Coriolanus and King James

©2012 THE WEINSTEIN COMPANY INC.

Last night my wife and I decided to rent a movie. So we watched a few trailers and decided on a movie named Coriolanus. It looked like a fascinating story of a man that was rejected by the country he fought for, banished and ends up having to join forces with his mortal enemy. It had Ralph Fiennes (playing the main character Caius Martius Coriolanus) and Gerard Butler (playing his arch enemy Tullus Aufidius) starring as two of main characters with a great supporting cast. At the very end of the trailer a headline flashed that made it known that the movie was based on the Shakespeare play of the same name. So now I am really stoked. It looks like a good action movie with a great cast and the underpinnings of a solid story. So we rented it.

What could go wrong?

The movie was set in a modern version of Rome and the opening scenes were flashes of news reports that looked eerily similar to the recent riots in Greece. The parallels of the movie to modern day happenings make the movie look even more interesting. The first real scene has an angry mob marching on a government controlled food depot. So were are getting right into it.

What could go wrong?

Then we hit the first lines of dialogue:

Second Citizen: Before we proceed any further, hear me speak. You are all resolved rather to die than to famish?
Gathered Citizens: Resolved.
Second Citizen: First, you know Caius Martius is chief enemy to the people.
Gathered Citizens: We know it.
First Citizen: Let us kill him. And we'll have corn at our own price.
Second Citizen: We are accounted poor citizens, the patricians of good. The leanness that afflicts us, the object of our misery, our suffering, is a gain to them.
Gathered Citizens: Aye.
Second Citizen: Let us revenge this with our sticks, ere we become rakes.
First Citizen: No more talking on it. Come!

Uh oh. I'm starting to get an idea of what could go wrong. Who speaks like that? It became very difficult to follow what was going on. Further into the movie we were treated to this gem:

Tullus Aufidius: What's thy name?
Caius Martius Coriolanus: A name unmusical to the Volscians' ears, and harsh in sound to thine.
Tullus Aufidius: Say... what's thy name? Thou has a grim appearance. What's thy name?
Caius Martius Coriolanus: Know'st thou me yet?
Tullus Aufidius: I know thee not. Thy name?
Caius Martius Coriolanus: My name is Caius Martius, who hath done to thee particularly, and to all the Volsces, great hurt and mischief. Thereto witness my surname... Coriolanus. Only that name remains. The cruelty and envy of the people who have all forsook me, hath devoured the rest and suffered me by the voice of slaves, be whooped out of Rome. Now this extremity hath brought me to thy hearth. Not out of hope, mistake me not to save my life. For if I had feared death, of all men in the world I would have avoided thee. But, in mere spite, to be full quit of those my banishers, stand I before thee here. I will fight against my cankered country with the spleen of all the under fiends. But if thou dares not this, then I present my throat to thee and to thy ancient malice. Which not to cut would show thee but a fool, since I have ever followed thee with hate, and cannot live but to thy shame, unless it be to do thee service.

Don't get me wrong. Reading dialogue like this is nothing like trying to decipher it on the fly in the context of a movie. When I read it I can understand it but it isn't quite a clear as it could be. In a movie it was near impossible to understand what was actually being said. It seems silly to me to update every aspect of the movie but the dialogue. In this movie the dialogue is what really tells us what is going on. Isn't the point of a modern telling of a Shakespeare play to help modern viewers understand better?

It is the very same reason that most churches and Christians no longer use the 1611 King James version of the Bible. The whole point of modern versions is so that modern readers can better understand what the Bible is saying. But then as a church we can still get caught up using "insider" language that ends up confusing those outside of the church. That doesn't mean that we should stop using terms like justification and sanctification. What it means is that we need to be very intentional about clarifying and defining the terms that we use so that even those outside the church can easily follow our dialogue.

 

Movie quotes are from imdb.com

 

Posted with Blogsy

Were the VeggieTales not Christian enough?

Working at Big Idea–the creators of the VeggieTales– was one of my dream jobs when I went back to school to earn my undergraduate degree in marketing. I really appreciated what Big Idea co-founder Phil Vischer was trying to do by creating a Christian media company. Unfortunately it wasn't to be. By the time I graduated, Big Idea was already spiraling downward into bankruptcy. I am not nearly the VeggieTales fan that I once was but my interest still piques up whenever I see something related to Phil Vischer in the news.

So I was hooked when I saw the following headline: VeggieTales creator repents of moralism. I read the short blog post by Dr. Gene Veith and clicked a couple of his links as well. I even went and read the entire interview with Vischer at the World Magazine website. I found it interesting that the blog post that I originally read selected this quote:

"I looked back at the previous 10 years and realized I had spent 10 years trying to convince kids to behave Christianly without actually teaching them Christianity. And that was a pretty serious conviction. You can say, 'Hey kids, be more forgiving because the Bible says so,' or 'Hey kids, be more kind because the Bible says so!' But that isn’t Christianity, it’s morality. . . .

"And that was such a huge shift for me from the American Christian ideal. We’re drinking a cocktail that’s a mix of the Protestant work ethic, the American dream, and the gospel. And we’ve intertwined them so completely that we can’t tell them apart anymore. Our gospel has become a gospel of following your dreams and being good so God will make all your dreams come true. It’s the Oprah god. So I had to peel that apart. I realized I’m not supposed to be pursuing impact, I’m supposed to be pursuing God. And when I pursue God I will have exactly as much impact as He wants me to have."

Now I don't think that Mr. Vischer is saying that there is anything wrong with teaching morality. The point that he is making is that there is a difference between teaching good behavior and Christianity. We can teach all about morality without ever teaching about Christianity but we cannot teach about Christianity without teaching about morality. According to this quote Mr. Vischer thought that the VeggieTales were teaching too little about Christianity.

I agree that–from the perspective of the church–teaching morality without teaching the doctrines of Christianity is wrong. We must preach Christ and not just be a guide to doing right and not doing wrong. Without Christ there is no forgiveness of sins. But was it the VeggieTales responsibility to preach Christ?

On the one hand yes. It is something that we should all be doing. But on the other hand I don't know that Phil Vischer needs to apologize for the content of the VeggieTales. The fact that the VeggieTales focused more on teaching morality to kids than on an explicit gospel message isn't inherently wrong. I don't' think that we shouldn't expect things like the VeggieTales or other Christian media/art to preach an explicit gospel message. We should recognize these things for what they are and–and more importantly–what they are not.

The VeggieTales are not a substitute for the Bible. They are not a substitute for parents taking the time to read the Bible with their children. They are not a substitute for parents taking the time to preach Christ to their children. The same thing can be said for any Christian material or program.

I don't think that Dr. Veith is advocating that the VeggieTales should be equivalent to the Bible. He is critiquing Christian media and art for teaching morality without really preaching Christ. I understand this concern. But my concern isn't that the VeggieTales might be too heavy on moralism and too light on Christ. My concern is that we are placing too much weight on things like the VeggieTales. These things can be great tools in the right context of parents taking the time flesh out what is being taught. But they can also be very dangerous tools when parents use the VeggieTales as substitute teachers.

 

 

VeggieTales creator repents of moralism via Tim Challies' A La Carte


 

Caine's Arcade

When a child combines imagination and initiative the results can be outstanding.

 

Caine's Arcade via Free Range Kids

 

The Hunger Games

My wife and I went to see The Hunger Games this weekend. We had seen a trailer for the movie a while back and thought that it might be something that we would enjoy. I usually don't like to see movies that are going to be popular on their opening weekend because I don't find sitting in a crowded theater enjoyable. But we went anyway.

I didn't know much about the story going in. I knew that it was a book and I suspected that it was a series of books. I knew that there was some bad things going on in the book where people were involved in some sort of battle to the death. But I really didn't know anything beyond that. Just as a spoiler alert about how well our movie viewing experience went–I have since read the book.

I started to get skeptical of the movie during the first fifteen to twenty minutes because the director decided to use shaky camera work. Very shaky camera work. I started to feel pretty nauseous and wondered how I was going to make it through two hours. I even leaned over and whispered my concern to my wife. (I really don't know why movie makers overuse this effect. It is one thing to add the effect in action scenes but the first bit of this film isn't filled with actions scenes. It just isn't fun to watch people sitting on a chair with the camera shaking as if it were rolling down a hill.) But the story was compelling right from the start and it just built from there.

One of the most captivating things about this story (for both the film but especially the book) is that the subject matter is so dark but done in a very engaging way. The premise of the story is that the Capitol of Panem (the result of a post apocalyptic United States) faced a rebellion from it's 13 districts. As a punishment for that rebellion the Capitol held the "Hunger Games" every year. The 12 remaining districts (District 13 was wiped out in the civil war) have to sent one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 to participate in the "Hunger Games." The contestants fight to the death until there is just one victor. Then that person is sent back to their district and lavished with great riches. Most of the districts are extremely poor and the more a person relies on the Capitol for food the more times their name is entered into the lottery. The story is compelling and you are sucked in to the point where it is very easy to forget that the story is really about kids forced to kill other kids for the entertainment of the people of the Capitol.

Everyone in Panem is forced to watch but what is a punishment for the districts is a gala event for the Capitol.

The parallels to the games in the Roman Coliseum are unmistakable. However the parallels to modern reality shows are frightening. While reality shows are not about people killing one another they are filled with character assassination. Viewers might want to object by saying that these shows are more scripted than reality or that the actors know that being involved in conflict will get them more face time. But the fact of the matter is that the entertainment industry has made billions of dollars showing people trying to destroy one another under the pretense of being reality. We have become consumers of the destruction of human beings. When you also consider the popularity of the ultra-violent fighting of the MMA it just begs the question of how long until we find ourselves back in the Roman Coliseum?

Both the film and the book are worth watching and reading. The shaky camera work lessens and the film stays very true to the spirit of the book. But like most film adaptations the book is far better. Film just has too many limitations that make it impossible to capture everything. The book is obviously written towards young adults but I found the book to be nearly impossible to put down. The film is aimed equally at young adults and older adults but because of the subject matter and violence it would be very questionable for those younger than junior high age.

Get the book and read it. Then go and see the film. You won't be sorry.

Photo courtesy of scholastic.com

Monumental

Kirk Cameron's latest project:

Matthew Broderick's Day Off

Ferris Bueller's Day Off is one of my all time favorite movies and Honda's new commercial is just too good not to share. It was originally set to air for the first time during the Superbowl but someone let the cat out of the bag and Honda posted it on YouTube. Enjoy:

 

 

 

Top 5 Christmas Movies

I remember going and seeing A Christmas Story in the theater with my grandfather and brother. It was a great movie and it has been rare that Christmas has gone by without me watching it again. But what I remember most about the very first time I saw it was my brother got sick in the car on the way home from my grandfather's house. We were half way home.

I haven't watched any of my favorite Christmas movies yet this year which means that I really need to get on the ball.

So I thought that I would share with you my all-time favorites that I will need to watch before the end of the year.

First is the previously mentioned A Christmas Story. What kid from the 80s doesn't want a Red-Rider BB Gun?

Next is the classic It's a Wonderful Life. When I was young this one would drive me nuts. It was always on. It was on just about every channel at the same time. Why couldn't they just show a cartoon special? But now I love it. Yes it is cheesy but that's the point. I think that it is a great story about not underestimating your importance.

My third favorite is A Charlie Brown Christmas. The movie does a good job of speaking against the commercialism of Christmas. It was written in 1965 and seems even more relevant today. It would be interesting to hear what Charles Schultz would think of all the Christmas creep we see now.

The fourth movie would be How the Grinch Stole Christmas! I do not like the remake, I do not like it, Sam-I-am. Nope. It has to be the old cartoon. It is a plain and simple message. Don't be a Christmas hater.

Finally I will watch Elf. Yes it doesn't have the staying power of the others. I agree that it won't end up being a classic. But it is funny and fun to watch. Besides it is the best thing to watch while eating something from the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns and syrup.

Lessons to be learned from Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1

Disclaimer: This post deals with a mature but essential subject matter. It is not something that we as Christians can just hope won't affect our children.

I am not a movie critic nor do I play one on TV. I am also not a Twilight expert. I have not read any of the books and I have only seen two of the movies. Having only seen two of the movies (the last two) means that I have been sufficiently lost as to the major plot line. Which means that my general observations of the movies have been limited to the following:

• It is about two guys fighting over one girl (not sure if that one has been done before);
  
• The guy who plays Edward is sort of creepy looking (I see why they picked him to play a vampire);
  
• The name Bella in this story seems contrived and very out of place (I found myself getting annoyed by it);
  
• The guy who plays the werewolf is always looking to go shirtless in the cold and rainy weather of the Northwest (which led to the best line of either of the movies that I have seen: "Doesn't he own a shirt?");
• It is easy to recognize that the movies were written for teen girls (and I would assume the same is true for the books as well).

Twilight is your typical teen angst love story wrapped in the thin candy shell of vampires and werewolves. My goal is not to review the overall content of Twilight or its inherent glorification and worship of mythical creatures that subsist on sucking the very life-blood out of people and were universally feared and reviled until somewhat recently. Rather I would like to focus on a couple of scenes from the most recent film installment.

Both my wife and I were appalled at the intensity and explicitness of the sex scenes. They were explicit without being graphic. There was no nudity but not much was left to the imagination either. As an aside it occurs to me that adding a sex scene to a movie is a very unimaginative and uncreative way of telling a story. This is a movie that is aimed at teen girls and the inclusion of these scenes move this film at least into the category of erotica and may even qualify as pornography.*

I am not naive enough to think that this movie breaks any ground in exposing teens to sex. I realize that basic cable (and sometimes even network TV) shows just as much as what was shown in Twilight. However whether or not our kids can see these things is not the right question. The real question is whether or not our kids (and us adults as well) should see these things.

The other important issue surrounds the idea of where our kids learn about sex. We as Christians cannot allow culture and media to be the lone voice when it comes to these issues. We also should not be doing "cleanup work." Our job is not to correct what our kids learn from these sources. Rather our kids should have learned enough from us first that they can start to recognize when they are being exposed to the wrong view of sex. When they hear at school that a condom is the best way to prevent an STD or pregnancy their reaction should be to think, "Well that's just silly. I have an even lower risk of an STD or pregnancy if I wait to have sex until marriage."  

There are two lessons that we can learn from the latest Twilight movie. The first is the absolute importance of parents taking the time to view any movies that their children want to see. And the second is taking the time to be the primary educational source for all of life's lessons. Even the difficult ones like sex.

*Erotica is generally defined as sexually implicit material designed to illicit an emotional response while pornography is defined as being designed to illicit a sexual response. However I don't know that there is any real difference in that the emotional responses aroused in erotica are going to be very closely tied to a sexual response. It doesn't seem possible to completely divorce the two. 

Spin-o-rama!

For all you Blackhawk fans out there I have just one word: PATRICKKANE! The Hawks may be the only thing that I really miss about not having cable.

Insulting Christians and turning the other cheek

I usually don't give much thought to what Hollywood has to say. Unfortunately I find that most times TV Shows and movies can be fairly predictable or even formulaic. I often still enjoy the entertainment because I realize that I need to suspend reality while watching. However I have noticed a few shows that I usually enjoy getting away with some blatant derogatory stereotypes. If these stereotypes were applied to certain groups of people there would be a national outcry.

But because the target is Christians everything is deemed all right.

Both a recent episode of The Big Bang Theory and an episode from last season of the Office that I have recently watched portrayed Christians in a very poor light. They were shown as being combination of unthinking, judgmental, close-minded, bubbly and vacuous. They are shown as that stereotypical cheerleader for Jesus type.

Let me be the first to say that Christians can be all of those things. And it is absolutely not right when we are. But Christians do not have a monopoly on those character traits. On top of that, those things are not all that Christians are. And that is what has bothered me.

This portrayal of Christians has not been limited to just one episode of The Big Bang Theory and The Office. Rather it has been a fairly persistent stereotype especially in The Big Bang theory. I don't expect Hollywood to become Holywood...but a more accurate and balanced portrayal would be nice. How about showing a Christian character that isn't over-the-top weird? How about showing a Christian that is willing to help someone out not because they are trying to proselytize but rather because they are simply willing to help out?

I find it very interesting but at worst it is an insult. There is no great injustice done to me if Hollywood decides to inaccurately portray Christians. Yes I might very well have to deal with undoing some preconceived notions that people have. Beyond that there is no true harm done.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said:

"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you."

Far too often I have heard this used to say that Christians should be pacifists or should just lie down and take it. But what is interesting is that this passage is actually talking about how we should deal with insults. The point is that I shouldn't take any actions against someone insulting me that would unnecessarily escalate an insult to something more violent. And I think that it is very good advice in a situation like this.

I really do not like that Christians get portrayed poorly by Hollywood...we tend to do a good job of poorly portraying ourselves as it is. But the answer isn't to rage against the machine. Rather the answer is to do a better job of being the type of Christian that I would like to see portrayed in Hollywood. If we as Christians do that then those inaccurate portrayals will be seen as being inaccurate even by those outside the church. And that will do more to change those portrayals than anything else that I could try and do to change them.

By the way, if the Matthew 5:38-42 passage is meant to advocate pacifism then why did Jesus tell the Disciples to buy swords?

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

I Want To Be Like...

There was a catchy little tune that those of us growing up sports fans in Chicago in the 90s will remember. Actually I am guessing that you will remember it even if you didn't grow up in Chicago or were that big of a sports fan.

It is a really catchy tune that was designed to sell Gatorade. That song popped in mind when I saw an article stating that St. Croix had sold out of their $175 black mock turtle necks.

Whuh? Yikes. I don't know that I would spend $175 on a mock turtle neck regardless who wore the same style. Spending that type of money on a phone that he helped design and market? Maybe so.



St. Croix via The Consumerist

Hank Williams, ESPN and Free Speech

Hank Williams Jr. compared President Obama to Hitler and as a result ESPN pulled William's iconic song "Are You Ready For Some Football" as the opening for Monday Night Football. I am sure that there are those that heard Williams' comments and had steam coming out of their ears, those that rolled their eyes, those that cheered, and those that simply shrugged their shoulders. I'm not going to get into a debate over the validity of Mr. Williams' comments. Suffice it to say that while I am not much of a supporter of President Obama's policies and ideas, I don't think comparing President Obama to a man that systematically eliminated millions of people based upon their race, creed, beliefs or physical/mental condition is particularly valid.

What struck me as interesting about this whole thing was Hank Williams Jr.'s response:

"After reading hundreds of e-mails, I have made MY decision. By pulling my opening Oct 3rd, You (ESPN) stepped on the Toes of The First Amendment Freedom of Speech, so therefore Me, My Song, and All My Rowdy Friends are OUT OF HERE. It's been a great run."

Mr. Williams is claiming that ESPN violated his free speech right and he is absolutely wrong. ESPN did no such thing.

First of all, the First Amendment has all sorts of restrictions to it. Try claiming your right to free speech after getting arrested for joking about a bomb being on an airplane. Or try claiming your right to free speech after getting arrested for making a threatening statement to another person.

Second, ESPN did not prevent Mr. Williams from saying what he said or holding his particular view. They just decided that he is not the type of person that they want associated with their company. I would bet that most of us know that if we start bad mouthing our boss or employer in public that we will soon have nothing to complain about except being out of a job.

And that brings me to the third point. ESPN is a private company and not the government. The First Amendment specifically applies to the government of this country. Every company, private or public, can terminate someone's employment because of something that the employee said.

The First Amendment does not give us the ability to say whatever we want to say. There are limits to what can be said and it has been the responsibility of the judicial system to determine those limits. Whether or not the Supreme Court has always ruled properly on free speech cases is something that we can argue about freely.



Source of the Hank Williams Jr. quote: Sports Illustrated via The Consumerist.

Worship, Football and Mr. Sandman

Last week I sat and watched the Bears game in amazement as they took apart a pretty good Atlanta team. Atlanta just beat a pretty good Philadelphia Eagles team although Philly QB Michael "Dog Killer" Vick missed the fourth quarter with a neck injury. So this week I was really looking forward to watching the Bears play New Orleans.

I was leading worship at church and had a meeting following the service. As the meeting kept going longer and longer I was noticing the time was getting closer and closer to kickoff. Finally the meeting was over and we were on our way...oops...have to stop at da Jewels (Chicagoism...it's really Jewel-Osco which is a grocery store) to pick up some tomatoes.

Finally after getting home and preparing lunch I sat down to watch the game. I was just in time to see the Saints kick a field goal. The score was Bears 7 and the Saints 3. Not too bad. Through out the second quarter it was clear that the Bears were having a tough time on both offense and defense.

The offense was struggling except for Matt Forte. That guy is really good. The defense got torched for a long TD pass from Drew Brees to Devery Henderson. The defense held the Saints to a few more field goals and the Bears were able to get one field goal. So going into halftime it was 16 to 10 in favor of the Saints.

Enter Mr. Sandman...

Leading worship is always an energy intensive activity. An hour practice before the service and playing through most of the service means almost two straight hours of playing and singing. When I come home I am usually wiped out and laying on the couch watching sports is usually a drowsy combination.

I promptly slept through the rest of the game which looking at how it ended up was not a bad thing. The Bears have a lot of work to do before next weeks big game against the Packers. Next week's game may go a long way to showing whether their week one performance was a fluke or not. Hopefully not but Aaron Rodgers has the ability to pick apart defenses as well as Brees. So it could be another long afternoon.

The Pig With The Froggy Tattoo

The Muppets were a staple in our house when I was growing up. We would get a big bowl or two of popcorn and would watch the show. It was always good fun and my favorite part of the show was always Waldorf and Statler:

By the time the movies started to come out I was starting to get too old and too “cool” to go see them. So when my wife mentioned that she wanted to see the new Muppet movie a few months ago, I just rolled my eyes. Still too old and still too “cool.”

But that was before I saw the newest trailer. It is a parody of the trailer for “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” movie and it is awesome.

Even though I am guessing that the trailer doesn’t accurately portray the movie, it does make me want to go and see it. Hopefully Waldorf and Statler make an appearance.

And here is the original trailer for “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.”