Are Movies Important?

...more theology is conveyed in and remembered from one hour of television than from all the sermons preached in a given weekend. (Phyllis Tickle, God-Talk in America, 126)

What do you think about the quote above? Are movies important? Why or why not?

Comments

[deborah]

Maybe, and I'll ask the kids about it, but I don't see how those movies really have the emotional/cultural appeal needed to have that influential appeal on the jr highers. Hotel Rawanda like Shindler's List is more for adults, and Walk the Line has the same appeal as La Bamba. I don't know much about Crash.

[deborah]

None of our kids saw Brokeback Mt. King Kong was just cool. Isn't it amazing how quickly you can get out of touch!?

[Bill]

I was not keeping in mind that the original question had to do with the kids you've worked (i.e. junior highers). The high schoolers from the affluent, fairly arts-oriented town Just Me works with would probably be more affected by movies like Brokeback or Crash.

So :-P

I can't imagine that King Kong had much cultural impact, though. There was a lot of hype for it, but in the end, it was kind of boring.

[deborah]

Are you getting personal with me Bill? Are you talking to me? You better not be talking to me! ;)

Actually, I agree with your assesment of King Kong, and your view of the kids Just Me comes into contact with.

[Just Me]

I admit that I just can't bring myself to see Brokeback Mt though I hear - am I right? - that "my girl from Millburn" is in it? Crash I could stand - and have heard a lot about it - so I guess I should. Hotel Rwanda they showed in school. King Kong - yuck! Da Vinci - I guess I'll wait for the DVD. Frankly can't wait for "The Devil Wears Prada" a probably totally pointless film but I loved the book, and it has "my girl" in it. Speaking of "My Girl" what category should that have been in? Romantic Comedies? Please add it to my list. Thanks all for any updates you've given me or will give me in the future.

[Ken]

I think that kids in general don't see movies as much more than entertainment. Yes, there are those exceptions, but generally they go to movies to laugh and have fun. You may get one or two movies per generation that you look back on and realize that they actually had an impact; but I don't know that you necessarily realize it at the time.

Breakfast Club was a big one when I was growing up. It was a rare film that had a message and really touched on what we, as a teen culture, were going through. I remember that EVERYONE (at least it seemed like it) had seen it. But that may just be nostalgia talking.

[george]

What was the message of Breakfast Club to you? To me, (a bit older than you) it seemed to be 5 kids that can't get along, don't like each other until they unite against authority, get high and then get to know each other. it seemed to imply smoking pot was good and showing authority as corrupt and inept

[Just Me]

WOW - you must be old!:)

[george]

I am. ;-)

I loved the movie and actually just re-watched it about three weeks ago. But it was interesting that watching it as a "dad" gave me a much different feeling than watching when it first came out.

[Deborah]

Actually George, that is a very good question, and an excellent misunderstanding of the underlying themes often found in film, in this case – focusing on the simple overt authority figure of the teacher verses the more subtle and complex authority figures found in the parents. The Breakfast Club was about kids rebelling against authority and getting high if you only saw two small pieces of it. It was important to the culture of its time because the eighties was really the height of the clique culture in high schools that originated in the late 40’s. The movie was about how kids from various forms of intact and broken homes, bad and good parenting, found themselves trapped by labels.

These labels came from their peer groups, to put each other down in an effort to establish a misguided sense of self-esteem. These labels also came from corrupt authority figures who, concerned only with their own power and control issues, lumped most kids into negative categories. These kids were acting in control, and acting out of control, in an effort to either fulfill the expectations or to strike against them. No one is saying that smoking dope is the correct thing to do, but it is funny the lengths people will go to feel in control.

The movie was not a guide book on what to do, but a reflection of what was going on. What really impacted kids of that time, is that by having the characters be lumped together by the over-controlling teacher, their own barriers came down and they were able to be vulnerable. They found that they had more in common than their differences. They found a shared bond in their own wretchedness. To kids of the 80s, this represented hope, a way out of the stereotypes, a promise of a better future. To those who have not found Jesus, that is hard to find. A number of films around that time focused on those kinds of issues: Pretty in Pink, Can’t Buy Me Love, Some Kind of Wonderful.

Most of the kids portrayed came from problematic families: drunk, abusive, obnoxious, domineering, and emotionally distant. This also served as an opening for kids that if their families were like that, they were not alone. After the moral failures of the late 60s and 70s, families had moved away from a Leave it to Beaver experience (not to say that experience was grounded in reality), divorce had jumped to an all time (at that time) high, and parents were seen as part of the “me” generation. This trend was also reflected by the movies geared to adults at that time: Working Girl, Baby Boom, The Secret to My Success.

I am actually stopping mid-thought here. This would make an excellent thesis paper for a history through film degree. If you really would like me to continue let me know, I think I answered your question though.

[george]

I think you answered the question perfectly. Thank you. Brilliant insight. It was really not part of my generation, I was in my 20's by then and kind of grew up at the tail end of the "hippie" thang. By the time that movie came out I had already played with Springsteen's band, the Asbury Jukes and Bon Jovi, had worked on a bunch of hit records, and was so consumed by my career that I saw myself more as an adult than a "kid". I also had a "day job" that required me to work for Reagan's DOD, so imagine how confusing the 80's were to me. ;-)

Thank you, (I think)(grin) I've never been complimented for having "an excellent misunderstanding". but I believe you are correct. I looked at it very simply and you certainly captured the deeper meaning of the film.

I'm really not much of a movie guy. One of the last three movies I saw in the theater was Planet of the Apes with Bill and Don Rhinehart. The other two were probably Galaxy Quest and
Shrek. (Doesn't exactly qualify me as a critic does it). The last three movies I've watched at home are Toy Story, Remember the Titans and the 1960 Disney Classic Swiss Family Robinson.

Basically on TV I watch Doc and when it was on 24.
I watch less than five hours of TV a week. (Except during football season.)
I read way more than I watch TV or movies and as far as music goes, I've been totally into Country lately and have found some internet stations that play Country Gospel that I sometimes listen to at work.

Anyway, thanks for your thesis. I honestly do appreciate it.

[Deborah]

Now I have a question for the group that I have been struggling with for the last few weeks. What do you think of a church that cancels youth group and instead does a church-wide, secular, movie night? Does that say something about the importance of movies to that church?

[Deborah]

I forgot George - Thanks. I keep telling my husband not to underestimate a blonde with a degree.

[Bill]

Good review, Deb. And it's really nice to see you kids playing nice. ;-)

Ken, I think that kids probably don't have the motivation of going to a movie for any kind of learning experience, but I think they have that effect nonetheless. The crappier ones and a lot of TV tend to have a bad effect in my opinion!

[Sivin]

this is really food for thought.

[ken]

Bill, I agree. All that we see and do has an effect on us in some way.

I am just not seeing the kind of draw to a movie that there was for The Breakfast Club. You're talking about a movie that had no sex, no violence, no excitement. All they did was...talk... and yet, pretty much everyone I knew had seen and liked it. I am not seeing that kind of movie out there these days. Napolean Dynamite is the closest I've seen.

[zodiaclove]

hola
I can not agree with what you wrote really....
please explain further a bit more for me :d


cheers

[movie download]

I think movies are really important sometimes. Sometimes we are very disturb from some situations. At that time , you can watch comedy movie which can help you to come away from that siuations. Infact Movies also do the work of entertainment in your free time.