“Less blood!”

No, I was gonna poll this one but realized it’s more than just a pick and choose question.

If you could have creative input into a project, be it a secular project with Christian theme or a Christian project with a secular theme or what have you, what would you like to see?

“Christian films” for the most part lack an essential element of what I call the Top Three:

1. A great script.
2. A great cast/crew (including director).
3. A great production value. (‘Bang’ for bucks).

I’ve seen every combination of two out of three out there, but it’s very rare one will find all three in a nice package.

I believe this to be part of the reason The Passion is doing so well—it has all three elements. The script could have been a bit more fleshed out (no pun intended, please believe me) in my opinion, but for the most part it’s solid, has a sound throughline and integrity to it.

Please let’s not delve into this example as a tangential topic for debate.

Secular films attempting to give a ‘Christian’ perspective often play at comprehending the ‘God experience.’ In attempting to capture the essence of faith, characters are alternately played as pious, fanatical, or cynical at best. There have been exceptions, of course, but rarely are Christians portrayed as people you might have as your best friend or, even more shocking, someone with crises as valid as anyone else.

So I’m curious: you have the opportunity to convey to a production company what you’d like to see more of, less of, or any of when it comes to dealing with a Christian theme. Doesn’t mean it has to be Little House on the Prairie—but it could be. It could also be Ninja Smite: A Testament to the Fist of Yahweh.

I’ll start:

One thing I'd like to see more of: Subtlety.

Oftentimes Christian roles or influence might as well be wrapped in neon and flashing LOOK AT ME. Likewise, evil is so blatant and painfully obvious that the audience has no choice but to throw popcorn at the Great and Powerful Oz-director standing behind the curtain.

I'd like to see more of the insidious qualities of evil, such as the compromise of integrity--and the realistic qualities of Godly choices being extremely difficult at times.

More later. Thoughts, anyone?

[quote]One thing I'd like to see more of: Subtlety. [/quote]

I would like to see more scenes that play silently.

I would like to see how far the filmmaker could go in his/her storytelling without anyone saying anything... or at least without anyone saying anything to advance the plot. Kieslowski is a great example for this, and Tarkovsky as well.

Take Blue, for example. We move through so many events, crises, realizations, and changes with so little of the story being TOLD. Because of this, we have room to decide what the story is about, or at least what part of it is "speaking" to us individually... And every time we watch it, we can travel a different thread visually, thematically, symbolically...

After all, that's the nature of so much of Scripture, and it reflects the way God works, the way Truth *is.* Truth, beauty, meaning... they cannot be reduced to paraphrase.

Jason, I think the thing you find lacking in Christian films is what makes them Christian films. Just about any film that sets out to be a Christian film is usually a veilled (at best) primer in faith.

Who wants a movie to be a lesson? Not I.

The very endeavor to make a Christian film means that even if they are hoping for subtelty the best they'll do is "sneaky agenda" instead of blatant.

I know, I know, all art has an "agenda" but if there's not even the hint that the filmmakers are exploring truth to some degree, it will never attain the level of art. The artist may start out with ideas and beliefs about a topic, but if the piece does not reflect a part of their journey of discovery, it feels like dramatic dogma.


The artist realizes, I don't have it all figured out. The Christian rarely knows the same.

I've always been more inclined to be a witness for Christ with my life and in my sphere of influence, rather than blatant evangelizing to those who do not know me.

So for those films that I know in some way are influenced by Christianity, I really enjoy the ones that have the witness come from the "lives" and interaction of the characters rather than through a sermon laid down as dialogue. The Spitfire Grill comes to mind.