Empty Seats
Introduction
To tell a story, is to be human. Humans are created to be narrative beings. Stories structure and guide humans’ thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and the means by which people shape their very view of reality. In the modern world, the cinematic story has become integral to society. Films are the way in which ordinary people are invited to experience the extraordinary. People are invited to think about new ideas or learn a new perspective on a known topic.
Hastily, not to miss out on the popular trend, Christians began making films in hoping to compete with Hollywood in defining truth and reality. Because cinematic stories hold such an important position in modern life, Christians should seek to make meaningful films. Unfortunately, the films that the church has been producing are not only poor in quality, but harmful to the church. It is due to the inevitable disservice that is done to both the church and the craft of filmmaking, that Christians should be discouraged from making such films. In other words, Christian filmmakers should not make Christian films. Every time a Christian film is made, the church suffers, and filmmaking is mocked.
I am a visual storyteller by nature. Growing up, I sought every opportunity to tell stories with a camera. My friends were recruited as actors, promising them fame and fortune among my 6th grade Co-op class and paid them in whatever candy that could be found at the corner market that day. When actors were in short supply, my Lego collection was the subject in the form of stop motion animation. I was captivated by the endless possibilities for creativity film brought to storytelling. I spent hours exploring my own life through the characters in my short films. My short films were an externalization of my developing mind. As I grew older, I began to wonder what my passion for film was for, and how I was supposed to use it for the glory of God. I looked to other Christians, whom I thought had the same passion, who were making films with a gospel message.
The Christian film genre has left its mark on the Western Evangelical Christian world in recent years. Christians line up outside cinemas across the country like 35-year-old Star Wars fans when the latest Kendrick brothers film hits theatres. Having seen these movies myself, I was always curious why they appealed so much to a Christian audience. I For someone looking for a way to honor God through film, the faith-based films I was seeing were not a great example.
This paper will explore how the Christian filmmaker should set out to make a film. First the aspiring filmmaker must understand what makes a film meaningful in the first place. After understanding how meaningful messages are made and examples are given, the paper will look at what Christian movies are and why they are harmful to the mission of the church. Third, the Christian filmmaker must let biblical missiology inform and the film and filmmaking process. Finally, an example of how Christian films should look will be presented which will combine aspects of good filmmaking, a theologically rich message, and a missiologically informed execution. Before getting into what makes a film meaningful, a few terms have to be clearly defined.
Definitions
The phrases, “Christian film” and “faith-based film,” though well known among the Christian community, are difficult to define. Faith-based films are not an official genre of film recognized by all, but they certainly do have several commonalities, especially in their defining attributes. Faith-based films tend to have a bad reputation due to poor quality, bad acting, clunky scripts, and a narrative story that reads more like a sermon than a compelling movie. To define them by their merits and not their shortcomings, they will be defined as follows: “Christian films” and “faith-based films” will be used interchangeably and will refer to any film made by Christian filmmakers for the spiritual growth of Christians or in an effort to reach non-believers.
As mentioned before, there are many other similarities which have made the Christian film a pseudo genre. Between the slice-of-life style, dreamy aesthetic, predictable story structure, low-risk cinematography, and most importantly the subject matter, these films may as well be the same film. Because of the many similarities they share, they deserve to be recognized as a genre. Not as iconic as romance, action or horror, but a notable genre among the Christian community.
For this paper, the definition of film is important. Film as a medium uses its unique audiovisual nature for the benefit of storytelling. Between the years 1910-1927, motion pictures were only just that—a series of pictures in rapid succession, appearing to look like a picture in motion. Audio did not accompany these motion pictures until October of 1927 in the film The Jazz Singer. The ever-evolving medium takes the latest technology of the day, using it to improve and invent ways of telling stories. A good film is innovative and uses the unique aspects of its medium, the poetic duet of light and sound, to further the story and bring meaning to light.
Missiology is the study of Christian missions in their method and purpose. For something to be missiologically informed, means that it is in line with the biblical idea of mission and how the church is to bring the gospel to communities around the world. For a film to be missiologically informed would mean that it is intended to reach unbelievers in a way honoring to God and the great commission Christ gave the church in Matthew 28:16-20.
A Meaningful Film
As with any artform, the artist intends to make beautiful things which are in some sense, an extension of themselves. No artist sets out to make bad art. Whether it is to themselves, a small group of people or anyone who will look, the artist hopes to convey a message—a message that holds meaning. Artist should want to make meaningful art, but how does one make meaningful messages?
Meaning is a complex topic with hundreds of books written exploring the concept. In short meaning is how art is interpreted. It must be understood that meaning is not in the message itself, but in the sender. The message cannot tell you want it means. In the case of film, it is merely a combination of lights and sounds that symbolize some mutually understood meanings for words and images. Meaning cannot be transmitted nor can it be transferred. The artist creates meaningful messages because they are meaningful to himself. Likeminded people may get the same meaning, but others may find meaning that was not originally intended. Meaning is discovered in the interpretation of the message.
For a film to be meaningful, it must appeal to its intended audience. A story will have more meaning to one person or group of people than it does for another. Making a meaningful film means you have to know who you are making it for and stay true to making a film within that context. Characters, settings, ideologies, score, all these parts of film can work together to invite the audience into a world that will resonate with them and will be rich with meaning. A large part of making meaningful films is removing blocks that will get between your film and your audience—distractions will hurt the connection being established with the audience. What are these distractions and how should the filmmaker avoid them?
First, the Christian filmmaker has to understand film as a medium. The filmmaker has a responsibility to be a filmmaker. This means that the medium should never be chosen arbitrarily nor should the task of creating a film be taken lightly. If the filmmaker does not make a film to make a film, but uses the medium to preach a sermon, or merely use film as a vessel for their message, their film will fail. Moviegoers go to watch films, not hear sermons. If the fullness of the medium is not being used to shape and give life to the story, it is disrespectful to the audience. There is an agreement between the viewer and the filmmaker. The viewer agrees to sit through the 2-hour story in exchange for experiencing a new world in the film. A violation of this agreement will drastically reduce the potency of meaning.
Alfred Hitchcock, widely recognized as one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, has built his reputation on being innovative. His awareness of physical space, pushing the limits of cameras, the cleverness of scripts and complexity of story have all contributed to what film is today.
Second, the filmmaker must respect the audience. Audiences are made up of intelligent people. Some filmmakers forget this and the film ends up being a dump of verbal exposition detailing the entire plot and the message of the film. These are bad films. These are not meaningful films. Meaningful films deal with complex themes in creative ways so that the audience can explore and interpret what they see on screen to find the meaning. What are some examples of meaningful films? Three films are listed below that have complex topics and messages. The films are well executed and hold rich meaning. Be advised, spoilers for Memento, Avengers: Infinity War, and Silence are discussed in the following paragraphs.
Memento (2000)
Christopher Nolan’s second film Memento feature Guy Pierce as Leonard Shelby, a man with anterograde amnesia, which means that he cannot make new memories. The film follows Leonard as he attempts to find his wife’s murderer, a John G., for revenge. His condition becomes the audiences as Nolan chooses to tell the story asynchronously, intercutting half the scenes from the beginning of the story and half from the end playing backwards until they meet in the middle of the story leaving the audience more confused than the protagonist. It is revealed by the end of the film that Leonard’s wife survived the attack and was instead killed by himself by accidentally giving his wife an insulin overdose.
With his condition taking something so basic to humanity as memory, Leonard feels more broken than ever. The audience slowly learns that if it were not for his quest for revenge, he would have nothing to live for. Also revealed at the end is that he has already killed the man believed to be his wife’s assailant. At the climax of the film, Leonard says the following:
"I'm not a killer. I'm just someone who wanted to make things right. Can't I just let myself forget what you've told me? Can't I just let myself forget what you've made me do? You think I just want another puzzle to solve? Another John G. to look for? You're John G. So you can be my John G...will I lie to myself to be happy? In your case Teddy...yes I will."
Memento is ultimately a story of self-deception—a commentary on the human desire for and pursuit of meaning, even if that means choosing to believe a false reality. The themes and message of Memento, heavy as they were, were amplified by the storytelling method of the broken narrative. This is a movie that addresses an important aspect of the human condition and uses film to its full potential to deepen its impact. More on Memento here.
"I have to believe in a world outside my own mind. I have to believe that my actions still have meaning, even if I can't remember them. I have to believe that when my eyes are closed, the world's still there."
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Every villain is the hero in their own story. This is especially clear in the nineteenth movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Avengers: Infinity War. The film fallows Thanos as he attempts to save the universe from starvation by overpopulation by eliminating half of all sentient life in the cosmos. However, he is met with opposition in the form of the infamous superhero team, the Avengers who don’t think mass genocide is the answer. The Avengers fight and are ultimately defeated, letting Thanos snap his fingers killing billions of beings across the universe.
Avengers: Infinity War, though a superhero blockbuster, brings some heavy themes to the table. First, it shows what sinners in the hands of a loveless god looks like. To Thanos, the overpopulation problem is simple calculus answered by randomly reducing the population by 50%. Thanos is man when he tries to act God. An unloving god will make unloving choices.
Silence (2016)
Silence is a film about two Jesuit missionaries who travel to Japan to investigate the a fellow missionary who allegedly apostatized. During their time, they are met with hostility, torture, and other challenges. The main character is tortured over and over and he watches his friends and disciples be killed for every time he does not denounce his faith. The film addresses self-righteousness in the faith and the idea that following God sometimes means doing things that are against what Christians consider to be God honoring. More on Silence here.
Each of these films display an aspect of the human condition with brutal honesty. They deal with extremely complex topics with enormously important implications. These topics, which are very well articulated and explored in the aforementioned films, should be explored by Christians in the films they make. People are hungry for meaning and hungry for answers. These films are relatable which makes them powerful. They connect to the viewer. These issues are relevant to the Christian life and should be answer with truth found in Christ and in His word. However, faith-based films are too focused on gospel presentation.
Though close, this is not the complete picture of what film can and should be. The final piece can only be answered by Christian filmmakers. Given these clear directions for film and having the missing piece, one may expect that Christian films are the most meaningful and theologically profound films. However, this is not the case.
A Faith-Based Film
Why are these films not meaningful? First, they do not connect with their intended audience. They are completely disembodied from the culture they attempt to reach, which results in an inaccurate portrayal of their audience. This can be demeaning, offensive, and breaks down trust between the audience and filmmaker.
For example, in the 2014 film God’s Not Dead, a freshman college student, challenged by his atheistic science professor, decides that God needs to be defended. He sets out to prove that God is not dead, but alive and true. Beyond having bad theology in general, this film fails on every level to be a meaningful film. Concerning this film, Michael Gerson says,
"The main problem with God's Not Dead is not its cosmology or ethics but its anthropology. It assumes that human beings are made out of cardboard. Academics are arrogant and cruel. Liberal bloggers are preening and snarky. Unbelievers disbelieve because of personal demons. It is characterization by caricature."
Here, Gerson is exactly right. The problem is with how this film handles the portrayal of unbelievers, specifically atheists. If the film was intended for non-Christian audiences, with the filmmakers hoping truth is conveyed and people are converted, why would they spend the entire 113 minute runtime portraying atheists are haughty, inconsiderate, hateful people bent on the persecution of Christians and the collapse of religion? The answer is simple, the filmmakers have misunderstood the importance of coming to their audience with love and respect.
Second, Christians filmmakers are coming at the filmmaking process entirely wrong. The church has always been infatuated with taking popular culture and putting a Jesus twist on it. Faith-based films are no different. The church has been too concerned on staying relevant with the best way to reach unbelievers, that their techniques begin to look a lot like propaganda.
Alex and Stephen Kendrick, writers and directors of several Christian films including Flywheel (2003), Facing the Giants (2006), Fireproof (2008) and Courageous (2011), have been open about their calling. They have stated that they are not filmmakers but preachers who only desire to build up the body and preach the gospel. They use film to do this, but see it as merely a vehicle to spread their messages. This line of thinking leads to the inevitable misuse of the medium which hurts the impact that piece of media will have on the audience. Why have a podcast that only reads comic books? Why use oil paint and a canvas to write a fiction novel? Why use film to preach a sermon? Every medium has a strength which will enhance the message. Christian filmmakers must be filmmakers.
Third, Christian films do not honestly portray the world, nor do they honestly portray the Christian life. Christian film often have the antagonist be a generic staunch atheist or hardened gang member living their life as a selfish individual. Themes in these movies are over simplified and completely uncompelling.
Additionally, they have a glossy view of the Christian life. At the end of the movie the atheist converts and the gangster gives up his violent ways. Jesus transforms their lives and they live happily every after now that they have said the prayer. As any devout Christian will say, the Christian life is not a fairytale ending. It’s a tough path fraught with challenges. When Christian movies portray conversion as the ultimate goal in place of a constant growth and knowledge of God, the filmmakers are presenting a fake, glossy view of the Christian life. This is dishonest.
Finally, they do not respect their audience. The meaning of the message is forced upon the viewer. As stated earlier, a meaningful film connects with the audience and allows the connection through the story convey the meaning of the film. “The text does not say outright what it means because implicit meaning, in art and life, can produce greater economy, subtlety, or force.” (Bordwell 65) Christian films treat their audiences as if they cannot understand what is going on, which is why they sound more like Sunday morning sermons than movies. Josh Keefe has a fantastic video that details many of these issues. Find that video here.
These things hurt the image of the church because it makes Christians look like arrogant, self-righteous saviors who are the only ones who have life figured out. This turns unbelievers away from the church, giving them a negative view of the church and Christians. This is unacceptable for any Christian especially those who aim to reach people through film. So how are Christians supposed to make meaningful films?
Biblical Missiology
Christians are called to encounter the world as it is and transform it with the gospel. We are to make disciples as we go out to the nations. “The designation of Christians as a light of the world is a reminder that they are called to be partakers of the divine nature with Him who is by nature light. [They] are called to join in mission with the one who has shown in the darkness bringing light to nations” (Terry 18).
The Gospels tell the story of redemption and grace through the giving of God’s one and only Son for the forgiveness of sins. Christ was the embodiment of the message of salvation which had to take on real human flesh. The incarnation of Christ should serve as the primary example for Christians’ missiology.
Christ came to a broken earth. He left His place on high to come to the earth that rejected Him. Christ took on broken flesh. He set aside His power, to become the very flesh and blood that betrayed Him in the garden and would again at Gethsemane. He did these things to break himself to reach a broken people. Taking on every sin at the cross and raising from the dead to defeat death once and for all, Christ brought a message of hope and salvation. Christ was the message and Christ was the medium. “In Jesus Christ, there is no distance or separation between the medium and the message: it is the one case where we can say that the medium and the message are fully one and the same” (McLuhan 103).
Once we have the right idea of missiology, we begin to see the problem with Christian films as evangelistic tools which are meant to bring light into the darkness. The common faith-based film completely ignores the context of the intended audience. If these films are to reach unbelievers, they cannot portray them the way they do in God’s Not Dead.
Meaningful Films as Mission
The Bible covers a wide range of topics with differing levels of intensity and depth. Each story helps the reader learn something new about God, the world and humanity. David’s Psalms cover a plethora of topics and express deeply personal emotions. Some of the Psalms are psalms of praise, others lament and others thanksgiving. Filmmakers should feel freedom to write a film like David wrote his Psalms. Some may not have happy endings, but all seek God. Additionally, the Bible uses a number of literary devices and genres to add to the meaning and feel of a given verse, chapter or book. Christian filmmakers can learn from the way the Bible was written and the topics it covers to broaden their storytelling perspective and cover themes that may seem too intense for a Christian to cover. Being honest and speaking truth are important aspects of God’s word and should be included in the films Christians make.
The films Christians should make are films that have biblical truth woven into the fabric of the story. The gospel does not have to be explicitly preached, there doesn’t have to be an atheist who is converted. Meaningful films should honestly address complex themes about humanity and God. They should explore the nature of this world in light of biblical truth and a right relationship with Jesus Christ.
To reach the unbeliever, Christians need to create films with their context in mind. They need to speak their language and engage them as intellectual people with God given dignity. To end this paper, I will give an example of how Christians can reach people where they are at.
To exemplify what this may look like, I have taken scenes and quotes from several films that have each left their mark on me in one way or another and compiled them into a short video. Each of these films connects with audiences in a deeply personal way and most center around a theme Christians can speak into. These films cover an array of topics and themes from the sacrificial love of a father (A Quiet Place) to the consequences sin can have even to several future generations (Hereditary). From the regret of choosing career over relationship (La La Land), to facing insurmountable odds to complete the task set before you (The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King). With the three acts of this video, I hope to mirror the Biblical narrative. The story begins with perfection and tranquility which quickly devolves into utter chaos and destruction. Nothing humanity does will solve the problem of sin and their disobedience. However, there is hope. Sacrificial love has given humanity the undeserved chance of redemption. This simple video serves to illustrate how film should be done and type of themes they should cover. Again, a spoiler warning is in order. Video Link
Speak their Language
In June of 1999, right after my birth, I was flown across the sea from my home in Sandy Oregon to Hangzhou China where my parents served as missionaries. I would spend the first 8 years of my life bouncing to a froe from Hangzhou to Singapore to Thailand and, oddly enough, Louisville Kentucky. To say the constant moving was a lot for a 10-year-old to handle would be an understatement. But eventually I landed back in Beijing China where I would live for another 7 years.
During my time in Beijing, I had two big challenges. The first was that I did not speak the language. I had no knowledge of the language, nor did I understand the culture enough from my time there earlier. My second challenge was far more personal. I struggled with understanding what my role was on the mission field. I knew my parents had been called by God to serve in China and they had been faithfully serving there for 20 years. However, I hadn’t found a way to engage with the culture in the same way.
As I grew spiritually and in maturity, I began to seek a way of making an impact for Christ apart from my parents’ mission. The Lord gave me an opportunity to serve by teaching an English class to a group of kids. At the apartment where I taught, the parents would sit in on the lesson each week to watch their children. They watched me with skeptical and stern expressions each week. For holidays, I was able to teach the children about Western holidays like Christmas and Easter. At these times I would teach a lesson correlating to the holiday and then show a bit of the Jesus film in Chinese. This gave me even more skeptical looks. This was the way I was trying to serve them and show them the gospel.
Then, I decided to talk to the parents after the lesson each week. My Chinese was broken and slow, but I spoke to them. For the first time, I began to see them smile. They laughed at my mispronounced words and grammatical errors, but they were having a good time. I was able to show their children love but giving to them what they needed, English lessons, and I was able to minister to the parents by showing them that I cared enough to embarrass myself and speak with them in their language.
By the time I left, God gave me confirmation that I had reached them with love by the letters I received from them. They thanked me for teaching English and engaging with them in their language. They told me how much it meant to them that I spoke what little Chinese I knew. I was only able to truly minister to them and have meaningful interactions once I spoke to them in their language.
The Christian filmmaker must speak the audience’s language. By contextualizing the message in a way that is respectful, understanding, challenging and full of truth, Christians will better reach their audiences with the films they make.
Conclusion
The films that the church has been producing over the last few decades have been less than helpful. Ignoring the context of the audience and disregarding the strengths of film as a medium has made the word “Christian” into an adjective that defines film as harmful to the image and mission of the church. Because of this, Christian filmmakers must not make films worthy of that title. Instead, Christians should make theologically informed films in any other genre.
It is not unfaithful for the Christian filmmaker to withhold a gospel presentation in his or her film. To bring light to those in the darkness is to make films that step into that darkness as Christ did with His incarnation. To make meaningful films is to engage with the dialogue of society and speak truth where truth is lacking. To make a meaningful film is to make films that must be films. The world does not need another Christian film. The world needs the truth of Jesus Christ presented in a way that is honest, humble, present.
Bibliography
The Bible, NASB, the Lockman Foundation, 1998
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Brodwell, David, Making Meaning: Inference and Rhetoric in the Interpretation of Cinema, Harvard University Press, 1989.
Coutts, Jon (2020) "Hail, Caesar! A Jesus Film in Search of a Christ Figure," Journal of Religion & Film: Vol. 24: Iss. 1, Article 57.
Gerson, Michael. "Michael Gerson: 'Noah,' 'God's Not Dead' are movies lacking grace". The Washington Post, March 21, 2014.
Johnston, Robert K., Craig Detweiler and Kutter Callaway, Deep Focus: Film and Theology in Dialogue, Baker Publishing Group, 2019.
Kammerzelt, Brian “Ministry Media Matters,” Communications Theory, Theology, and Culture (class Notes, Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, IL, 2020).
Lindvall, Terry and Andrew Quicke, Celluloid Sermons: The Emergence of the Christian Film Industry. New York University, 2011.
McLuhan, Marshall, et al. The Medium and the Light: Reflections on Religion. Wipf & Stock, 2010.
Skreslet, Stanley H. Picturing Christian Witness: New Testament Images of Disciples in Mission. William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2006.
Sorensen, Sue and William H. Willimon, The Collar: Reading Christian Ministry in Fiction, Television, and Film. Wipf and Stock Publishers. 2014.
Terry, John Mark. Missiology: an Introduction to the Foundations, History, and Strategies of World Missions. B & H Academic, 2015.