From Newsbusters.
Excerpt:
At the same time Washington was ablaze with outrage at the idea that Rush Limbaugh insulted a woman as a “slut,” ABC premiered a new Sunday night show called “GCB” – shortened from “Good Christian Bitches.” Limbaugh apologized. ABC displays no such contrition. They insulted only those Christians. In the midst of this trashy debut, ABC promoted a new sitcom coming in April titled “Don’t Trust The B—- in Apartment 23.”
ABC advertised the debut of “GCB” with a photo of actress Kristin Chenoweth in a choir robe cut way above the knee, as if such a thing exists. “Love One Another,” it read, dripping in sarcasm. That’s Hollywood’s definition of a “good Christian.”
Chenoweth plays Carlene Cockburn, the wealthy “queen bitch,” who routinely quotes Bible verses with venom on the show. When her realtor friend won’t help her ruin the lead character, Amanda, Carlene threatens her business: “Read Job 1:21, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.” She launches wicked plots while the auto shop puts a “John 3:16″ decal on her car. She tells her fellow plotters “God hates failure.”
Time TV critic James Poniewozik protested “I have a hard time believing that anyone will see themselves insulted by GCB: its target is not Christians but phonies.” Not so. There are certainly Christian hypocrites that can make for great grist in entertainment. But this show offers the viewing public no authentic Christians at all.
Notice how the Hollywood people think that being a Christian means refusing to judge immorality, and that everyone who takes Biblical morality seriously is to be attacked as a hypocrite. It’s good to be clear on this. That’s their view of Christianity.
Frankly, I try to see one movie at most in theaters per year. I want to give as little as possible to be in Hollywood, because to me Hollywood is mostly populated by Roman Polanski types and supporters of Roman Polanski types.
What frustrates me is that Christians are the ones providing these people with revenues. We shouldn’t be shoveling money to these anti-Christian bigots in Hollywood, and pastors should be speaking out about it. Frankly, I think that we shouldn’t be spending anything near the amount of money we spend on entertainment – I don’t even have a TV, and I certainly don’t have cable. We need to be more careful how we spend our money. The way we spend our money is like a painting we produce for God – it ought to reflect our values and be constructive and helpful to him.
UPDATE: Luanne posts an another Newsbusters article on Facebook.
WINTERY KNIGHT 
Gee that show doesn’t have an agenda does it? From the description in the article it’s just going to be good ol’ quality television similar to Leave it Beaver; straight out of the ’50s.
M wife and I have a television, but we don’t have cable for two reasons 1) needless monthly cost and 2) there are few shows worth watching. Programming is smothered with shows like Kardashians, Jersey shore, Grey’s anatomy, Bill Maher, and many other shows only fitting for liberals.
Now, if I could pay for the channels I want and only those channels then I would pay for cable. :)
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As a Christian filmmaker myself, I’d hope that Christians would still support films made to glorify God, or at the very least films made to help prepare the culture to be able to hear a message of morality and truth. As William Lane Craig says, the Gospel is never preached in isolation, but rather is preached in the context of the cultural milieu in which one finds oneself.
Most of the entertainment industry should not be supported, but we absolutely need to support entertainment that is friendly to a Christian message or worldview. This does not just mean overtly Christian films like “Fireproof”, though those certainly need and deserve Christian support. It also means films that may not be overtly Christian, but are indirectly getting across a message that supports objective truth, for instance, or heroic virtue, or the sanctity of life, or many other aspects of a Christian worldview. There are more of these than you think. Whereas the direct version of Christian communication preaches to the choir, which is necessary, the indirect kind can slip in under the radar, be viewed by people who normally would not watch a “Christian” film, and help lay the groundwork for the acceptance of more direct truths later. The refutation of relativism in a film would be an example of something worthwhile here.
Christians largely abandoned participating in the entertainment industry in the latter half of the twentieth century, and the results have been absolutely catastrophic for our culture. One of the most powerful communication tools of all time is film, and a powerful witness for Christ, which is Truth itself, awaits reclamation there. We will do the culture no good by continuing to abandon it. We must engage. In fact, Christ commands us to be “salt and light” in our culture. So yes, vote with your dollars. But that emphatically does not mean merely disengagement from things you disagree with. It also entails engaging with things that you do. Don’t just be against something, be for the alternative. By refusing bad entertainment we diminish its ability to find funding. By supporting good entertainment we can start a cycle to get more of the same, thus replacing the bad with the good.
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You know Knight, that’s the one thing, the ONE thing, I could find remotely consoling about the adultery story in the Bible not being true: those ridiculous seculars no longer being able to MISQUOTE the Bible about judgement.
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Very true David: movies like “The Dark Knight”, “The Book of Eli”, “Warrior”, and “Devil” all portray Christian messages.
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What’s frustrating is that Kristin Chenoweth claims to be a Christian. Talk about adding more confusion to the issue!
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“Frankly, I try to see one movie at most in theaters per year.”
Same here. I barely watch movies myself. Last year, I watched “True Grit” with a bud of mine. That was it. Most movies nowadays tend to suck even if you ignore the leftist agit-prop.
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Well, “The Help” had great Christian messages, and I hear that
“Hugo” was great too. Everyone MUST see “War Horse” too.
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Overtly Christian movies are almost always painfully bad. That’s why only Christians watch them. They either lie about the reality of the human condition or they’re bad art, or they have a sentimental, heavy-handed message. It’s like reading modern Christian fiction – it’s too painful to stick it out.
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Joycalyn, here are some of my favorites: (I use these for courting to make important points about men and marriage)
Rules of Engagement (Samuel L. Jackson)
Bella
Henry V (Kenneth Brannagh)
The Lives of Others
United 93
Taken (Liam Neeson)
Cinderella Man
The Blind Side
Cyrano de Bergerac (Gerard Depardieu)
Amazing Grace (Ioan Gruffudd)
Gettysburg
We Were Soldiers
Stand and Deliver
Blackhawk Down
The Pursuit of Happyness
High Noon
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Knight has a good list, though most of the films he lists aren’t overtly Christian. There are many more movies that would fit into his categories, and they all deserve to be supported in an effort to help move the culture in a better direction. The movies are such a powerful tool; abandoning that tool to the irreligious or the left will simply leave us powerless to ever change a thing about what our society values. It is the main ground to fight on, and we can’t do that by leaving the battlefield.
As to your point about overtly Christian films, you are sadly (mostly) right. Though I will say that films like “Fireproof” and “Courageous”, while not great art in and of themselves, ARE great “sermons”. There is nothing wrong with sermons, or preaching to the choir. We go to do both things every Sunday, and doing it in the context of film is even more powerful than in words, regardless of the flaws of those movies. Though most other overtly Christian films aren’t as well put together as those, admittedly. We need to do better.
I will say, though, that “Tree of Life” is the most intensely Christian film I’ve ever seen that isn’t directly about Jesus. It’s extremely philosophical, all about the Problem of Evil, and includes many Christian doctrines and allegories. There is a clear “fall of man” allegory in the film (done among children), and a wonderful visual representation of God’s answer to Job. During a time of trouble, a character asks God “why?”, and God answers the same way he does Job: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth… and the morning stars sang in glory?” The film actually visually SHOWS us God doing just that in stunning detail in an extending 17 minute sequence of creation, and in so doing gets across the point of Job in a new and fresh way – when you see the immensity of cosmic scale and time that God is working with, it makes our own tiny perspective seem so small and inadequate that questioning Him and His purposes seems almost ridiculous. The director of Tree of Life, Terrence Malick, was a philosophy teacher. He’s also a strong Christian. Both of those things show in his movie.
For those complaining about “overtly Christian” films not being high art, this film is a resounding refutation. It is utterly Christian while also being the pinnacle of cinematic art. The sad thing is that most people don’t even realize it’s a Christian movie, as they’re too unschooled in Christian philosophy and doctrine to get what it’s saying! Most of it goes right by them. But if “Fireproof” is a sermon, “Tree of Life” is a hymn, told in a much less direct and much more artistic manner. Both things have their place; again, we do both in church each Sunday morning.
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David: The problem seems to appear whenever somebody makes art that is meant to be “Christian.” Art either tells the truth or it lies – adding Christian to it doesn’t make it more true. In fact, it often makes it less so. Most Christian music is horridly bad; Christian novels, as I mentioned, are the same. Many of them lie about the reality of life and the human condition.
I don’t think Fireproof is a good movie. The acting stunk, the story was weak, and it was a message movie. I hate message movies, whether they’re Christian or heathen. Of course, that may be a personal preference, but I know for certain that non-Christians are completely turned off by our message movies.
I agree with you about movies like Tree of Life. If a movie tells the truth it’s a good movie. High Noon is on my list of favorite movies ever. It seems to me that most Christian movies are made for a Christian market, not necessarily to tell the truth.
I should probably come clean and say I find many sermons fall in the same category – they don’t tell the truth. They’re meant to manipulate rather than spiritually form.
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I must disagree. Much of the great art in Western civilization has been specifically Christian art, from the Last Supper to Handel’s Messiah. The traditional is quite long, and includes some of the great works in many different forms of artistic expression. The Passion of the Christ and Tree of Life are also both specifically Christian while also being, indisputably, great works of cinematic art. Till We Have Faces is undoubtedly great literature, as is The Brothers Karamazov, which may be the greatest novel ever written.
Specifically Christian art has a great tradition.
Now, I won’t disagree about the state of *most* modern, popular level Christian works. Christian music is indeed often unbearable, as are most Christian films (save the two I mentioned above). And don’t even get me started on things like “The Shack” or the kinds of religious books you find on the shelves in Walmart. “The Dark Night of the Soul” these ain’t. But I will again defend the movies of Sherwood Baptist, like Fireproof. Doubtless, they have their deficiencies, but they are also done with a lot more skill than you are giving them credit for. There is amateurism in the acting, and sometimes things are a bit too on the nose, but the stories are told with quite skilled hands, actually – often better than most Hollywood films. Compare them to something like “The Omega Code” and you’ll see what I mean. Also, I know that Fireproof has saved many marriages from ending in divorce, which has to mean that the film is worthwhile in some way, as it’s literally saving families. I’m sure Courageous will likewise cause many men to be better fathers. These movies work. They won’t cross the line to non-Christians, but neither will non-Christians go into churches to hear sermons, either. And though I can’t disagree with your assessment of many unfortunate sermons, the form itself is clearly a worthwhile enterprise. After all, Jesus himself preached them and changed the world. Peter and Paul soon followed his example.
Films don’t have to be specifically Christian. And indeed, many of the ones Knight mentioned are good examples of films that can help prepare a culture with good messages while not being specifically religious. These are important. But there is no reason to say that films must *never* be Christian, either, any more than you would say that The Brothers Karamazov should not have been written, or Handel’s Messiah should not be performed. Film is one of the most powerful communication tools ever created, and the message of Christ should flow through it freely the same way it does through books and blogs.
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Just FYI, I am opposed to the movie Fireproof, and, to a lesser degree, Courageous. I think that both movies, especially the former, are harmful and wrong.
I think Fireproof is especially anti-male and will encourage women to justify divorce by blaming men while giving women a free pass.
I do not expect anyone to agree with me on this, and it would take a while to explain so don’t ask me any questions about my view.
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No need to start a row! I’d very much like to hear your thoughts on the matter. It doesn’t have to be in this thread, though.
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I agree that they went way too far in the husband’s apology, tears and all, to that brat, but overall I think it’s a great movie. Needed editing.
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David: I wasn’t clear. I meant modern Christian movies, music, art, and sermons. Honestly, I think they’re a reflection of the shallowness of modern Christian thought. I don’t absolve myself of shallow thinking, but I’m not interested in feeding that shallowness. Art is always an expression of the inner condition of the artist.
I agree with WK about Fireproof.
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Well, I guess the three of us aren’t really too far from each other’s views on the subject, with the exception of my view of the relative merits of Fireproof and Courageous over similar Christian films.
One thing that would create better Christian films, though, would be more support from the Christian community for those films, on a consistent basis.
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Yes, Fireproof was terrible. I do not see how that plotline could be considered Christian unless we’re talking about the fluffy-rainbow-bunnies version of Christianity that seems to have replaced the orthodox Faith.
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That was another thing I didn’t like about it… the fluffy bunnies and rainbows view of Christianity… Blech!
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“To Save a Life” is amazing too. How wonderful to know that Hollywood brought out such a strong movie as “Tree of Life” seems to be!
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Hahaha, I find this to be amusing. I’ll just put in this comment by David Collard, a fellow Romanist(and chauvinistic one at that. Kind of like me): http://traditionalchristianity.wordpress.com/2012/03/14/lenten-open-thread/#comment-46234
“Vox should just come clean and admit that great art is mostly produced by Catholics. Even Shakespeare has been claimed as Catholic.
Notice Vox writes “Christian Austria”. Catholic Austria, actually.
I except Bach (but he wrote masses in the days when Lutherans were still close to the RCC theologically) and the Book of Common Prayer (although Chesterton claimed this as the last flower of Catholic scholarship, presumably because the writers had been born and raised Catholic).
Brendan Behan: “I am a bad Catholic, the religion of all great artists”.
Dante is far too important to be damaged by Italian senoritas with nothing better to do, who would be advised to learn how to cook pasta instead.”
He’s right, no? All of the West’s greatest art and music were produced primarily by Catholics. Western Christian art is quite excellent, but you’ll have to look back quite a while to find it and you’ll have to look towards a particular denomination.
If you want to see good art in the East, just go look at those done by the members of the Orthodox Church. The EOC is very similar to the RCC.
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