The book Eyes Wide Open challenges us to respond as Christians to the popular art that forms our society. Last night, I watched the movie The Holiday. I thought it might be good to share my thoughts on this particular movie, as a Christian...
I'm really becoming a sucker for chick-flicks and sappy love stories. I used to watch and roll my eyes. Now I ooh and awe and giggle and cry (well, not quite!) like the girly-girl I am. It's disgusting. Anyways...
...that being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. It was great--two feel-good love stories for the pirce of one! But--one of the things that bothered me was that one relationship started with friendship, the other one started with sex (literally--they knew each other for about 5 minutes first), and they all lived happily ever after regardless. God created sex for marriage, so it seems to me that there would be consequences when it's taken outside of the way it was created. While this movie makes their relationship look close to perfect, in the light of the way God wants us to live, I can see that this is not an honest picture of life.
Now, I'm NOT saying that they should change the storyline of the movie, or that Christians shouldn't watch this movie. That attitude is what Bill Romanowski is criticizing.
As a Christian, what I can take from this movie is the understanding that our culture views sex as a natural and acceptable part of any relationship, and that it expects people to act like they're married without actually getting married. This can point me to look at the bigger issues of our culture's idea of the value of marriage in general, the rising divorce rate, and the need that everyone has for love. Instead of watching a movie and saying, "That's bad--how can they do that?" I should try to understand the characters and see what their lives can tell me about the world I live in--the one I'm trying to be in and not of and point to Jesus all at the same time.
2 comments:
Now that's some critical thinking. I like the what you said about the movies not showing the consequences could be.... that perfect "ever after" life. I wonder sometimes what choices i would make if i could see all the consequences before i make the choice.
i think eyes wide open, seriously discusses some of the ideas that churchs try to say away from. i agree with the consequences before making the choice. i know i wouldnt do alot of things if i had that ability.
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