Write About Now

My skeptic friends won’t believe me.

As a Christian, I suppose my main complaint about the film version of The DaVinci Code should be its teaching about Jesus’ relationship with Mary Magdalene, the murders committed by the Church to protect this secret, the lack of evidence to support Jesus’ divinity, and the rejection of absolute truth. And while I certainly don’t agree with those claims, my main annoyance with the movie was the lazy techniques used to propel the story forward and the long, didactic scenes explaining the backstory of all the theories. As a reviewer for Entertainment Weekly wrote in this week’s issue: “[Howard] uses cheesy digitalized flashbacks, rarely trusting the dialogue to evoke history, and he seems faintly rushed and embarrassed each time the movie grows talky, as if he were worried that the breathless theology wouldn’t hold us.”

Well put—but only a publication without Christian affiliation can say it with credibility to an unbelieving world. (Fortunately, most of them are.)

I felt the same way about Brokeback Mountain. Most of my Christian friends refused to see the movie out of principle. (Some even refused to watch the Oscars this year, which I don’t understand—besides, Jon Stewart is one of the funniest people on the planet.) I’m not approving the gay lifestyle but I left the theater disappointed not just because of the pro-homosexual themes but because I didn’t completely buy the love story between Jack and Ennis. I knew going in that the movie promoted values different from my own—I just thought it would do a better job of it.

Evangelicals have responded to movies like these by creating “Christian” films and novels. Unfortunately, they are often no better written or produced than their secular counterparts. Instead of this tactic, I agree with C.S. Lewis who said we don’t need more Christian art, but more good art by Christians. An artist’s worldview inevitably seeps into anything he creates, so the challenge for believers is to create with excellence, as our Creator did, and allow faith to suffuse (rather than dominate) the finished product.

In so doing, we can create more than just “Christian alternatives” to things we find offensive. I don’t think the answer to movies like DaVinci or Brokeback are more Left Behind novels or Omega Code movies. (Please.) Instead, we need more engrossing movies, well-written novels, and skillfully-played songs created by great directors, writers, and musicians—who also happen to be Christians.