The Perfect Weapon (Part Three)

Given the power of film, what role does the Christian community play in the industry? Perhaps more importantly, what role should it play?

Well, I hate to say it, but we as Christians have a tendency to do more harm than good.

Christian reactions to Hollywood’s leftist propaganda typically a combination of one or more of the following:

1. “What harm can it do? It’s just entertainment!”—they keep watching, subsidizing the enemy, and allowing their own beliefs to be adversely affected.

2. “Oh, we don’t watch the ‘dirty’ ones!”—they completely ignore (or are blissfully ignorant of) the perverted worldview, as long as there isn’t too much in the way of explicit sex, drug use, and harsh profanity. Not that it’s possible to find that many films coming out of Hollywood nowadays that don’t ooze filth from every filmstrip perforation. Again, they allow their worldview and that of their children to be strongly influenced by the enemy and subsidize his advance.

3. “Movies are evil!”—they shun movies, and often any other kind of entertainment or fun that can be found, including good novels. Far from being Biblical, this reaction usually involves more egotistical striving to feel like they’re better than everyone else—or, as they often put it, “holier”. Do not confuse this with the next one!

4. “There are so few truly good ones out there that we almost don’t bother anymore!”—this tends to be the more practical Christian who isn’t necessarily against movies (or TV for that matter) but is fed up with trying to find the “good ones”. This is practicality as opposed to the egotism of the previous category.

Obviously, I don’t think much of any of these reactions! The last one is probably the “lesser of four evils” here. Given that Christians are supposed to be the salt of the earth, it doesn’t do much good on its own. It’s all right as a starting point, but nothing more.

So how should we respond?

Glad you asked!

Christians are known as great complainers. Sure, it’s important that we call evil on the mat, but we’re the ones responsible for bringing light into the world. In other words, if evil prevails, it’s our fault. We should be competing for dominance by raising the standard of Almighty God over every stronghold of power in existence.

In some cases, such as government controlled indoctrination centers, (a.k.a. “schools”) we do that by eliminating them. They’re not legitimate weapons in their present form.

Film, however, is a different matter. It’s a perfectly legitimate art form, (and cultural weapon) and Christians need to stand up set the standards of excellence.

We need to understand what we’re doing as well. One primary mistake that “Christian” filmmakers often make is to assume that if it mentions Jesus, it’s a good movie or, conversely, if it doesn’t explicitly lay out the Gospel, it’s not a “Christian” film. Both of these statements are patently false.

In reality, most “Christian” films out there are no good whatsoever. The technical quality is more likely an embarrassment to the Almighty Creator than a tribute. The plots are flat and unbelievable, the characters might as well be made out of cardboard, and to top it all off, they usually resort to some “feel-good” pseudo-Gospel instead of using the real one, and the underlying worldview is quite often defined by Hollywood myths rather than the truth of God.

Another mistake Christians often make is that they assume that they have to go to Hollywood to make a difference. Now, don’t get me wrong, it is possible that God could use Christians within the Hollywood structure to “reform” it for His glory.

Trouble is, that’s kind of like electing a leftist president and asking God to change his heart so that he becomes a true conservative—in other words, foolish and presumptive.

Christians in Hollywood are forced to compromise in ways that render them completely useless. Even proponents of Christians in Hollywood can’t put their finger on any greater achievement than having a Christian writer cut a few raunchy jokes out of The Simpsons or “Christian” involvement in writing Buffy the Vampire Slayer and That 70’s Show. (I’m not kidding!) As Doug Phillips of the Vision Forum once asked, “is that victory?”

The answer, of course, is no. Thus, the road that we as Christians must pursue is the independent route. A harder road in many ways, but far more feasible than it used to be for many reasons, not the least of which is technology.

What about Christians who aren’t called to be active filmmakers?

You watch movies don’t you? How about evaluating worldviews instead of simply counting swear words? How about not settling for Hollywood’s pathetic recent attempts to pander to the Christian market without actually adopting a Christian worldview?

Why not express the same outrage over Andrew Adamson’s perversion of Aslan in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe into a wimpy, incapable subject of the “Deep Magic”, (a la George Lucas’ “Force”) as Lord of the Rings fans would have expressed if Peter Jackson had made Sam and Frodo out to be homosexuals?

(I’ve probably opened a can of worms or two there that I’ll need to address in a later article!)

Possibly the most important thing that we as Christians can do is to recognize the growing independent Christian film industry (now in its infancy) and do what we can to support it. If you want something to look at now, go to www.IndependentChristianFilms.com and sign up to attend the third annual San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival. You’ll be amazed at what God is doing! (Not to mention the fact that you’ll find opportunities to get involved in more ways than you can possibly imagine!)

Another thing to consider; I’ve mentioned worldview throughout this article. How well do you understand your own? If you’re like 99% of American Christians, you have no idea. That’s something that only you can change. You must start questioning every facet of your belief system, making sure that it’s fully consistent with itself and, most importantly, God’s Word. Like I said before, whatever portion of your worldview is based on the truth can handle some severe scrutiny. It’s the portions based on lies and myths that will tend to crumble.

By the way, I can help with that. Check out my articles and blog posts from time to time. Whenever I say something that completely blows you away, hit stop and start thinking it over. (I may have said some things in this very article that have you wondering what planet I’m from!)

“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and to be trodden under the foot of men.” ~ Jesus Christ, Son of Man, Creator of the universe. (Matthew 5:13)

Remember, salt in a wound stings, and light can be painfully bright to those who are used to the darkness.

The Perfect Weapon (Part Two)

Language and explicit material aside, (because that’s not what I’m dealing with here) Hollywood movies today typically pack a cultural punch that often goes undetected by the viewing populace.

Part of the reason for this is that we’ve already undergone a few generations of indoctrination.

Take a look at some of the primary methods used by Hollywood (a.k.a. leftist) filmmakers to bend the worldview of their audience to more closely resemble their own.

1. False Portrayal

You’ve undoubtedly heard complaints about the clergy being portrayed as villainous or corrupt in movies, and this is a common occurrence. They’re not the only ones; fathers, businessmen, committed mothers, Christians in general, gun owners, and other people who are considered to be threats to a Marxist regime are regularly demonized, not only in movies, but in almost any kind of mass media you can find. At the same time, of course, the heroes are typically people who are opposed to the basic tenets of Christianity and God’s law in some form, and proponents of a Marxist worldview.

Why is portrayal important? Because the audience is required to make value judgments and decisions throughout the movie in order to participate in the entertainment experience. When they are used to seeing stereotypical characters on the screen, they are susceptible to off-screen comparisons. This doesn’t mean that they’ll automatically accept those comparisons, just that they will already be somewhat biased in that direction.

2. False Dilemmas

Hollywood delights in presenting viewers with conflicts based on a Marxist worldview. A good example might be a movie in which the hero is fighting to “preserve” some natural environment or “endangered” species from a “commercial interest”, be it a developer or a zookeeper.

Sound familiar?

What’s wrong with that?

First, the film will usually portray the developer as a villainous businessman (see False Portrayal above) who cares nothing for the beauty and value of whatever “natural treasure” he wants to replace with a subdivision, while the environmental activist is the loving, reasonable and committed person who selflessly fights to defend “the innocent”.

There has probably never been a single person who has ever actually met either of these stereotypes, but that aside, the conflict presented to the viewer of the movie is based on Marxist views.

“Capitalist businessmen are evil,” “animal life is equal in value to human life,” (since we’re all just highly evolved animals) and usually “the government needs to step in and save the spotted owl from the evil capitalist.”

Are there ever scenarios in real life that look like this? No. The media does their best to convince us that there are, but in order to do that, they must rely on the stereotypes and false dilemmas made familiar to viewers by Hollywood.

Essentially, the movie is asking the audience to choose between two alternatives—neither of which exist in the real world (at least not often, some of them do exist in rare circumstances)—but both of which are connected by labels to people and ideas that are common in reality.

That’s why we have such an easy time accepting leftist lies—such as the one about the necessity (or even legitimacy) of government protection of “endangered species”.

Again, not all false dilemmas are completely removed from reality—some are merely twisted from rare occurrences.

3. False Solutions

In addition to the false dilemma, resolving the conflict in the plot with a false solution is common practice. This is easy for Hollywood, because they get to make up the ending.

The Bible says “be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

Hollywood says “be not concerned, God is not real, (or capable) for whatsoever is right in your own eyes, that you may do without lasting negative consequence.”

Also in Hollywoodland, government programs solve the world’s problems, rejecting technology results in living peacefully and “in tune with nature”, and putting a radical feminist in charge of anything makes everything work out all right in the end.

Next time you sit down and watch a movie, watch for these tactics and ask yourself what their purpose is. Of course, since most of us accept an unhealthy collection of leftist lies already, try this; identify the message of the movie and any of the portrayals, controlled dilemmas, and solutions you may notice, and then question that message, whether you believe it or not. If it’s true, it can take the scrutiny, if not, I’d recommend ditching it.

I wish I could take the time to explain the technical details of how each of these tactics are executed, (I’m sure you already know about the effects of shooting a character with a “high” or “low” angle—that technique doesn’t even scratch the surface of the basics) but it would probably take an entire book, and I’ve already trashed my goal of keeping my word count down around 500!

In the next part, I’m going to discuss how we (the conservative community—especially the Church) have enabled Hollywood to promote its leftist agenda, and what we can and should be doing to reverse the problem. Hint: I’m not a fatalist—there is a solution, and it’s a very real one! (And it’s not picketing theaters and boycotting movies!)

Until then, scrutinize even the most seemingly benign messages in the movies you watch and question them.

You’ll probably find yourself questioning parts of your own worldview—and possibly even discovering Marxist elements that you never realized were there.

The Perfect Weapon (Part One)

What if you had a weapon so powerful that you could control, say, the largest and most influential nation on the face of the earth (and several more besides) without a military invasion? You could cause the vast majority of the population to line up and obey you virtually without question?

Sound like science fiction? Alien mind control? Nope. Such a weapon exists and has been in use for over 70 years.

The downsides are that it takes a little while to take full effect and it’s expensive. On the other hand, it’s incredibly effective. It works best when used in conjunction with a couple of other weapons, and when it has taken effect, it is near impossible to counteract. Note that I said near impossible. I’ll get to that in a later article.

This weapon has the capability to “make men love their servitude”.

Curious?

It was used by the Comintern (in it’s time, it was the organization charged with spreading communist rule) to invade the Western world. They code-named it “Babylon”.

Control over this weapon was in dispute starting sometime in the ‘30s but by the late ‘50s the Marxists had full control.

And chances are that you have been directly affected. Doubt me?

The weapon is called film, and the control center is Hollywood, California.

The power of film is that it has the ability to take an unsuspecting audience and change the way they look at the world—their worldview. However slight this change might be in many cases, when multiplied out over hundreds, even thousands of movies and several generations, the result can be catastrophic.

The reason for this is that a movie is essentially a story. It takes place in a world, whether present-day planet earth or otherwise, that is fabricated by the filmmakers. They decide what consequences each character faces for his or her actions and pose the questions that the audience will ultimately answer by looking at the example given in the story.

This enables filmmakers to color their audience’s view of the world and even program their reactions to match those of the filmmaker.

Another element that lends additional power to the film medium is emotion. Film, being at its core art, is based on emotion. Oh, sure, it can get you thinking, but it does that by triggering an emotional response. I won’t bother trying to explain all of the different techniques used to achieve this goal at the moment, but believe me, these people know what they’re doing!

In the next article, I’ll talk more about how film influences people today and give examples of how a movie works to color and bend your worldview to more closely match those of its makers.

You’ll be amazed when you see some of these tactics and discover how many of them have been at work on you!