worldview ~ WHAT IS GOOD ART?
- The Worldview
The world view expressed in storytelling conveys who God/god is. The worldview of a movie is often expressed by how characters talk and act. For instance, a movie where children are very disrespectful to their parents and are rewarded for it communicates a wrong worldview. This is not consistent with a Biblical "Children obey your parents for this is right" worldview. This a huge problem with movies and TV today, wrong worldviews have dictated the values of countless individuals.
Much of what many people believe has been dictated to them by the culture.
- The Hero
Who or what is the hero of the story. A well known Christian university puts on a Shakespeare play in which an immoral man is greatly heroized. In this play an immoral man murders a man and then with much fair speech persuades the wife of the murdered man to run off with him. The lady is eventually persuaded by the seductive murderer and at the end of the play this immoral man drowns.
Although the university edits out the profanity in the original script, the message is still glaringly wrong. Yes, the immoral man drowns at the end, so good triumphs over evil - so to speak. The wrong person is made out to be the hero all along the way. The compromised message thundered throughout the story undermines the ending 'alter-call' even if it is a good 'alter-call.' It's time to call a spade a spade, if it's wrong it's wrong.
- The Good
A common misconception is that; if good wins over evil, the story is a good story. This commonly taught philosophy is flawed. First off, the fact that good triumphs over evil does NOT make a story redemptive. Think of the previous example.
Mainstream media has thousands of "good triumphing over bad" stories where bad things are still exalted. This "good-evil triumphing over bad-evil thinking" dominates our culture. Many people take this "valley of good and evil" philosophy to heart, I'll do some evil things but I am still good.
- The Bad
Another misconception is that if evil wins the story is immoral. While this may work in theoretical storytelling, it is far from reality and the jarring truth of the real world. Evil often goes unpunished, it is a fact of life. On the way to Damascus God did not tell Paul that he had a wonderful plan for his life that included; chains, imprisonment, torture, beatings, shipwreck and ultimate martyrdom. God told him the truth, Paul responded and turned from his former life. He became the most influential leader in church history, but his life ended in martyrdom. The apostles and other Christian martyrs throughout church history did not have an easy win at the end, but this did not make their life work in vain. Sometimes you have to do what is right no matter the cost and no matter the outcome.
"It really doesn't matter if you win or lose it's how you play the game" is true in storytelling. If you cheat, cheat, cheat and win you've done wrong and if you cheat, cheat, cheat and lose you've still done wrong. If you play fair and you win you've done right and if you play fair and you lose you've still done right.
- The Aesthetics
Aesthetics is the appearance communicated to the viewer. For instance, we walk into a house with garbage and empty beer bottles everywhere. What about the person who lives there has already been communicated? This is an examples of bad aesthetics, the aesthetics of a film often communicate important feelings.
The problem with a film is that the story is not restricted to reality. We often see Christian aesthetics with non-Christian actions. This false reality confuses people into thinking that wrong actions will not have consequences. In movies people can run around from affair to affair and still find that one who will be faithful and live happily ever after. In real life I have never met someone who enjoyed their divorce.
- The Scriptural Principles
Avoid movies where scriptural principles are violated. "I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes." - Psalms 101:3 For instance, a movie where a character blasphemes the name of the Lord, violates a clear biblical commandment.
"Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain." - Exodus 20:7 You wouldn't give a few dollars to a serial killer to watch him murder a man, so you shouldn't give a few dollars to a Hollywood studio to watch them curse God's name. Also the less obvious violations: mocking Bible Christianity, disrespecting the office of a pastor, etc...
- The Message
If the story has a good message, does that justify wrong means? A college lecturer once told me, "We can appreciate the art form and put the content aside." Is that true? Can we separate the style from the message? To some extent this may be true, but in most cases bad art has a bad message. An individual speaking about purity will not have a strong message if they are dressed and/or act in a defrauding manner. Content IS the art form and style communicates the message. Although the message may confront wrong actions the story exalts wrong thinking.
Movies and other art forms vary greatly. While there may not be hard and fast rules that apply to every situation, we can apply basic Bible truths to modern art to guard against destructive philosophies.
Streetsteeple | © 2008
