Happy Pill Overdose - rants from the Christian subculture (Part Two)

Mythbusting Christian Film on a Matchstick Scale

There are a few 'myths' I've come across whilst looking at Christian film and music, believed by people when they 'excuse' Christian film not being as tightly packaged or delivered as the Hollywood Blockbusters.

(For the record, I think some Hollywood movies are pretty crap too, and that we shouldn't have to 'excuse' poorly delivered Christian films, but that's neither here nor there right now).

Myth One: Christian movies don't have a hollywood budget, so they can't be as good as a secular movie

I hear this SO much when debating this issue! We need a budget of 1 million PLUS to make a popular, interesting film. The Christian film industry doesn't have that, so it's automatically going to be less 'polished' than a movie made by the big corporations (WB, 20th Century Fox, et al). So we just need to accept that, and like it anyway.

That is untrue.

There are 3 movies I can think of, off the top of my head, with very small budgets that were fantastic quality, excellently delivered and also made a good showing at our local cinema.

Juno was a perfect example of a movie with a small budget, that still was received with praise by critics, and loved by the every day film watcher at the same time.

It had a strong message, characters that evoked feeling from the viewer, and was brilliantly made - even if it wasn't so 'polished'.

There is no reason that Christian film makers can not do the same thing. Sure their budget may be small, but with the right people in place, something 'small' can be wonderful.

Myth Two: If we don't have the Gospel message displayed obviously through our film, noone is going to grasp it.

Too often in Christian films, the emotions of a conversion scene, or a strong relationship of God is often destroyed for a viewer due to a 'cookie cutter' approach.

Instead of leaving the symbolism to speak for itself, for some reason there's this massive fear that someone will miss it, if we don't have the big booming voice explaining in detail what's going on.

(I should add that Hollywood especially is not void of being too 'obvious' with their message - but the best movies are those that allow symbolism and subtlety speak for themselves).

People, generally, are intelligent enough to know the subtext of a film, more often than not. You do not need the 'paint by numbers' approach to Christianity tacked on like some little 'extra', to show someone's heartfelt relationship with Jesus Christ.

The other problem we run into when we do this, is being so afraid of offending any particular 'subsection' of Christianity, that the film just loses it's sensitivity and genuineness entirely. Yes, there are different groups that will demand to see certain things, when agreeing to finance/support a Christian film - but at the expense of reaching the very people we're supposed to be catering to?

We do this SO much in Christianity, and sadly it ends up with our 'pop culture entities' (whether that be film, tv, music or even our more famous Churches), becoming a laughing stock to the wider community.

If you would like to see some amazing films that don't lose their subtlety, and still have a strong message of Christianity and redemption, please consider films such as Chariots of Fire, and Amazing Grace. N.B. Please don't let something like the word 'arse' being used, taint your whole opinion of said films.


Myth Three: Coming to Christ solves everything

Sadly amongst our community, we often (not always deliberately) come across as though we're saying 'come to Christ, and all your problems will be solved'.

This is never more evident than with a lot of Christian films lately.

Have a marriage problem? Convert, and this will be solved.

Suffering depression? Convert, and it will go away.

Infertile? Convert, and God will bless you with a baby.

Not that I'm condoning a 'works' doctrine - but these things don't necessarily get solved or 'go away' when you ask Jesus into your heart.

It still takes work. Counselling, medication, psychology is still often JUST as important after you have Jesus in your life, as it was before you did.

So why do we show this as being 'truth' with most, if not all, of our Christian films?

If it's leaving me with a feeling of anger that we're deceiving non-Christians like this - imagine how the non-Christians feel!

There is a definite feeling amongst pop culture Christianity that 'we can't talk about bad things'. To pretend like they don't exist once you become a Christian. To not share that despite your relationship with God, you still struggle with depression/infertility/mental health issues/etc.

Yes, Jesus can certainly (and does in a lot of instances) make it easier to deal with issues in your life, and can often provide an avenue to help treat the issue, that may have not occurred, prior to asking Him into your heart.

But trust me - most of these issues are not solved solely by praying harder, reading my Bible more, or having my backside in Church every Sunday.

Those things can often open up doors to healing - but they are not the 'bandaid' we often make them out to be.

And we shouldn't be perpetuating that in our films.

In my next article, I'll be discussing myths that abound in Christian music, and how we present our music to the world, more often than not, alienates and has people laughing for the 'cheese' we manufacture.

Again, please do not think I am against supporting our Christian film industry. I am definitely keen on viewing the majority of Christian films I hear about, and am still open to their message. And I do appreciate the hard work that so many of them put in to 'preach the gospel' through this medium.

But I just get frustrated with the mentality that NOT liking a Christian film, or highlighting 'flaws' instantly means I am doing the wrong thing as a Christian.

I just think we can do a heck of a lot better than we usually do.


(ps. I thought it good to note that tomorrow I'm going to Church - and I'm going goth).