Prof. Leeper showed us a blog on the Sherwood Baptist movies and the usual conversation took place. And I agree with most of it.
Just not all of it.
I've seen all of the Sherwood Baptist movies, and I thought, by and large, the same things everyone else thought. The films were too preachy, the acting was okay but faltered in places, opportunities to give meaningful insights were squandered in exchange for hammy emotion and watered-down situations, the catharsis was too easy, etc.I will confess that I have participated in a lot of bashing of the "Christian" films without a second thought, but during class, a thought occurred to me. I don't want to point fingers but some of the comments, a lot like mine, struck me as sort of arrogant. When I bashed these films, I felt superior in that I knew that these films were dogmatic and poor art and water-down and other things. But then I started to feel guilty.
In class we talk a lot about the power of film and how Christians often barely scratch the surface with their movies and preaching. I started to wonder if I had ever seen a mainstream film that inspired conversation on Jesus and/or God. The answer was no. Sure there have been films that touch on the supernatural, but hardly any have given an accurate picture of who God is. Granted, I believe The Apostle and Get Low were great, but rare examples of Hollywood making truly profound films that point to God, but ironically, Fireproof made more money than The Apostle and Get Low combined.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that maybe we shouldn't call the Sherwood films "bad" films. For one, they actually have impacted people for Christ. Sure, their audience is limited to Christians and the few non-Christians who decide to show up, but I heard an old saying where there's rejoicing in Heaven for even a single convert. So in that regard, the Sherwood films were successful.
Secondly, these movies are useful for Christians themselves. After all, some Christians need to be better husbands or better fathers, don't they? Even if no one outside the church watches these movies, I would say they're good resources for Christians to use themselves. Don't we need fixing as well?
The thing is, these films may be the forerunners to better Christian films. We all know Hollywood is in no hurry to make Christian art.
Do I think the Sherwood Baptist movies are art? No, not at all. But I do think they have value. God can work just as well with these preachy films as He can with artistic films. I don't think God is waiting for us to master art before He works through our films.
So I say, yeah, the Sherwood films may not be artistic, but instead of just criticizing them, just look at them for what they are. They may not be art, but that doesn't mean they're worthless
You raise some good points Steve and if i were talking to anyone but potential filmmakers we wouldnt even be having tyat conversation. I only have one problem with your argument though. From everything I've read about these films I don't think they portray the God of the Bible as much as they portray a rather shallow understanding of how God works in our lives. Or maybe they just project how we wish God worked in our lives.
ReplyDeleteThis is one reason I'm looking forward to watching "To Save a Life". From what I can tell the film tries hard not to simplify either life's complexities or the Gospel's ability to address them.
I agree, I don't think they're worthless at all. My view is that as long as a movie, book, or anything can change someone's view then it was a success. It only takes affecting one person to make a movie worth something.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I really thought about these movies being forerunners, like you said, but that's a good point, now that I think about it. I've never looked at them as giving that sort of contribution before.
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