Bah?

[trinityvixen]

From an article titled "New Cultural Approach for Conservative Christians: Reviews, Not Protests" on The New York Times online:

Like their secular counterparts, Christian critics are diverse in their judgments. Most laud the semi-allegorical "Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," based on the spiritually infused novels by C. S. Lewis, as well as tales of salvation like "The Shawshank Redemption," "The Last Samurai" or the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, which many pastors cite in sermons. But many also praise wholesome fluff like "Serenity" or serious fare like "2001: A Space Odyssey," which appears on the Vatican's 1995 list of 45 great films for its blend of "science fiction and metaphysical poetry."

::blinks:: Did they watch the same movies I did? I remember reading a Christian-oriented review of The Matrix that implied (might even have said straight out) that stopping bullets was against God. Someone want to tell me how Serenity, with its anti-religion Captain and established support of prostitution (not to mention vaguely inferred acceptance of homosexuality) is being praised? And I've not seen 2001 (don't start, please), but wouldn't AI pretty much violate Catholicism as we know it? And it's on the Vatican's happy movie list? Wha' happen?

Comments

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

First - don't confuse Christian and right-wing evangelicals. My aunt who's a priest is gay, after all. I could see someone referencing "Serenity." It's main message, as is the message of much of Joss-verse, is that you can't improve humanity by taking away freedom, which, though it comes out of Joss's ultra-atheistic brand of existentialism, does vibe with the whole free will argument.

My minister used to quote Forrest Gump. Really, pastors are fans of just as many different things as the rest of us; they don't have to think a movie is "Christian" per se to use an aspect of it to illustrate a point in their sermon.

I agree, though. That's strange. Especially the part about Serenity being "wholesome fluff." Wholesome? FLUFF???

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Clearly they weren't paying attention to the fact that Mal shot a bunch of unarmed people. Oh, and the cannabalism thing. And the killing-people-to-save-them thing.

Really, though, this might not be 'one of those sites' that liked it, but most Christian-oriented reviews tend to be. I'm just amazed they pay attention to movies that don't garner a huge amount of attention. Brokeback Mountain, I get. Serenity, I do not.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Yeah - Serenity - really odd choice. Mostly because of the aforementioned rampant atheism of its creator. Joss' existentialism permeates everything he does. I don't think you could scrape any sort of Christian moral out of his work.

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

They probably didn't actually see Serenity; the title sounds nice and peaceful though, doesn't it? It must be a nice movie!