A film is never really good unless the camera is an eye in the head of a poet.-Orson Welles
Last week, I sort of introduced a touchy subject. Mostly, I tip-toed around it. This was partially because I didn’t want it to overwhelm the whole post, and partially because, well… it is a touchy subject.
What I’m talking about is Christian-made movies. For the sake of sounding more cultured and professional, though, today we will be using the term faith-based entertainment.
If readers need to be reminded of my stance on this wholesome breed of cinema, it is not a positive one. I have always been hesitant to admit this. I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes, you know? So many people these days seem to take pleasure in trashing what others enjoy. I have no desire to be one of those people.
Instead of elaborating on this further myself, may I present the following:
Masterpie… *giggles*
It’s true that Hollwood cranks out a lot of garbage. Some of you find joy in movies made by those who share our faith. I get that. Those who enjoy faith-based entertainment are safe with me.
The trouble is, I don’t feel entirely at ease with them. How do you tell someone nicely that your taste is utterly and completely at odds with their own? I haven’t figured it out yet.
What I have discovered is a rather perfect video, made by a guy who explains his (and my) stance on Christian-made films with intelligence, common sense, and courtesy. I agree with him so much that, once again, I will hand the reins of explanation over.
Behold:
If you share my distaste for faith-based entertainment, I hope this might prove a useful resource in the future. Instead of trying to politely define your opinion, you can do what I’ve done and simply direct your well-intentioned friend someplace else.
On an unrelated note, yes, this is the laziest post ever. But I paid WordPress extra for the privilege of embedding YouTube videos, and by gum, I’m gonna start taking advantage.
elizabeth kipps 
Excellent points! We watched “God’s Not Dead” a couple years ago and found it immensely disappointing. Even my young teen tore into it because of the clumsy execution and the misaligned focus. But I will say this: I believe we are seeing the beginning of a culture shift, and those efforts will be pretty clumsy at times. Christian artists have to find their way. I think many Christians are so hungry for good cultural fare that they’ll overlook the large platter of mistakes in just about any movie. This presents problems, and your videos in this blog really illuminated well the many thoughts I’ve had over the years. Hopefully, Christian cultural attempts will improve in the film arena. The music has become much better! And then there are the realms of Christian fiction…
Great post! You handled a touchy topic well.
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Yes!
I have hope that Christian filmmakers will learn from their mistakes, and the time will come when good (really good) faith-based films are realized.
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