People like to be entertained, want to be entertained, and maybe even need to be entertained. If to live is to know pain, then entertaining ourselves is one escape from that pain. This is human, and it's a universal truth.
We constantly seek entertainment.
I am by no means sitting on the forefront of popular culture, modern trends, the newest fads, or even the latest revolution in social networking (still don’t really get the whole Twitter craze). However, I do enjoy movies and music a lot, perhaps more than your average Joe Christian. And as a Christian, I am well aware that we have a need to stay away from anything which causes temptation towards sin, for ourselves and for those dwelling in our household. As a Christian human I can also tell you that I have very little interest in Christian entertainment today, and there are hundreds of thousands of decent Christian people who feel the way I do on this. Do you see the irony? As Christians, many of us can not enjoy the music and movies made specifically for us. So how can we possibly expect this entertainment to reach those who did not grow up in church, the same people who probably have a thick emotional wall built up against anything tagged as “Christian”?
Don’t get me wrong, there are quite a few exceptions to this lack of quality in Christian entertainment. There are some Christian movies which could pass as good movies to any audience. I personally am partial to a few Christian musicians, such as Andrew Peterson and Jeremy Casella. But these should not be exceptions! Directors, writers, and musicians inspired by God should be consistently releasing some of the most profound and powerful entertainment today! Any movie or music lover can tell you that truly great entertainment can be much more than just entertainment. Schindler’s List is a movie which probably changed who I am in some ways as a person. It hit me that hard. I say that not to promote Schindler’s List, but to stress that there should be hundreds of Christian movies far more powerful than this. A flawed man saving hundreds of Jewish people during World War II is a powerful story. The son of God saving the entire universe is incomparably more powerful.
So what’s the problem? Many arguments could be made, but for me the answer is clear. So much of the Christian entertainment today is produced without the slightest hint of honesty or grit.
In an attempt to keep everything so neat and clean, the details surrounding the truth being presented end up ringing false. Vulgarity for the sake of shock value is dreadful and disgusting. But that does not excuse sanitizing something until it no longer feels relatable, until it feels fake. When even a great story is populated with cardboard cut out characters and riddled with cheesy clichés, the more discerning viewers will roll their eyes and check out emotionally.
Okay, I hear you. “But Mr. Cynical Writer, aren’t most popular secular movies and most secular songs filled with cheap thrills and paper thin storytelling?” Yes, of course they are, and that is exactly my point! Christian entertainment should be different. It should not ring as hollow as the rest of the popular entertainment industry. So, is there a solution? Maybe.
I believe that the answer lies in being honest, being real, and admitting human brokenness. Life is a struggle for even the best of us. There is no use in trying to hide that! Whenever a character in a movie seems truly human, the odds of the audience connecting with the story increase exponentially. Even a mediocre movie with believable characters can leave an impact. Imagine how powerful the story of salvation should be when you deeply feel the struggles of the people in the story! By the same way of thinking, no Christian musician should, in my humble opinion, ever feel comfortable releasing a song that is anything less than their very best. If copying what every other musician has done, both lyrically and musically, is the best they can do, then so be it. But I believe that inspiration from God should lead to some of the most brilliantly honest and powerful music out there today, Christian or not.
The Christian entertainment industry needs to stop being so concerned over stepping on a few toes. We should be seeing and hearing a sample of the heart and the raw power of God on display, not a carbon copy of the same cheap entertainment the secular world is pleased with. All forms of Christian entertainment are in serious need of a dose of reality. There is no excuse for movies and music filled with so much truth to look and sound so phony. It is time to cut the candy coating away and reveal the truth inside. (Ouch, and I was complaining about cheesy clichés!)
5 comments:
well said! Thanks for puting it out there for us to process.
Chuck
Great post and glad you've blogged again. When we think of Christians and how they want to reach out to the world around them, the entertainment industry provides a great opportunity.
Thanks for sharing.
Lots of great points being made here. We need to have more discussions around this topic.
This is a challenge for me as I write because the same issues apply. It's easy to let the editor on our shoulders or even at our family reunions dictate how "grittily" a story gets told.
And BTW - thanks for inviting us to the Andy P. concert the other year which is where I discovered Sara Groves who I also like alot!
I still think you should write a screen play!!!!
Thanks for the comments so far. I really do feel strongly about this topic, and I feel it's more important than some may give it credit for.
Joyce, Sara Groves is really fantatsic. I also got a couple of her cds after the Andrew Peterson concert. She writes straight from her heart.
I agree totally thought I think the real problem is that Christians have been pulled away from it all if you make a movie and call it Christian you can't talk about all the junk you know what I think that makes it more necessary than ever to talk about all that and more. Were not just cookie cutter Christians any more and nothing is as it seems the problem is that we would rather speak out against our own kind and push them down till they are not able to speak while the world is allowed to run ramped with whatever they choose. We have too many guide lines and too many people to answer to that we can't say one word out of place. You know what I say do it any way get people talking if it's what God wanted than I do not care what the others say it needs to be out there. I think that a film that gets controversy weather it be from the Christian side or not would make it a movie more apt to be seen preach against it and I bet there will be a line around the building preach for it and the saved will show I don't know about you but I'm really not trying to save the save but save the sinners show what real people face not what they tell you all flowers and gum drops. Truth be told demons sit on your couch with you they don't just stay in nightmares and I think that's something people should know. I love music as you said you do but the best Christian artist I know have all sold out and no one else is there to take their place we need fresh alive music and I’m sorry if you can’t get in to something with a beat but were trying to save our teens not our elders the world is a scary place and there are more things than ever to turn to we need to make sure Christianity can fight and compete with the flash and pow of this world.
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