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4.09 Digging for Truth in THE POST

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In his latest film, THE POST, Steven Spielberg and his all-star cast aren’t satisfied with merely retelling a chapter in American history. They’re on a search for truth and justice in our culture today. This week, Steve welcomes back Kevin McLenithan (Seeing and Believing) to dig into THE POST while also offering their Top 3 Movie Moments of 2017.

Want to continue to conversation at home?  Click the link below to download ‘Fishing for More’ — some small group questions for you to bring to those in your area.

A special thanks to Kevin for joining us!

4.09 The Post

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Welcoming the Stranger: The Ewoks Got it Right

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If you’ve been on the Internet for more than 5 minutes in the past two days, you are no doubt aware of a certain PR crisis surrounding an alleged Presidential statement. Nightly news anchors, local bloggers, church leadership councils and literally millions of people are in a state of shock and uproar and have taken to the web in order to communicate their feelings on the matter. And while I am admittedly terrified to even step foot into such a polarizing climate, I am also committed to bearing witness to my Christian faith. Today that commitment has conquered fear. And it is through film that I hope to express my response.

Instead of watching a film and pulling out a certain element or moment, this time I needed to find a film that illustrated what I was already thinking, which can be summed up as “why are we ok with going into these countries to serve and help, but aren’t ok with bringing those same people to live among us?” In other words, “who is worthy of our welcome?” And as it does so many times, Star Wars can put it into perspective.

In Return of the Jedi, our beloved Rebels have infiltrated a small forest moon in order to destroy the shield generator that is protecting the unfinished Death Star. But before they can complete their mission, they get a little sidetracked by a tribe of Ewoks.

Personal feelings regarding Ewoks aside, they are the ones I want to focus on. At first they respond to the strange human creatures with fear – they are threatened and take the steps necessary to ensure their tribe’s safety. But then conversation happens. C-3PO (voiced by Anthony Daniels) tells the story of the Rebel Alliance and the Empire, of their journey to this place and their mission moving forward. Despite language and cultural (and species) barriers, the Rebels and the Ewoks connect. Even beyond that, the Ewoks accept these strangers into their tribe. They become family. The Rebels’ mission becomes the Ewoks’s mission. The Rebels’ needs become the Ewoks’ opportunity to give.

Yes, the Empire is a universal threat, meaning there can be immediate commonality between the persecuted. But accepting someone into the folds of a community goes beyond a common enemy – it illustrates a deeper desire for relationship. It’s an acceptance that has more meaning than the temporary joining of forces in battle.

When we welcome a stranger into our midst, embracing them as part of our family or community, we are actively participating within the Biblical narrative. The story of Christianity is permeated and formed with countless references of how the Israelites were required by God to welcome the foreigner and alien into their lives, and to treat them as “native-born,” granted the same rights and protections as anyone else. In the book of John, chapter 14, verses 2-4, Jesus says, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

Jesus came so that we may one day be brought to dwell with Him. We are undeserving and unworthy. We have done nothing to earn this privilege. Our beginnings are far below the majesty that is the Son of God. And yet we are welcomed into an eternal kingdom of glory! Jesus doesn’t care where we came from, but that we acknowledge His sovereign place as Lord of our lives. We are beloved not because we are Americans or African, white or black, rich or poor, but because we are created in God’s very image.

Yes, welcoming the stranger is scary. It’s risky. It requires vulnerability and grace and sacrifice. But there is so much more strength and power behind the gospel message when it is exemplified in our day-to-day interactions with the people that the rest of the world has deemed “unworthy.” It is wonderful to go into the lives of the suffering and help while and how we can. But it is life-changing when we welcome those same people into our communities to dwell with us.

The Post – The Calling of Truth

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Directed by Steven Spielberg, The Post tells the story of Katherine Graham (Meryl Streep), the first female publisher of a major American newspaper, the Washington Post. Set in the later years of the Vietnam War, Katherine and her editor Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) suddenly find themselves in the possession of papers exposing the American government’s cover-ups. As her shareholders are growing anxious and question her ability to lead, she and Bradlee must decide whether they will put their careers—and lives—at risk by publishing the truth that they have uncovered in an effort to hold their elected leaders accountable for their actions.

Despite its 1970s setting, The Post feels like Spielberg’s most urgent film in years. With an energetic script, each actor within the film attacks their roles with a ferocity and passion that bleeds off the screen. While one could argue that the film looks on paper as simple Oscar bait (Spielberg! Hanks! Streep! Together at last!), the truth is that, regardless of the size of their role, every performer within the film appears actively invested in the project. As a result, the film sparkles, eliciting shades of classics like The Conversation or All the President’s Men yet seems entirely relevant to the current political landscape. Given the film’s message of freedom for the press and the courage of women, The Post is not exactly subtle with its intentions, arguably the film’s greatest flaw. (“Nothing less than the integrity of the presidency is at stake!” someone exclaims.) However, the intensity of the film coupled with truly remarkable performances across the board prevent it from being simply another ‘message movie’.

In light of this, one of the most interesting aspects of the film is its passion for truth. While it seems obvious that a film about revealing the flaws of the government would have an overarching theme of truth, The Post seems genuinely interested in offering the concept of truth as a universal construct as opposed to basing it on one’s subjectivity. Whereas many modern narratives, whether it’s The Last Jedi to Lady Bird, bases truth on one’s perspective or feeling, this film depicts truth as an objective, higher standard to which we’re all held accountable.

In The Post, truth is a calling.

Interestingly though, the film also manages to resist painting characters by the simple brushstrokes of ‘hero’ and ‘villain’. Whereas Spielberg could have presented characters like McNamara (Bruce Greenwood) or Arther Parsons (Bradley Whitford) as purely evil, he also shows

their desire to do good, albeit by their own standards. As a result, these characters aren’t considered bad because they actively oppose truth. Rather, their actions are bad because they seem naive—or worse, disinterested—in heeding what is objectively wrong. Issues ranging from accountability of government to women’s rights are highlighted by the outdated attitudes and morals of a culture that fears change and these are characters refuse to admit to themselves that they’ve become lost. These are not mustache-twirling criminals but flawed human beings whose misguided actions have real consequences. As such, there is a cost to truth as well. McNamara may argue that ‘it’s easy for the papers to paint us as liars…’ but, by these standards, that is who they are. While these sorts of realizations are painful at times—especially when you consider how we idolize people in authority (or historically)—they also create space for new beginnings when truth is objective.

The Post reminds us that there is still a place for recognizing an objective, external standard of right and wrong that is also imbued with hope. At a time in our culture where administrations trending movements such as #MeToo reveal the damage that has remained in the shadows and caused by people in power, this film is a reminder that there is hope that lies in the truth.

 

The Post is in theatres now.

 

Trump may save truth for us yet

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what i’m about to
say may seem naive;
hopeful, at least;
and it’s certainly so
that it’s nothing new;
so i’m also going to
keep it neat and clean,
concise and pointed

here it is:

though so far the
“reality” show that is
Trump –
from his pre-politics life
and celebrity/star status,
to his candidacy
and presidency –
has been marked by
an extreme atruthiness
(a distinct disdain for truth,
a purposeful distortion of it for gain),
Trump may save truth for us yet

why/ how?

because:
by flaunting his atruthiness so,
by virtue of it becoming
so uniformly known,
so undeniably alarming,
truth itself is becoming
the topic of the day
in a unique and new way

and –
so hopes naive me –
maybe, hopefully,
this state of affairs
can’t help but
benefit, increase,
somehow vindicate truth,
no matter how
counterintuitive, how
unexpected it may seem

here’s another way
to think about this:
we’re all familiar with
Orwell and “doublespeak;”
we’ve always known that
politicians lie…….

but this new,
nearly unbelievable
“post-truth” world of “alternative facts”
so clearly calls truth itself
and caring about what’s true
into question
(see, e.g. “How Trump Is Trying to Govern America Like an Internet Troll”
where Katherine Cross quips,
“All of a sudden, one is a patsy for caring, a fool for believing in the power of truth telling.”),
that maybe,
maybe,
we’ll come out the other side,
ironically,
less jaded, less cynical,
more truth lovers and seekers

here’s another way
to think about this:
we’re all familiar with
the tactic of distraction
as a means to
mask the truth –
the “razzle dazzle”
sung about in the musical Chicago
that keeps people from hearing
“the truth above the roar” –
and how the mass media
helps mediate this method;
how it can itself become
just a tool in the hand
of a deceitful man……

but in Trump’s America,
the “opposition party” media,
the “fake news,”
insofar as they
have been positioned
as enemies of the state
precisely on this point,
have a real opportunity
to participate in,
to restore value to,
to help save
truth telling and truth itself

finally,
here’s another way
to think about this:
we’re (some of us)
familiar with the idea of
postmodernism –
that old-by-now position
that so smugly sees
truth as passe –
and maybe (some of us)
have considered
this president or that one
to be a “postmodern president”
(a quick Googling, in fact,
finds this term applied to, at least,
Clinton, Bush, Obama
and (of course) Trump himself
(see, e.g., the excellent “Trump is the ultimate postmodern presidential candidate – and he’s been a long time coming”))……..

but i submit that
Trump, truly,
is the end of postmodernism
in the sense that:
if one calls truth itself into question
for so long,
so casually,
allowing it to be replaced
with the muddy waters
of relativism and celebrityism
and meism (even nationalism,
conservatism, liberalism)
or any other kind of ism
except truthism –
that old-school, ancient,
passe version of truth;
you know:
objective, “capital-T Truth;”
that Bibley kind of truth even,
where when the question
“What is truth?” is posed,
there are actually answers
(see, e.g., John 14:6) –
what else could one expect,
but the ultimate ascension of
this person, this thing,
capital-T Trump:
the incarnation of,
the walking embodiment of,
the end of
this chosen path?

it’s like:
we asked for it
and now we’ve got it.
happy?

i’m saying:
maybe not.

maybe we’re not happy.

maybe, just maybe,
because this current
atruthiness is so atruthy,
maybe not

maybe, just maybe,
because this current
disdain for the truth is
such disdain,
maybe not

maybe, just maybe,
because truth’s distortion
is currently so distorted for gain,
perhaps,
perhaps,
maybe, just maybe –
so hopes naive me –
Trump may save truth for us yet