The Hurt Locker, I was communicated a message by a man whose manhood was not really manhood at all, and I was left almost being envious of how ‘cool’ I thought he was.
• Who was the hero of the movie?  In The Hurt Locker, those who saved people from bombs were definitely the heros… and rightly so!  But how did those heros influence you?  Positively or negatively?  We must look past the purpose of the movie and honestly ask ourselves if the movies we watch push us toward holiness or not.  In this movie particularly, you were left cheering for a man who was addicted to war, neglected his family, and had no morals.  Although, he did show a glimpse of redemptive action when he cared for the kid on his base, and obviously, when he saved others from dying by defusing bombs.  
• Does this movie allow me to live justly Coram Deo?  Coram Deo is a Latin phrase which literally means ‘before the face of God.’  Logically stated, living Coram Deo is living with a proper fear of the LORD.

Craig Cabaniss, in his chapter ‘God, My Heart, and Media’ in the book Worldliness (edited by CJ Mahaney) gives us a few fantastic guidelines to use when thinking through the content of a movie:

• What worldview or philosophy of life does this program or film portray?  What’s the view of man’s nature?  What’s the view of sin?  Is sin identified as such?  What’s the view of God-ordained authority figures?  And how do these views relate to God’s view?
• What does this film glamorize?  What is valued or considered important?
• Is sin shown as having negative consequences?  Or is sin glorified or rewarded?
• What’s the sexual content?
• Does violence appear as a natural part of the story, or it it used gratuitously to entertain?
• Does the film portray materialism as “the good life?”
• Will I benefit from viewing this movie?
• Does it reflect artistry, truth, beauty, or goodness?

I am NOT stating that you shouldn’t watch either of these two movies.  Actually, I would encourage you to do so.  More importantly, I would encourage you to watch them critically and not brainlessly.  Movies are serious fun with serious messages that affect each of us without us even knowing.  Let us be careful about what we allow to enter our minds.  Let us live Coram Deo and when we do this we walk in integrity because those who walk in integrity walk securely before the LORD (Proverbs 10:9).  

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NOTE:  A good filter to use before viewing movies is http://pluggedin.com.  They are a ministry of Focus on the Family and it tells you the answers to the questions above before you watch them and have to ask them yourselves.