Do you think Jurassic Park is a meaningful film and would you recommend it based on its meaningfulness? That was a questions I recently posed after a screening of Jurassic Park. Theologian, writer and professor, Robert K. Johnston argues:
“…Film criticism has a different goal than simply the negative or positive evaluation of a film. It seeks to initiate a process of inquiry and reflection in order to better understand a movie. It does this by commenting on a movie’s style and story, its structure and theme. Moreover, film criticism explores the connection a movie has both to its creators and to its audiences. The best film criticism seeks comprehensively to ask, “How is it that the movie is (or is not) a meaningful experience?
If theologians, both amateur and professional, are to avoid reading into movies what is not there, they must learn something of the craft of viewing and reflecting, they must develop their critical skills. The church has been involved in film criticism throughout the past century and has even addressed some of its distinct aspects. Richard Blake argues that the church itself initiated film criticism: ‘In fact, it would not be much of an exaggeration to claim that the churches actually invented film criticism, as opposed to the reviewing carried by the daily papers, in the first year of the century.’ Churches were concerned about the social impact (public morality) of film. They also saw the catechetical (Christian education) function that movies could provide through their interpretation of life. Here is film criticism in its infancy” (Johnston, Reel Spirituality125-126).
Well I kind of agree with Johnston, but I think that the Church is very, very imbalanced when it comes to film criticism. I think that the Church severely lacks an understanding of the technical aspects of film, so much so that the Church’s criticism is not taken seriously by those outside of the Church. People in the Church have the knowledge and desire to critic films on an ideological level, but I find that it is rarely able to critic a film’s technical/artistic merit. Perhaps I don’t know enough about what the Church says about film, but the little that I hear is quite cliché and while it is theologically intelligent, it is artistically and technically negligent. I think this lack of knowledge becomes even more apparent when Christians try to make blatantly Christian films. Why are most Christian films just bad!? They may have good morals, happy endings, and noble narratives…but most times the acting, editing, script, and cinematography is just down right shoddy.
One cannot be a critic who solely focuses on meaningfulness; such a critical lens would be fatally flawed. I think the Church as a film critic and filmmaker severely displays this fault. The solution? Learn about the technical and artistic aspects of film. A really practical application? Watch a film and then ONLY critique its technical/artistic merit – don’t even address meaningfulness, its difficult.
And I know that not all ‘good’ films bad, pardon my hyperbole. And by ‘good’ I mean blatantly Christian…by bad I mean lacking technical savvy. The End.
2 comments:
I think it's easy for 'the church' to judge films based on meaning and morality because we have an objective standard upon which we make those judgment calls.
The Bible doesn't really give us a cohesive artistic or technical standard by which to judge something like film. Upon what should we base those judgments?
Is it valid to judge the moral and meaning based on a standard like the Bible, but then make artistic and technical judgments based on nothing more than our own opinions?
(Not to say that our interpretation of the Bible isn't opinion as well...)
yes, the church is uber prepared for moral judgment because of its theological savvy.
i think that the church should study filmaking to glean the technical insights needed to make technical critics. judgment on artistic merit can come from the bible...but i would encourage people to gain worldly artistic savvy as well. read up on some art history and film history for example.
and i think its completely valid to judge anything by either the Bible and/or opinion - after all, criticism that does not involve theology or moral judgment is still invaluable, relevant, and an educational experience (whether critiquing yourself or hearing critical thoughts from others).
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