Christian "Entertainment?"

Let me begin by laying all my cards on the table: I have not seen the movie "Fireproof" recently released by Sherwood Pictures (the movie production "ministry" of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, GA) nor do I intend on seeing it. This is not a review of the movie, but rather an introspective on the intention of the filmmakers. 

Fireproof is a drama starring Kirk Cameron that tells the story of a man who spends his life rescuing the public from raging infernos but cannot save his own marriage from falling apart (this is what I have gathered from the trailer and movie website... I'm sure there's more to the movie than just that). Sherwood Pictures produced the movie following the immense success of Facing the Giants, a high school football film that scored with families on DVD. Fireproof was released on September 26, 2008.

Now, I have much more to say about the current state of Christian movies than would be relevant to this post, but what I will say is that I believe the greatest fault Christian filmmakers have made is ignoring the essential element of good storytelling: that the story should first and foremost be entertaining. Now, considering I have not seen Fireproof it would be silly of me to assume the movie was not entertaining. It has received many positive comments from friends of mine who have seen it. However, I remain skeptical; the one thing I do know is Christians are slow to criticize bad product that is labelled "Christian." 

Consider what the movie's own website calls its "Heart": Ministry will continue long after FIREPROOF opens this fall. Cast and crew understand they are ambassadors for the film's message of hope. The question I cannot help but ask is, did the producers approach the making of this movie with a good story or was the story created around this "message of hope"? I'm not at all opposed to a message of hope, especially a message of hope concerning marriages in a world that is increasingly hostile towards the institution. Here is what I believe: a good movie is made from a good story, and within that story lies a message (or multiple messages) that cannot be ignored. When a movie, or book or song for that matter, is written solely to teach a message it can often have drastic results. There is nothing wrong with allowing a movie to be entertaining as well as thought-provoking (did not the Creator create entertainment as He did everything else?).

I'll let you know if I ever decide to watch the movie.

Title/Address Change

You'll notice I've changed the title and address to my blog: it is now called "Colliding Worlds" and can be found at andyhuff.blogspot.com. 

First, the name: when I called the blog "What Would Jesus Buy?" it was intended to address the specific marketing aspects of Christian popular culture and the inherent danger therein. I felt like changing the name of the blog would help me psychologically break through that barrier and broaden the scope of my investigation. I have called the blog "Colliding Worlds" in reference to the obvious merging of the Christian worldview with true popular culture to create this unique byproduct of the Church. 

Secondly, the address. Obviously, since the blog name has changed the address must change. Instead of "collidingworlds.blogspot.com," I decided it would be easier to get to with my name as the address. 

I am determined to continue to use this blog as a tool to hone my writing skills, and I hope that you continue to interact with what I write about!

A Case Study

The struggle with writing on this subject is that I am occasionally tempted to step on a soap box and preach against specific abuses of Christian popular culture. It will be beneficial, however, to examine a specific case of Christian popular culture and the effects thereof.

Ten years ago, hardly anyone had ever heard of the man Jabez. But thanks to the pen of Dr. Bruce Wilkinson, millions of people now immediately recognize the name. Only two verses in the Bible are devoted to this man, but it was enough for Dr. Wilkinson to begin a legacy. This is not to say that Jabez was inconsequential to the story of the Bible; but it becomes increasingly difficult to develop an entire devotional on 63 words. Of course, the devotional was small, and to be honest it wasn't as contrived as one might think although it was dangerously close to the precipice that is the "health and wealth gospel."

Where The Prayer of Jabez begins to spell doom for Christian popular culture is not in its premise, nor in the subsequent success of this little book. Instead, the Prayer of Jabez perfectly illustrates one of the darkest sides of Christian popular culture: niche marketing. A niche market is a narrowly defined group of consumers for which a particular product may be produced when it would otherwise not be for the general public. Men's Fitness magazine is marketing to a niche group: men who enjoy fitness. A woman is less likely to read a magazine about that particular topic. 

Niche marketing can be profitable, even useful. But more often than not, it is taken to the extreme with popular culture hits. Movies are particularly vulnerable to niche marketing. If a movie is being marketed across broad audiences, you begin to see niche marketing tied in to the movie's release. Children's toys, speciality foods, etc. begin to surface and are all based upon the general public's interest in a product of popular culture.

Unfortunately, the evangelical community has proven exceptionally vulnerable to niche marketing. The Prayer of Jabez, for example, spawned countless additional products: The Prayer of Jabez Journal, The Prayer of Jabez Devotional (two versions: one for children, one for adults), The Prayer of Jabez for Women, and everything from mugs to Christmas ornaments. There were three editions of the book published for three different age groups of children. There was a musical companion: The Prayer of Jabez Music...A Worship Experience. 

And what for? Could any of these additional products be justified from a book that was no more than 93 pages long? I will not answer my own question. Instead, I would propose that the Prayer of Jabez "phenomenon" illustrates a potential danger of Christian popular culture. That is, the pursuit of quantity over quality in order to capitalize on the success of a product of popular culture. Although I would concede it is harder to practice than to preach, I cannot help but believe it is more effective long term to create a quality product than to find financial success with countless niche products.

The State of the Culture

As I refer to culture in this blog, for the most part I will not be referring to what is known as "popular culture," that is the mainstream entertainment-driven product of "secular" culture. Instead, I would like to reflect on what is known as "Christian Popular Culture" and the dangerous effects this sub-culture can have on the church universal. 

Before I elaborate on the side effects, I would like to take a moment to provide a summary of this Christian pop culture. The earliest form of this culture is Contemporary Christian Music, "a genre of popular music which is lyrically focused on matters concerned with the Christian faith" (Wikipedia definition). Contemporary Christian music pioneered the sub-culture of Christian pop; songs that may have been lyrically different were certainly less distinguishable musically.

While religious literature has many years on Contemporary Christian music, there has only recently been a wave of religious popular culture literature typically in the form of Christian fiction. Frank Peretti's This Present Darkness, a thriller about the struggle between the supernatural and natural worlds, birthed hundreds of other Christian fiction writers. This era culminated in the incredible success of Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkin's end times epic Left Behind. 

On the coat tails of religious fiction came religious films. Forget Mel Gibson's moving The Passion of the Christ or the admirable Chronicles of Narnia adaptations. Independent production houses such as Cloud Ten Pictures and Gener8Xion Entertainment have sought to establish themselves as original faith-based film production companies. Cloud Ten has produced three films based on the Left Behind novels by Lahaye and Jenkins.

Been into a Lifeway store recently? The largest supplier of Christianity-based resources in the world operates over 140 stores across the country offering products to largely the evangelical community. Anything and everything can be found in the store, all focused on the Christian "message": t-shirts, bumper stickers, coffee mugs, mouse pads, plus all the latest fiction, films, and music any evangelical would ever want to purchase. 

If all of this sounds disturbing, it should. If it sounds like heaven, keep reading this blog.