Movies too Disturbing to Sit Through
One of my favorite bloggers, in general but especially related to movies, is Brett McCracken. He has a thought provoking post on the “line” as far as where movies are a work of art with meaning and a message and where the content becomes gratuitous and sinful. Read the post…then I’d like to hear what you think. What movies have you walked out on and where do you think the line is?
I walked out on Rob Zombie’s House of a Thousand Corpses and Tom Green’s Freddie Got Fingered. Both my college roommates idea of quality cinematic entertainment.
Movies choices should be up to a Bible saturated conscience. There are definitely limits, but there is also freedom and I am reticent to tell someone else what to watch and what to avoid (unless they are part of the flock I am responsible for shepherding).
I would say, first, can you watch the movie to the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:30-31)? That is a question we should ask about anything. A movie reviewer might be able to answer yes while me sitting by myself in the dark might not. I would ask, “Is it good, is it beautiful and is it true,” and I also tend to avoid any explicit sexual content because, well, I’m a man and I want to guard my eyes and heart.
How about you?
I’ve never walked out of a movie. I tend NOT to get into the theater where they might show something the Lord wouldn’t watch. I tend to research the flick before I pay the entrance fee. Its easier for everyone if done that way. … causes less stink at the theater…
I have walked out on a short once. A beautiful woman in a tiny, short tennis outfit was playing against a tennis ball machine. The whole thing was a take on having sex…. (just use your imagination if you must…) I walked out with my wife and felt very good about it.
I have walked out on a Lutheran minister’s sermon. He was wearing some really great robes and ribbons… He kept referring to himself as Jesus and taking poses that assumed different acts of Jesus. He blessed us, he thanked us, he forgave us, and a few other things… then at last, he assumed the pose of being crucified on the cross and said that he, jesus, was being crucified for us. He “hung” there for some time and finally “came down” and was buried.
All this rubbed me wrong. His delivery was NOT symbolism… I was raised a Lutheran and never had seen something like this before. I walked out of the sermon as the pastor was “coming down” off the “cross”. My wife and I felt very good about this also.
John,
Great point on checking out movies before you go. I wanted to dance around the line when I was in college. I’m much more reluctant to do so now that I have a family.
I can’t remember walking out on a film, but I didn’t make it through “Phone Booth.” I knew what it was about, and I probably could have made it, but I didn’t want to press my conscience. I generally know what I’m getting into. There’s films that I wish I’d walked out on when I was younger. I recently watched “Magnolia,” and though it is vulgar in many ways, it conveys something that would be hard to express in another medium, something that is true about human brokenness and unforgiveness. I tend with McCracken – sometimes sitting through some edge-of-the-envelope scenes allows us to get a glimpse of reality and truth in a way that is powerful.