In the first article discussing why we should engage with entertainment, we reviewed the four elements of God’s story: Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. Next, we looked at how filmmakers express their views of the world through the same four elements, using Cinderella and Knocked Up as examples. In this article we’ll examine how to respond to the views of the world that filmmakers present us with using Man on Fire and Pocahontas.
Interpreting Man’s Story
As we engage with these stories it is not enough only to recognize what view of the world the storytellers are offering us. We must also respond to the view of the world the storytellers are offering us. As we do so, we will find that there are some parts of the story we can redeem, some we can receive, and some we must reject.
Redeem
What aspects of this story tap into some truths of God’s story without being entirely consistent with it? For example, in Man on Fire, the hero of the film spends nearly two hours of the movie violently torturing and murdering people he suspects have something to do with the kidnapping of an innocent young girl. While we cannot accept the idea that justice is obtained through the violence of human vigilantes, we can accept the idea that this girl needs justice and evil people must pay. Thus, we redeem the storyteller’s desire for justice by affirming that justice must be done and pointing to Jesus as the one who brings justice in Redemption (upon himself) and in Restoration (upon the wicked).
Receive
What aspects of this story are in any way consistent with God’s story? These aspects of the story we can receive and celebrate. For example, the hero in Man on Fire is ultimately unable to overcome evil with evil through his pursuit of vigilante justice. Instead, he overcomes evil with good by voluntarily laying his life down in place of a little girl who is powerless to save herself. We can receive Man on Fire’s view of Redemption: it does not come through fighting evil with evil but through fighting evil with good. Namely, through the good of a powerful hero laying down his power and winning through weakness. Sound familiar?
Reject
What aspects of this story are directly opposed to God’s story? These aspects of the story we must reject – no matter how emotionally or artistically moving the story might be. For example, Disney’s apparently innocent Pocahontas propagates one of the oldest lies about the Creation portion of God’s story: pantheism. Rather than seeing God as separate from and above nature, pantheism portrays god as a spiritual force that lives within all of nature which, consequently, makes nature itself god. We must reject Pocahontas’ view of Creation because it fails to make a distinction between the Creator and the created.
Think of the last movie you saw. What story of Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration did it tell? What can you receive? Reject? Redeem? Tell us in the comment section below!