catapult magazine

*Please note: my post excludes catapult magazine articles. I think they do a fabulous job incorporating a Christian perspective. The rest of us …. uh, another story.

Does anyone else feel that while the threads here are intellectually stimulating, we tend to ignore the Christian perspective? I’m not saying that there haven’t been such discussions, but, for example, most political discussions are liberal-vs-conservative, save for the “terror and freedom” thread which has turned an eye to what the Bible has to say about terror.

Or the discussion about “Kill Bill Vol. I” … it’s discussed as though we’re ordinary movie critics. But we’re not movie critics. And we’re not ordinary, as Christians. Is it really a movie that glorifies God? In a thread about what makes good art (or something like that), I posed the question that, as Christians, isn’t good art only that which glorifies God? … and what, exactly, glorifies God then? To my recollection, that went nowhere.

Hey, I understand the fear of dismissing and reducing everything to “What Would Jesus Do?” and sounding like a bunch of fundamentalists who take everything literally, but sometimes, folks, life isn’t that complicated.

Isn’t that the point of Christianity? To free us, not only in the life everlasting, but in the here and now?

Sometimes I think we over-argue issues in order to justify our own opinions. We so desperately don’t want to sound like “spoon-fed Christians,” so we attempt to blind eachother with our intellectual brilliance and levels of reasoning, ignoring the rather simple message of Christ in the process.

So, does ANYONE share my opinion that we could all be taking a more Christian perspective around here?

DIscernment is for anally retentive people. Just watch a movie for movies sake for pete’s sake. make sense? does to me. hi dan.

I agree that a smelly classroom can kill a good movie. And the “Christ figure” discussion is a good place to start for people who aren’t used to thinking about what they’re watching, but it is terribly over-used (almost as much as the “is it redemptive or not?” question which puts all the pressure on the ending of a film). I LOVE movies. I mean, just watching the curtain open on a preview in a theatre can nearly bring tears to my eyes, you know when the projector turns on and you hear that pop sound coming from the speakers and the dark screen lights up with the colors that shine in everyone’s eyes. Man, that’s the best! I want everyone to love movies as much as I love them, because they’re among the greatest of all experiences humankind can know in this and the last century. So I would hate it if people didn’t get to see Citizen Kane, the slow but sure Wings of Desire or the even slower Andrei Rublev just because they prefer action sequences and lots of suspenseful melodramatic twists and turns. There are many other types of twists and turns that become entertaining after you struggle with a film, after you ask yourself, “What is going on here?” It’s too bad that this kind of engagement with film only happens in the college classroom. It should have been happening at a younger age. Instead, Americans learn at a young age that they shouldn’t think about movies and that they should only trust their own judgment about what makes a good movie and that no one has a right to tell them what to think. I am so sad that people might miss out on great films only because they’re unwilling to expand their preferences.

No. Discernment is for people who put stock in understanding their role in the world and how everything they experience is connected to that. I think discernment is as important a tool to the Christian as going to church. And I’m one of the most anal expulsive people I’ve ever known thank you very much.
Though I can enjoy a movie as just a movie and do think there is a place for that, please don’t make blanket statements that are unwarranted and meant to be cheap slams.

Yes. These are not blanket statements that are unwarranted (what ahppened to the preservation of free speech on this site — seems to work for all the “regulars” . . . ) and it was not meant to be a cheap slam. You should know better than this Norbert. This was a statement. It seems that in this post there was quite an abundance of anal retentiveness in regards to the viewing of movies. i find this SO small minded. i dont want to hurt your feelings tho . . . . :(

eddie, the people who discuss here respect each other. if you can’t do the same, please don’t post.

I think i am being WAY misunderstood. There was nothing remotely offensive about that last post. a mere explination . I have respect for all other on this site and in life. sometimes i feel it just need to be said the way it is. I also have respect for myself and would be doing an injustice to me and mine if i did not say what is on my mind and heart.

The pretentiousness on this website is often nausiating. Seriously Dano. It is not a matter of disrepect at all, but if you cant take it . . . .boo hoo.

Let the walls fall down between the societal and philisophical classes. . .Amen.

down-on-discernment eddie,

are there any movies you won’t watch? do you like all movies just because they’re movies? if so, how have you achieved this blissful state of non-discernment and absolute tolerance? anally-retentive minds want to know, yo.

i knew it was going to be only a matter of time before you chimed in grant. couldnt wait. look i explained myself already, but if you are all too lazy or think you are too good to read my post or wish to selectively read them, i was repeat myself.

i was just saying that sometimes — it is just nice and lovely to sit down with your significant other and watch a frigging movie. you know, turn it all off, and say nothing more at the end than “hey that was good or bad.” i like to do that sometimes and am not ashamed about it. if you want to discern something like 50 first dates be my guest. i guess i am not so full of myself that i could just laugh at it without having to discuss the cinematography or literary style choise of the scripter. if you wanna talk about some like Jesus Chiurst Superstar. i’ll discenr all day long. or discern rather.

i tolerate a lot tho. but i do just like to turn it off. i guess when you have no kids, live in a little apartment, living off student loans for an eternity or slumming with some band you dont have much to turn it off from, because you are living life to the fullest and have all the time in the world for discernment. but some of us have to deal with real life and i wish to unplug from that at times. no offense.

ed.

I can and do often sit down with my significant other and just watch a movie without much more than a “that was pretty good” afterwards. But I think that there’s still discerment involved. I’ll be equally vocal if I think a movie or book or play or whatever is complete crap. Pretty much all my opinions and value judgements are based on a sense of discernment that I’m trying to develop within myself. Do I think we always need to write a thoroughly analytical dissertation on every piece of art we encounter? Nope. But I think it’s a good thing to have an opinion on what’s good and bad and to be able to talk about why…

I guess I think of discerning as a judgment call that answers the question: “What is good and what is not so good about a certain human work?” I don’t think of discerning as merely analyzing all the filming techniques. That can definitely get in the way of enjoying the film if that’s all you’re looking for. But I do think that film-makers, even those who made 50 First Dates, appreciate it when you sit in front of their movie and watch it with eyes open to what they’re doing.

I know that my involvement in a rock band and occasional dependence on student loans seems to put me in the ideal world in contrast to your really real world, eddie, but I think discernment is a real part of everyone’s real life already. In fact, I believe that art (movies, music etc.) is such a real presence in people’s lives, that I’m devoting my whole life to it despite the fact that I still haven’t experienced this feeling of fullness that people are supposed to have with no children, a small apartment and all the time in the world to watch tv, movies and read books.

If you want to watch movies as an escape from your own reality, that’s a nice dream. But if you want to turn off movies or tv, that’s an escape from reality too. This world is now in a power struggle of information and visual media. It’s a good idea for Christians to exercise their visual (and aesthetic) sensitivity so we can combat these powerful forces with redemptive movies, television, journals, music etc. If you think that’s not your task in the Church, that’s fine. You don’t have to feel guilty about it. Just don’t run down fellow Christian believers who are trying to make a difference in those fields.

Jason, you hit the nail on the head. I agree with you fully. This is what i was trying to say after my original statement. i thank you for bringing it to light.

I can and do often sit down with my significant other and just watch a movie without much more than a “that was pretty good” afterwards. But I think that there’s still discerment involved. I’ll be equally vocal if I think a movie or book or play or whatever is complete crap. Pretty much all my opinions and value judgements are based on a sense of discernment that I’m trying to develop within myself. Do I think we always need to write a thoroughly analytical dissertation on every piece of art we encounter? Nope. But I think it’s a good thing to have an opinion on what’s good and bad and to be able to talk about why…