Evangelicals miss the big picture
By William Romanowski
USAToday
Mon Feb 6, 7:20 AM ET
In the late 1980s, an evangelical leader offered to buy the prints of
The Last Temptation of Christ so he could destroy them. Less than two
decades later, evangelical and other church leaders bought blocks of
tickets for The Passion of the Christ, helping to make it one of the
top-grossing films in 2004.
The Passion's numbers were an eye-opener for Hollywood. Now, movies
with clear religious themes such as Constantine, The Exorcism of Emily
Rose and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the
Wardrobe, and even those without any sort of explicit Christian
connection, such as Cinderella Man or The Greatest Game Ever Played,
are being pitched by studios to reach the "Christian" market. More
specifically, the target is those evangelicals who embraced The Passion
with such enthusiasm. And evangelical organizations are helping out.
SermonCentral, an online resource company for pastors, sponsored a
promotional sermon contest for Narnia. The winning pastor won a trip to
London and $1,000.
Consumers are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on religious
books and Christian-themed music. The film industry wants to cultivate
this market. The problem Hollywood faces as it seeks to maximize this
potential audience is that "evangelical" Christians are not easy to
define. But one thing is certain: The major portion of that market no
longer thinks that only films rated G or those based on Bible stories
are appropriate for evangelical consumption. There is a market for more
wholesome fare, with or without a religious theme, and it needn't be
just for children.
A mainstream appeal
A recent MarketCast study co-sponsored by Variety magazine found
religious and non-religious people "nearly indistinguishable in their
attitudes" about moviegoing, according to a Variety article reporting
the results. In fact, these religious folks seem to have a penchant for
the sentimental, the melodramatic and the violent (of course that puts
them pretty much in the mainstream of American taste in entertainment).
People of goodwill ought to be concerned with the cumulative impact of
a steady diet of American movies that often exalt self-interest as the
supreme human value, glorify violent resolutions to problems, make
finding the perfect mate one's primary vocation and highest destiny,
and offer material prosperity as the most reliable source of meaning
and satisfaction in this life. Such a value system arguably runs
against the grain of most religious traditions.
Of course, filmmakers claim they're only giving people what they want.
Critics complain that in deference to its bottom line, Hollywood makes
too many movies that are mediocre at best, lacking creativity and depth
in story, theme and characterization.
Family-friendly films in particular - the kind many evangelicals
advocate - tend to depict a world where all issues are plain and
simple. Evil-doers are destroyed, the virtuous rewarded. The "good"
characters have within themselves everything they need to secure their
destiny and only have to come to that self-realization.
That's the theme of countless films from Rocky to Cinderella Man, The
Wizard of Oz to The Incredibles. Sometimes, characters get a little
magical assistance from a divine source, as in The Legend of Bagger
Vance or The Family Man.
Were more evangelicals to think about movies in terms of their faith
beliefs, they would actually have an opportunity to not only buy
tickets, but also to begin to shape the entertainment industry.
For instance, the Judeo-Christian tradition maintains that all people
have dignity and worth because they are created in the image of God,
but that they also have a tendency to do evil. Redemption comes from
experiences that make people aware of their own brokenness and
insufficiency. Films such as Magnolia or The Apostle resonate with this
kind of perspective. The characters have a moral ambiguity that fits
with real life and makes for good drama - and interesting movies. Both
are intended for adults.
The best motion pictures transform the real world into an imaginary one
with ideals, values, attitudes and assumptions woven into
characterizations and storylines.
Culture, not conversion
Evangelicals can influence Hollywood when they think of the cinema as
an arena for cultural discourse but not a place for converting members
of that culture to a specific Christian orientation. In other words,
evangelicals' goal for the movie industry should be to encourage
discourse, not merely evangelizing.
Last year's Oscar winner Million Dollar Baby sparked debate about
euthanasia. This year, Crash deals with racism; Good Night, and Good
Luck probes the role of the news media in keeping politicians
accountable to the people; Syriana touches on geopolitics and oil; A
History of Violence explores the potential presence of violence in all
of us; Munich the perpetuation of bloodshed. Religious audiences can
engage these films by reflecting on the perspective they represent, yet
applying their own religious context.
But old habits die hard.
Representatives of evangelical groups said they resisted boycotting
Brokeback Mountain only because they did not want to draw attention to
the critically acclaimed film about gay love. And evangelicals are
divided over End of the Spear, an evangelical production based on a
real-life missionary story. Some leaders are encouraging people to see
this film about forgiveness, while others are campaigning against it
because it stars an openly gay actor.
So what do evangelicals want from Hollywood anyway? Help converting the
masses? If so, movies don't seem as if they're the most effective
forum. Despite all the evangelistic hype for The Passion, a survey by
The Barna Group showed that less than one-tenth of 1% of those who saw
the movie accepted Jesus Christ as their savior as a result of seeing
the film. Likewise, don't expect a jump in the size of the gay
population because of Brokeback Mountain, however much it might foster
the national conversation.
Only when evangelicals agree to look at Hollywood not just as an
evangelistic tool, or a harmless entertainment provider, but also as an
important participant in cultural discourse will they understand that
as a major share of the movie market, they are in a position to shape
that vital discussion.
William Romanowski teaches film studies at Calvin College in Grand
Rapids, Mich.