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Have you seen Avatar? If not, someone has probably told you that you should . . . I am not that guy! (especially since this blog is about discernment).
A few weeks ago, Mark Driscoll (the very popular Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle) called Avatar, "The most demonic, satanic movie" he had ever seen! I want to point out that I have greatly enjoyed the ministry of Mark Driscoll. He has challenged me in my preaching to be direct, while remaining connected to the Word and culture.
I am not going to speak directly to Mark Driscoll's comments nor am I going to speak directly to the movie Avatar. (no spoilers here!) I want to address the issue of Christian discernment.
It has been the tendency for my generation to throw out discernment on the way to the movie theater. It's like a routine! First we check our cell phone for movie times, next motor to the theater, on the way we throw out our brain, buy popcorn (because our brain has been disengaged already so why not pay $10 for something that cost $.15 to make!), then we watch bedazzling mind numbing eye-candy. Afterward we gush about the movie and wait at least 48 hours to reengage our minds so that the movie is more fuzzy and we can only remember basic impressions with very little spiritual analysis! I am not judging others . . . I have been guilty of this . . . but honestly, who wasn’t cheering for the “good guys” in Ocean’s Eleven as they creatively succeeded in breaking the 8th Commandment!
So how do we carefully discern a movie? Well, I think first is to keep the old mind churning by breaking the movie down into it’s two basic components. The first aspect of any movie is what I will call the vehicle. The vehicle is composed of the context, world, characters, and all aspects of setting that the action takes place in. Think Middle Earth for the Lord of the Rings, Gotham City for Batman, or Narnia for the Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe. I recommend serious caution when analyzing the vehicle of a movie (or book for that matter.) Let me illustrate. If you came across the scene when Lucy first enters Narnia through the wardrobe and discovers a new world locked in the icy grip of eternal winter, it would be kinda strange to immediately assume an evil environment and therefore evil intentions on the author’s part. But taking this scene a step further we will see how difficult it can be to discern an author’s intent by the vehicle.
Moments after Lucy shows up in Narnia, she encounters a half goat creature (think Pan, or even worse the druidic goat demons). A person unfamiliar with C.S. Lewis could be thoroughly justified in considering this as an attempt to make his readers more comfortable with Paganism! What we must recognize (particularly in the genre of fantasy) is that the author has autonomy over their vehicle! If they want their main character to be a winged purple monkey on the moon, that is their prerogative! We must use extreme caution in analyzing the vehicle . . . because it is hard (but not impossible) to discern the intentions of the author by the world they have created!
I call the above element, the vehicle, because it is through the vehicle that the main points are conveyed! They are not ONLY background, but they are finely tuned aspects to convey a point. So when we watch a movie, we must consider what is the vehicle that the author is using. But more primary, is the message that he is using the vehicle to convey?
I’ve never met James Cameron, but I feel pretty secure in suggesting to you that he might be an environmentalist. (Safe assumption?) The plot, the movement, the dialogues, the monologues, and action all occur within the confines of the vehicle that the author has created. This is the place of the most important work of discernment. Here the author directly speaks his thoughts and preaches his sermon! If we are not careful, the vehicle can be so stunning that we can be completely uncritical of the main points!
Ironically, my caution to Christians would be to be less critical of the vehicle used by authors and artists, but to focus on the messages they are preaching! We can sound a bit silly and easily misunderstood if we blast the vehicle . . . like attacking Tolkien’s use of wizards in the Lord of the Rings. We open ourselves up to the legitimate criticism, “Dude, Middle Earth isn’t real!”
We should be critical of what we see, and there are rare occasions where the vehicle itself is so corrupt and corrupting that Christians need to look the other way! But in this realm of discernment, we need to not just be discerning the message, but also carefully considering what elements of any given production are worthy of critique.
Recently; Avatar is an example of this, movies have become so riveting and visually engaging that viewers are immersed in the vehicle. This makes it harder to bring an objective analysis of the message to bear. Listen to people after the movie and what do they talk about? The visual effects. If we only focus on the vehicle, we still are grasping the message!
My final point is to leave the verdict up to you! Should you go see it? Is Avatar the “most demonic, satanic” movie? I don’t know if James Cameron’s desire was to convert everyone to paganism and am even less sure if he is an animist himself. But, since nobody can deny the amazing success of this movie, it is clear that he has connected with our culture in a significant way!
Now I am going to begin the process of discerning why? |
