Movie Malarchy: Crimes of Cinematic Construction

BLOG HOST: Heather LaPeer

I have mentioned in many of my posts my amazing boyfriend, Mackenzie (Mac) who has inspired a renewal of my faith, and shown me what it can be like when you are with the person God intended. It is amazing to have someone who supports and encourages my faith as well as someone who challenges and helps me develop my ideas. After much prompting Mac has *finally* (haha) consented to a guest post.

Ladies and Gentleman, Mackenzie Richardson, a man whose faith inspires me, and whose constant quest to seek a more complete knowledge of his faith and his God is an example for us all.

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This post contains explanations of graphic and inappropriate movie content.

While the post itself has no such inappropriate content, and the descriptions of the inappropriate content are not graphic or descriptive, we deemed it necessary to warn viewers. Keep this in mind in deciding to read the post.


GUEST AUTHOR: Mackenzie Richardson

So many people love going to the movies.  It’s an American tradition.  Our movies, music, our media in its entirety are dear to us Americans.  It is so dear to us that 1.34 billion movies tickets were sold in the US in 2013.  Believe it or not, this is a decrease from last year.  2012 sold 1.36 billion movie tickets.  My point is, Americans watch many movies.  As people of faith, the controversy surrounding movies seems to be a cyclical argument, going around and around, yet going nowhere.

This issue is one that has weighed on me heavily lately, namely what Christians can and cannot "get away with" as far as movies go.  Last night I attended a movie that progressed through no more than 45 minutes until I couldn't bear to remain and had to  walk out.  Aside from the lack of plot, the amount of immoral content began to bother me right from the start of this movie.  I have seen others in the series before and thought that it would be no different than those, so instead of researching this particular movie, I went ahead and saw it.  To say the least, I was disappointed. 

Before I go any further, I want to make it known that in no way do I believe movies are evil, I do however believe that there is evil portrayed in movies.  How the evil is portrayed is the issue.  In the book of Exodus, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments (Exodus 34).  These commandments are what we call the Old Covenant, and in many ways are the basis of the Christian faith.  To preface the next the paragraph, God does not expect perfection, that’s why he sent Jesus.  He was sent to save us from the sins that we cannot help but commit.  And while the New Covenant is a little different (Heather touched on this in her post Empty Epithets), the Ten Commandments are still a great way of understanding how to live a good life. It is impossible for man, born of sin, to be perfect. However, it is our Christian duty to strive for perfection even though it is impossible to fully achieve perfection. It may seem an oversimplification, but in some ways that is the point of being a Christian, to give Christ a good reputation by striving to be Christ-like, or in essence, perfect.

Saying a Christian needs to avoid a movie because of immoral content is oversimplifying. What the resolution of the immoral content is, is how to determine the difference between a movie a Christian should promote and one a Christian should not.  For instance, were a man and a woman in a movie to engage in premarital sex.  If they in no way suffer any consequences because of their actions, then in a pretty important way, the movie just glorified that sin. In which case, the lack of consequences in the resolution of the potentially immoral content means this is a movie a Christian should view or recommend. But just saying that seems so trivial.  The question is, what kind of consequences are we looking for?  On a humanistic level, I would personally see getting pregnant and not being able to take care of the baby as the ultimate punishment for their wrong doings.  And that level of consequences might be enough to justify watching the movie, but we also have to keep in mind that in life, as Christians, we know the consequences are much greater.  Dwelling in sin can come between us and God. 

I know I, for one, want to know what happens in the next installment of my favorite movie series. And I am less likely to let a rating stop me in this circumstance than in other circumstances. So how are Christians to deal with this trap and what are the ramifications of the existence of this trap?

My convictions tell me to make this next paragraph rather blunt. After all, little about the Christian walk is necessarily easy, but most of it is rather simple. How are Christians supposed to deal with the trap of the progressively immoral sequel? Quite simply, don’t go see it. Don’t give money to it, don’t give time to it, don’t let God (the one who will in the end judge us all) see a Christian walking into a movie that glorifies sins from which He sent His Son to die to free us. Sure, it’s a bummer, but I’m not about to compromise any of my beliefs or the meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice for two hours of trifling entertainment. Nor am I going to compromise my beliefs just to offer ways to make a Christian feel better about watching a movie of the same magnitude. 

What are the ramifications of the existence of the trap of the progressively immoral sequel? Again, I am going to choose to be blunt...the destruction of ones (and possibly Christ’s) reputation. It is quite possible that a non-Christian who knows a Christian went and saw an immoral movie, will be less likely to understand the value of that Christian’s witness. In fact, this may color their understanding of all Christian’s witnesses. Of course when we witness we need to ensure that our listeners know that we aren’t perfect, that we still mess up and strive to be Christ-like, but that does not justify setting a bad example or not exhibiting Christ-like behavior. 

This could potentially even destroy a Christian’s ability to witness, leading them to miss out on a huge opportunity to share the love of God.  The Bible tells us to honor God with our money (Proverbs 3:9). The Bible tells us to honor God with our body, his temple. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). He asks us to honor Him with our speech (Ephesians 4:29). Any behavior that is not honoring God will be denounced. Going to see the sequel anyway, thereby giving the resources God grants us to an immoral movie, is considered a sin as well (Romans 12:2). 

This has obviously been something which I have been thinking very seriously about since only a few days ago when I walked out of the theatre on what was supposed to be a fun relaxing night out. I believe that the Bible is clear on what a Christian should support and what a Christian should not. Nothing lays it out better than Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.