October 6, 2024

5 thoughts on “Five Reasons We Should Integrate Faith & Entertainment

  1. I know all ya’ll, so I know ya’ll are aware that the idea is not exactly novel. Besides the Arts & Faith crowd, the late 20th Century had a lot of culturally-aware Protestant Christians pushing for an end to the artificial divide between the sacred and profane. (Kind of surprising that Protestants had this problem, really, given Luther’s proclivity for tavern tunes and Knox’s thorough embrace of Scottish norms. But that’s a lot of water under the European bridge.)

    I like, however, that you’ve enlarged the discussion by expanding the scope of “art” to “entertainment.” A lot of the A&F dialogue has tended to be dismissive of anything that doesn’t smack of capital-a-art, while there’s a lot to be said for the nurturing value of less-highminded work… which, nonetheless, if done well, requires a great deal of artistic talent.

    The real question at this point is not whether this melding is valuable; it’s already happening. The question is: what direction will it take us?

    The good news is that faith market films are looking more professional; the bad news is that faith market still finds God is Not Dead to be the best faith-market film ever.

    1. Thanks for the comment, Greg! I think the answer to that question remains to be seen. My hope is that it makes better films all around that are accessible to all people and not just a specific group. Perhaps it allows for characters of faith to be included in TV and film that aren’t stereotypical, instead allowing real people with real struggles that provide opportunities for light to be shown.

  2. Hey Alan, I think we’re on the same page. The line between “Christian” and “Secular” needs to be blurred (the whole “in the world, but not of it” idea). I’m working with a friend with this very vision in mind: producing media and entertainment which may not always be overtly “Christian” but always comes from a Christian world-view. I’d be interested, though, to hear what “integration” actually means to you. What does it look like, and what are some practical changes you think can be made to begin to achieve that vision.
    Thanks for the read. Excellent food for thought.

    1. Thanks, Mike! Glad you liked the article.

      I think that integration basically means being relevant to people who don’t find faith-based material interesting or approachable. There are definitely some inroads that are currently being made, but it involves being a bit edgier with concepts, incorporating dialogue people would actually say in a conversation, eliminating ‘faithspeak’ (or *at least* explaining the terminology), and speaking to needs people face daily (stress, fear, failure, raising kids as a single parent, etc). It’s almost like having to earn the right to share one’s faith in Christ while still sharing something.

      I think many directors, actors, and writers will be wrestling with this over the upcoming years as they try to discover the perfect balance. Their answers will go a long way in determining how well integration occurs.

  3. Hey Alan!

    Not sure if you will read this comment as this article is over 3 years old, but the site is still active with current movie reviews.

    My name is Aaron and I’m a Christian and I aspire to be a filmmaker, independently or in the Hollywood industry. I love to analyze and talk about movies, what they mean, what I got out of them, what works and what doesn’t, and learn from them so I can apply it to my own craft. I went to the 2 year film program at Eastern Washington University (though I flunked out of one class) so watching and studying movies is sort of an extended film school for me. Eventually I checked out a couple of Christian movies, and I couldn’t help but watch with my critical mindset and feel appalled that not only do these movies get made, but Christian audiences joyfully go see them and claim they’re the kind of God-honoring movies that need to be made, not the “Hollywood rubbish that adulterates and blasphemes,”. I still remember sitting through “Do You Believe?” with friends for the first time and trying HARD not to scream.

    I found this article as I was doing a little research on faith in mainstream entertainment and where it’s going wrong in strictly staying family friendly in their storylines and making sure to talk about God in every scene.This article is exactly my thoughts. Most church going Christians proudly box themselves away from mainstream media, against anything that’s not entirely holy or biblical and they just call it evil, without really looking at why mainstream music or movies are popular or have penetrated into culture.

    This article also really hits on the point of integrating Christian faith and values more into the mainstream media, and that by keeping them separate, Christian filmmakers are really making their movies look way too tamed down and boring for non-Christian audiences and just attracting all of the Christians, who believe they are great movies that everybody needs to see. As if it’s the tool that will convert people.

    While I can’t keep up with mainstream movies myself, nor am I experienced or knowledgeable enough with the VAST majority of them, I’m interested in catching up on the ones that have kernels of faith in them–the mainstream and the conventional. I’m planning on hosting a Youtube channel that discusses just this topic. I want to discuss Hollywood movies that actually have faith themes in them, as well as the quality of conventional faith-based movies; how well Christian movies do or don’t work and that there’s a lot of faith-themed mainstream movies out there. With the channel I hope to show secular, and Christian, viewers the subtle faith themes and motifs in Hollywood movies and that it’s not all churchy and it doesn’t have to be. I’m reformatting a channel I’ve already made titled “Critiquing Christian Cinema” that has 11 videos on it (not include some update videos) to look better and include other content. I am still working on the name.

    This website was a good find! Keep up with the good work and I’ll check in for more articles and reviews!

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