Ian, Christians need a reality check. Our 'artists' (and cinema is an important art) are downright awful. Fireproof and Courageous are just the prominent examples of the middling, middlebrow, mediocre art that we produce. It seems that conservative Protestants will love most anything that is 'biblically-based'. It seems to me that this trend is a disturbing manifestation of the anti-art ethos of evangelicalism that has driven away (or failed properly to encourage) those with the talent and willingness to develop their craft as artists. And I see no hope in the pretentious "Christian hipsters" that evangelical liberal art institutions produce.
Courageous is as trite and heavy-handed as Fireproof and it is sad. Just as contemporary evangelicalism lacks a robust intellectual heritage (though we try to claim the Puritans, a imperialist bunch that I am reluctant to claim as my own), it lacks an artistic heritage. Where are our Tarkovskys? Bergmans? Fords? Coppolas? Scorceses? Why is the list of great Catholic filmmakers (like Ford and Coppola) so vastly superior to that of conservative Protestant as to be beyond comparison? To take just one well-known example: Where 'the Godfather' speaks subtly and eloquently about culture, heritage, diaspora, family, capitalism, crime, succession, etc...Courageous says 'we need good dads'. And then it yells "WE NEED GOOD DADS!" A fine point, but hopelessly blunt. Art is not preaching.
Ian, Christians need a reality check. Our 'artists' (and cinema is an important art) are downright awful. Fireproof and Courageous are just the prominent examples of the middling, middlebrow, mediocre art that we produce. It seems that conservative Protestants will love most anything that is 'biblically-based'. It seems to me that this trend is a disturbing manifestation of the anti-art ethos of evangelicalism that has driven away (or failed properly to encourage) those with the talent and willingness to develop their craft as artists. And I see no hope in the pretentious "Christian hipsters" that evangelical liberal art institutions produce.
ReplyDeleteCourageous is as trite and heavy-handed as Fireproof and it is sad. Just as contemporary evangelicalism lacks a robust intellectual heritage (though we try to claim the Puritans, a imperialist bunch that I am reluctant to claim as my own), it lacks an artistic heritage. Where are our Tarkovskys? Bergmans? Fords? Coppolas? Scorceses? Why is the list of great Catholic filmmakers (like Ford and Coppola) so vastly superior to that of conservative Protestant as to be beyond comparison? To take just one well-known example: Where 'the Godfather' speaks subtly and eloquently about culture, heritage, diaspora, family, capitalism, crime, succession, etc...Courageous says 'we need good dads'. And then it yells "WE NEED GOOD DADS!" A fine point, but hopelessly blunt. Art is not preaching.