In my last post, I argued that a Christian’s primary concern when watching a movie is to discern its message. In this post, I want to list some viewing tips for so doing. What are some explicit and inexplicit cues writers and directors use to convey the message?

1. Pay careful attention to scenes with powerful monologues and dialogs. Scenes like Clarence (Henry Travers) telling George (James Stewart) that he wasn’t alive to save his brother from drowning in the pond in It’s a Wonderful Life, Maximus (Russell Crowe) telling the Emperor (Joaquin Phoenix) his name and purpose in the middle of the Coliseum in Gladiator, or Col. Nathan Jessep’s (Jack Nicholson) famous “You can’t handle the truth!” speech from A Few Good Men are a few scenes that powerfully relay the film’s message. These are the ones that stand out when the credits are rolling.

I realize this isn’t anything profound - pay attention to important dialog. Okay! You usually have to be asleep in order not do that. But I want to emphasize these scenes’ importance because they often function as mile markers or moments of interpretation for the film’s message. Thus, if a viewer doesn’t discern or understand what’s being communicated in them then he or she is missing an opportunity to understand the message.

2. Pay careful attention to minor details and illustrations. One of the beauties in reading a book is that you get to follow along as the author sets every minor detail for every scene. You follow it piece by piece until it comes to fruition in your imagination. Whereas in a movie the scene is set for you and all the details are presented at once. Well, take the time to look around. What’s in focus isn’t the only thing that should be noticed. Look at the landscape, i.e. pictures, buildings, music, extras, supporting actors, etc. These are details that directors pay attention to and use to help move the story along.

They also help set the mood. Now the mood often affects our experience, and as I said in the last post, Christians should be more concerned with the message and less with the entertainment experience. However, the experience shouldn’t be ignored because the forcefulness of the message is often conveyed through the experience. Apart from smell and touch (You get that with the popcorn.), movie watching is a sensory experience. Imagine watching a whole movie without a musical score. (BTW, there are some out there.) The recently released and award winning Atonement wouldn’t be the same were it not for that ingenious musical score that integrates the key strokes and bell of a typewriter.

In addition, illustrations work beautifully and add a certain dynamic to the story.  The examples are endless, so I won’t give them to make this already lengthy post any longer.

3. Pay careful attention to the story’s perspective. In order to discern the message you have to know what’s being said and what’s not being said. In other words, a movie tells a story and there could be multiple perspectives of the same story. So from whom’s perspective is the story told?

One of the best ways for determining the perspective is to identify the “villain” and “hero”. Whom has the writer and director pinned as the guy we hate and love; the one we feel sympathy for and the one that deserves to see justice? Now that doesn’t mean that the “hero” is always of noble character and vice-versa. So you’ll have to think a little more broadly depending on the movie. Nevertheless, identifying these characters will help in understanding from what perspective the story is told. (One obvious example of the same story from two perspectives is Clint Eastwood’s Letters from Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers.)

So as you catch up on the Best of 2007, be discerning and know the message. You never know what kind of opportunity you may have to discuss themes such as death and life, sorrow and joy, depravity and redemption. (That leads me to my next post.  What must the message be in order to call it “good”?)

Posted in Culture |