Theology & Film - Podcast Lecture 10

Many of the films we've been watching in class have depicted the realities of life in a decidedly unnerving manner. With this in mind, and considering that film is one of the many and varied mediums through which we engage with popular culture, this week, Dr Shane Clifton discusses the notion of whether or not popular culture can be bad for your health.

Your podcast assignment this week is to reflect on Shane's analysis of the ethics involved in engaging with popular culture and make a comment on how you decide, for instance, what films you will and will not watch.

Download film_lecture_ten.mp3

Comments

[Gudrun Sveinsdottir]

I fully agree with Shane's conclusion, that popular culture in many ways can be damaging for our health, and that we should seek to find a middle way when it comes to watching films,music etc. I agree that we should not be people who just watch anything and listen to anything without being critical, but on the other hand, we should not go the far other side either and be too critical to the extent that we do not watch or listen to anything secular.
I think that every Christian however has to decide for themselves what they are willing or not willing to watch or listen to, and follow their convictions and teir own conscience. As Paul said, for some it is bad to eat meat, for others not. Everyone simply has to act according to their faith and convictions. If I watch something that I am absolutely convinced I should not watch, then to me, that becomes bad and unhealthy for me. To the person next to me however it might be completely fine because they don't necessarily share my convictions. I know alot of Christians who enjoy watching South Park, but if I watch it I immediately feel uncomfortable and I feel like I am watching something "dirty" because of the humour and the things they make fun of Things that, as Shane mentioned,God has made good and holy in its right context. So that is an example of how Christians have different "standards" when it comes to the popular culture.

[Annette Hansen]

Kudos to Shane for yet another brilliant pod cast.
Thumbs up for the appeal to become mature in our critique, to engage with the world critically. To become mature, full stop.

This is confession time: I watched Rush hour 3 too!!! *embarrassed* But God gives mercy/kudos to the humble…Anyway… Like you said Shane: the movie didn’t show any sex scenes, but portrayed an attitude towards sexuality that strongly contradicts my core Christian beliefs.
Surprisingly, and sadly, few Christians hardly pick up on that, but jump up and down, and react if an actual sex scene is shown in the movie.

I’m tempted to ask whether in fact a sex scene could be more appropriate in a movie, than a sexual attitude that is portrayed throughout a movie?

I also have a huge problem with those who does not under any circumstance watch any form for nudity and/or sex in film, but gives praise to a movie like The Passion, which is nothing but gruesome accelerating violence from start to end. ? ? ?

I particularly appreciated the good argumentation that showed that there is not black and white, that we live in the area of grey, ending with the excellent comment that to live in the area of grey, that is faith.
This suggests, and I agree, that the urge and need to run to either direction, by that I mean a crave for certainty, or to quickly raise a banners of right or wrong, might display a lack of maturity, and maybe even more so: lack of faith……

I’d rather live in front of God, with my doubts and questions, than being 100% “sure” and completely irrelevant to 99,99% of this worlds population.

Lastly, presumably this podcast might have served an understanding as to why I love being a Scandinavian :o) (If I’m allowed to through some humour in there)

[Taijiro (TJ) Adachi]

I think contemporary popular culture is based on the idea of worldview so Christians should not adopt to it as Roman 12:1~2 says. On the other hand, we still have to win the people's soul which majority is still in the world. Therefore, we have to carefully choose what we watch and what we avoid and engage to the world as a Christian. I would watch any popular movies which does not contain any scence of unnesessary violence and sexual scence. Also I would not watch any supernatual films and dramas because I believe they really affect to our spiritual inner person.

X07433 Taijiro Adachi

[Tinky Mulchandani]

A lot of what Shane said is true and requires our attention, as Christians. Films and movies have its significance when it comes to framing and understanding contemporary theology,however, some productions can be daft.For instance, movies such as 'Superbad'is not worth the time and attention. Why would someone want to sit for an hour and a half listening to swearful words? I definitely dont. Having said that, a lot of people actually deem it as entertainment. This to me is very shocking. I am a big fan of culture. I especially enjoyed when Shane mentioned 'Culture' as being one of the reason for determining whether a movie is ethical or not. Culture is extremely vital to life. In the absence of culture people lose their individual identity. Belonging to the Indian and Asian background, much of my theology about the world and people, furthermore, my responses to things has largely been framed by my culture. Thus, the selections of films i watch sometimes have to be culturally appropriate.

Shane also introduced the popular topic of sex and violence in movies. In prior years, Bollywood movies would never depict scenes to do with sexual intimacies. It was considered inappropriate by the indian society. The irony is, presently this is not the case. Bollywood movies have become very "brazen" in nature. And in my opinion, this is a sign of inferiority. Their desire to be westernized have blinded them in a manner where they have either lost or misplaced their cultural values. Perhaps, a positive implementation from Hollywood movies would be seen as a desire to improve. Instead, the accomodation of transparent sexual scenes to attain approval says a lot about their personal inferiorities as a film industry.And I do not necessarily contend with such corrupted adaptations.

[Vanessa Pope]

Well, this is a very touchy subject in the Christian world...Is watching immorality and violence just as bad as committing the sin??
I believe that only you can answer that question for yourself...For me, personally I choose not to watch violent films because the scenes tend to "haunt" me....For the sexual scenes, well honestly, it's hard enough being a young adult in this day and age without adding graphic visuals to the picture (no pun intended)...But this maybe not be the same everyone...I guess we shouldn't lie to ourselves about what we can and can not handle...
As far as my belief systems goes...well I choose not to watch the supernatural type of film because of my own fear in it, and because "what if" it does have an bad spiritual effect??

[Alice McCallum]

choosing a movie to watch can be a very hard thing. walking through the video store and picking up movies to look at can be interesting but when it comes to actually deciding which movies to watch it is a very personal decision. The ratings can help, people can advise you what to see and what not to but in the end my choices are up to me and i may disagree with other peoples views. There are some movies that i have got to the end of and thought WHY DID I FINISH WATCHING THAT??? and there are others that i have turned off despite the raving reviews of the film. I think it is hard to choose which movies you are going to watch from just reading the rating. Sex scenes and drug use can be themes that i tend to stay away from, but they are real issues and to avoid a movie because of sexual references or a rating could be silly and 'sheltering' if that makes any sense. For me it also depends on who i am watching the movie with - that may sound hypocritical, but its true. I think its a personal decision that we will all face and when it comes down to it, if we disagree with something in the movie we can always turn it off. Its hard to put down on paper why i choose to watch some and not others, i just do...

[Haakon Skaug]

It has been interesting both listening to Shane, and read the responses here. We are living in a society longing for entertainment, and it seems to become more and more filled with sexual and violent content as we go. For my part I tend to stay away from "immoral" TV-shows like Grey`s anatomy etc. But if you ask me to watch some good action(violence) I`m in. What does this say about me? I don`t know. There are no black and white, and we need to figure out on our own the grey areas. Why do I watch good action? For no good reason. It entertains me. Should I watch it? I don`t know. But I will think about it...

[Stephen Morris]

Shanes ethical analysis of engaging with popular culture has certainly made me more aware of the need to focus primarily on content aswell as any kind of dehumanisation of the medium. As its not all about entertainment, but very much about agenda and capitalism. I find that that my choice of movie will certainly be affected by the community of God's reaction to it and how the spirit witnesses to me about a film, pre, during and after. I'm taking much precaution more and more to not just watch movies for purely entertainment sakes and try to understand what is behind the movie. As im not a huge movie buff, when i want to watch a movie i will certainly read more varied reviews in selection of a film or even to a t.v programme. My objections are certainly to gatutitious violence, continuance bad language and any objectification of women, aswell as just pure drivel.

[Matthew Lowe]

I think Shane gave a really balanced approach to this weeks topic. I'm the first to defend film but it's true that a huge proportion of films today are simply meaningless entertainment, driven by a capitalist pop culture. It can be hard to find truth in the mass production of films but that's what makes the hidden gems so good. The ones that make a statement.

Personally, I find the creation of reality television the new low of our time. A feast of shallow culture to stupify the next generation. Is stupify a word? If not, it is now :-0

I also like that Shane said not to paint too pessimistic a picture. That legalism and dogmatic approaches are unhelpful. I believe we need to encourage a generation of Christian artists that are going to speak to todays culture using mediums such as film.

Freedom of choice and maturity play an important role. One film may offend one person, whilst another may not find issue with it. Personal freedom needs to be respected! For the people who have a real problem with others engaging in popular culture, such as films, they need to understand that most people can distinguish between fantasy and reality and note the distinction. We as Christians should,
"Not withdraw, but engage critically." Good advice Shane, and thanks for using the word 'titillating' when discussing nudity :-)

[Christie Valentine]

This podcast challenged my view of "thinking critically" when going to the movies, especially when dealing with scenes involving nudity and violence. The comparison of the two movies- "As it is in Heaven" and "Rush Hour 3" regarding nudity and the view of women in contemporary culture is something to chew on. I didn't think of the cultural implication of the nude scene in "As it is in Heaven". I took it at face value and asked myself the question- "Why did they have to put that in there?" Now I see another persepective.

Though I haven't seen the movie "Rush Hour 3", I did catch the first two Rush Hour's and found myself tolerant of the attitude displayed by Chris Rock towards women and altogether dismissed it. It's funny what we tolerate and what we don't.

I will usually go and see a movie based on the storyline, word of mouth recommendations from people I know and the genre.

[Drea]

In response to Shane's podcast, I will say that I thoroughly appreciated his challenge at the end that perhaps we may need to learn to engage with popular culture more critically. After all of the insightful points that he brought up, I love that the conclusion was not a blanket statement of what we should or should not watch but rather a challenge for each of us to learn to think for ourselves, to learn to know ourselves enough in order to be able to identify what will be good or bad for us. In regards to how I choose what I do or don't watch, I pretty much approach the decision like that - I know myself and what affects me negatively and what affects me positively and choose accordingly. It's pretty simple really. :)

[Lovina Triman]

I have found Shane’s views and incites on this topic very helpful. I have always come from a position that it is best to only watch those movies that don’t have the most ridiculous levels of violence, sex, nudity ect and this still has not changed. I really believe that watching certain things can have an effect on you especially when they have an extreme violence and sexual content. Watching those kind of images never make an individual feel good afterwards and are not pleasing to experience and I have found that it is so important to choose what I feed myself on, what ideas, beliefs, images ect and also media can have such a strong influence on a person. However listening to Shane’s Podcast I do see where he is coming from when he says we must address these different movies with maturity and not allow it to AFFECT us and engage in the world that we live in and draw out positives and negatives. It is good to see how beneficial and in a sense a great tool watching movieS can be, to tap into the society that we live in and to better understand and reach it with the gospel.

[Prisca Post]

I did enjoy the podcast this week and I agreed on many things Shane mentioned. I agree that the way you perceive things is dependant on many factors as culture and upbringing. Popular culture has an extreme influence on our society and so as well on our personal development. What is quite normal now was outrageous the generation before us. Saying this, makes me wonder were this will stop. Boundaries seem to be an alienated word nowadays. As I am Dutch myself I have to say that I might be on certain thing open minded whilst on others strict. I believe that the media and so film is an amazing way of communicating a message. Though while communicating a message there needs to as well a truthful solution to the problem that is addressed. This is one of the things that I hated about the movie “Dogville”. It showed the depravity of mankind and in the end gave a solution which is biblical as well as not satisfying. Yes certain scenes in movies need to be shown to get the point across; the question is where the boundary is. I don’t believe that it is necessary to use a 15 minute sex or violence scene to get the message across of love, hurt or abuse. We are created with an amount imagination and that needs to be cherished as well. Not only that, I am not sure if I believe that we should be able to watch horrific scenes without any emotional response and say that it was just to get the message across. We tend to get num to certain visual things and try to justify it by accepting that this is just part of contemporary society. I do watch movies that have content and are not only entertainment based, but these movies/ documentaries next to showing the problem also show possible solutions. Not only that their focus is on the positive. The decision to watch a certain movie/scene is definitely personal. As Christians we have the Holy Spirit to help us with that, but I won’t continue to watch something that has no purpose and is just meant to horrify a person.

[Wigand Sugandi]

I did really enjoy this podcast especially the challenge from Shane to think critical in engaging with nowadays culture.. To be too critical perhaps could make us too apathis/think negatively.. I absolutely agree with Shane that we shouldn't reject but we have to think critically.. in other words, we have to have like "filter"... We have to be relevant, but it doesn't means we absorb everything from world's value... Our value must be Kingdom's value..

In relating withhow to choose the movie that I prefer to watch or not, I would like to choose the movie from its value... firstof all, the sexual content must be rejected.. never ever make any excuse for this one things... No matter how God anointed you, but you have to reject this one... Even David and Samson fall in this area of sin... Secondly, i like to watch true story movie.. Mostly, the movie which based on the true story has a great value, such as man of honour, john q, remember the titans, etc...Finally, i like comedy movie, just for relax :))))

[anna konevitchenko]

This was a really interesting podcast, and perhaps one of my favorites so far. I really loved and appreciated that Shane didnt just attack popular culture, and damn it, but rather gave both sides of argument, especially in regard to how the film industry affects Christians today. The first half of the pod-cast was especially enlightening - when shane was reading from the book he mentioned (im sorry i forgot the name) and it was commenting on how much the church itself is now expected by so many christians to hold the same sort of pizzaz and entertainment value as you would find in a local cinema or a major blockbuster film, and as a result, church's today are
"dispensing with meaning for the sake of entertainment"

This was such a hard question to answer, i mean the ethics behind pop cultural being bad for your health, i mean in one way yes, completely. People today, christians and non-christians alike can find themselves so caught up in the hollywood world, that they know more about the current big names than their family or friends. Going back to the point about the deification of celebrities and basing our beliefs on their word, thats when it becomes dangerous and wrong.

personal moral choices vs. broader moral positions of society -- you need to weigh that up in your own head, so that you will not then go and repeat what you see...etc

Im glad Shane distinguished the difference between a necessary sex scene vs. unnecessary sex scene - typical of a blockbuster Hollywood film used to make money. I agree with this, as hard as it may be to watch a film with any sort of sexuality in it, if its necessary for the plot line, or character development than perhaps its not so out of line for that film to contain it. I think its so great that shane encouraged critical examination when viewing these films. I loved what shane stated, that film can be both a positive and destructive force, and bring up elements especially to that of a christian society i think, that could cause you to see in a different light, raising questions,insights, meaning that perhaps we as a Christianity society didn't see before.

How i select films i will and will not watch is i suppose by how i know it will affect me. I have my own set convictions and boundaries that i am comfortable with, and i will not overstep them. However, in saying that, i think its also important not to take some films too seriously, and see them and enjoy them for the entertainment value they are developed for.

[Daniel Sailer]

Great podcast and some very interesting posts. You could argue that this is not only true for movies, but also for books and other media. Should we have a rating system for books? What books are children allowed to get in the library?

Here as well maturity as required and a critical discussion with everything we see and read. This means taking responsibility and being "enlightened". When in the enlightenment people were breaking free from just doing what authorities were telling, we now need to break free from what culture or the majority is saying and critically question it. Or we just take the blue pill...

[Jessica]

I appreciated the challenge in the podcast - to engage with pop culture critically. It has been an interesting experience in Theology and Film this semester, being exposed to films that wouldn't be my first pick on the shelf. But I'm glad I had the chance to watch them because it has broadened my understanding on my own culture and the issues and experiences that are being expressed through film in recent times.

It's interesting to think whether the things that are expressed in films are bad for your health or not. I would have to say that this depends entirely on your own conviction and understanding of your own limits. I know that watching horror movies is bad for my health! I literally can't watch them because of the effect I know they have on me. However, other people might not have any problems with horror movies whatsoever. I don't think it's our place to judge others with their choices (that's if they are at a maturity where they can make the right choices... if we're talking about younger people, it's a whole other situation). I think it's important to engage with movies outside your comfort zone in order to broaden your views on society but be wise in the way that you do so, keeping in mind your own limitations and weaknesses and how images on screen affect those.

[Rebecca Lowe]

I have loved this subject! The way I watch film has been deeply challenged and I don't just sit and watch anything just for entertainment purposes the same anymore.
My thoughts about whether or not film affects our health is that it depends on what you are watching. I have a big issue with film that depicts graphic ways of killings and rape scenes. I don't think that's good for anyone. I personally can't watch any horror films at all because I get plagued with scary dreams and I hate any demonic type associations. But that is due to my past experiences. Most people can watch anything and it won't have an effect. It comes down to your experience and conscience. Watch what you feel comfortable with I say and don't be one of those Christians who are prudes and just like to count swear words in a film rather than look for it's depth and message.