I'm going to tell you now dear reader that the following blog will be combing through specific plot points and arguments surrounding the film, "God's Not Dead". So, if you hate spoilers or think the film is something you'd like to see, come back later, read the blog and tell me what you think.
This also isn't a movie review. While I will interject how I felt about the film, the majority of the blog is a rebuttal of sorts from an article I read before seeing the movie. I had the article swimming through my mind throughout the movie, and while it didn't necessarily ruin my experience, I did feel the article was off base (or better yet, geared to a specific kind of Christian who is more interested in what is wrong in a Christian film instead of what works). After watching the film, I also began prowling through other reviews, viewpoints, message boards and other type of articles about the film in hopes of getting a consensus on people's reactions. I'll admit that the friends I follow on Facebook primarily touted the film as one of their personal favorites. I'll also admit that Christian films up to this point are more emotionally driven than say a typical Hollywood blockbuster. Most are Lifetime channel dramatic, the acting isn't great and the message is what drives you to see the film. I probably would be herd pressed to find the right movie to show a non-Christian friend. But then again, I don't know the numbers of non Christian people seeing Christian based films. I think essentially the films marketed towards us today are in some way reaching out to the frustrations we have as families looking for an alternative to the films out there now. Most films made for adults go way beyond what I think is appropriate to the point that I've shied away from certain movies. Action films like the current run of Marvel comic boys' dreams are most likely for my son and I. Besides Disney fare, there's not much choice for families.
So yes, if you didn't know already, God's Not Dead, has an agenda. It portrays the interlocking stories set around a college where a student must defend his faith in front of his atheists instructor and class to prove the basis of the movie's title. There are subplots too, about a preacher who doesn't understand why he can't seem to leave his parking lot, a Muslim girl taking a leap of faith, a woman at a crossroads between her relationships with God and her relationship with her boyfriend, a student from China who is beginning to open his eyes to Jesus and a leftist blogger coming to grips with her own mortality. The film flowed like I'd think it would. The story arcs and directions weren't new to a person raised on film, but I still felt myself moved at different times during the film. It's the God's lens I see every film, TV show or commercial with. I cry foul every week when then Braverman family tries so hard to navigate through life's trials on their own without any sort of reference to God. I've been watching The Shield, where the Christian rookie cop is trying to stymie his own homosexual desires, all while trying to play God to his lover. And I sometimes cringe at the advice from the atheists characters on Bones and how they portray the one Muslim character practically without flaws.
Which gets me to the problem brought up from the article related to race and culture. You see, there was a time when I saw everything in black and white. As a Hispanic person, I sometimes felt outside of a fishbowl, looking in at the data driven American life pass me by. I was raised in an America that launched Affirmative Action and I wanted no hand outs from anyone (ironically, I ended up taking a minority scholarship from Ohio University!). I have met new education teachers coming into the field where they have been led to believe there is a privilege from being white. Since the main protagonist is white, the article seems to suggest, it in no way speaks to this brave new world of rainbow communion bread and ribbon-driven directives.
I get the message, and I once walked in those shoes. As a minority, I felt obligated to break down racial barriers with plenty of awkward jokes and self deprecating humor. What's true of most jokes and sarcasm, however, was that there is always some truth behind the barbs. Eventually I fell into the trap of believing my own shtick. I was simply saying what I perceived to be on everyone's mind. But it also kept me at a distance and built this exterior that was a scab on any relationship I ever had. I assumed every white person was a closet racist, and the verbal racist were just more authentic (I had a friend in high school who named his dog the n-word). Fast forward 30 years, and I'm sitting in a Reynoldsburg church at my Emmaus walk sitting among 50 guys, the majority of them being white. That was a hang up for me the first few days. I couldn't relate to these men. What racism did they ever face? Did they ever know the feeling of being watched when walking in a convenient store after the sun went down? The great thing among many about God, is that he made us equal. At the foot of the cross, we are all sinful humans. Perhaps the Holy Spirit had been always nudging me to realize this earlier on. I always found it strange that my high schools and community colleges we so segregated. If we were made in His image, bound for fellowship, then why aren't we more diverse?
The movie features a Muslim character, a teenage girl, who is forced to wear a headdress by her fundamentalist father each morning before she goes to work. Later in the movie, he comes to find out she has been listening to the Bible on her iPhone, promptly kicks her out and vanishes from the movie. Racial stereotypes are nothing new. This portrayal wasn't more or less controversial than any in its history put on film, but the article seems to suggest that by portraying the Muslim character as such, it feeds into our already biased mentality. Why is America so worried about offending those from a middle eastern descent, especially after 9/11? By this standard, we shouldn't watch Selena because all Mexicana girls want to dance cumbia and marry their guitarist (well, don't they?) or why watch Misery, because it makes all mid western overweight white women as psycho killers. I mean, didn't Fast n the Furious teach me all guys who look like Vin Diesel race cars (or that Jordanna Brewster is even remotely Latina?)? Are there fundamentalist Muslims living in America? Yes. Stereotypes exist because we also play into them. Guess how many Hispanic homes in Houston have blue exterior siding with a Virgin Mary statue on the porch? More than I care to admit.
The article, and plenty of non believers, have a lot more problems with the film. The ever faithful African priest is a thorn in the side of this progressive Christian writer. Don't even get me started on the suggestion that all Asian foreign exchange students are braniacs (but seriously, if you're coming to this country on a scholarship, you'd think he or she would be smart). Best yet is the idea that those who come to Christ in the film do so from circumstances that first are followed by clinical death sentences. True, not everyone finds God through tragedy. Some face tragedy and rely on God to get them through the tough times. Others use the opportunity to question the love of God. Why do bad things happen, they ask? When no truth is being spoken in your life, the world will answer for you.
Finally, the article denounces the use of the antagonist non-believers who take the form of an evil, pompous professor, a leftist blogger and an evil, uncaring capitalist. While it's true that not all non believers falls into this category, the most profound unwritten statement is the reluctance to paint an atheist in any negative portrayal whatsoever. I'm left to believe that we are the crazy ones, the haters, the bigots, the unloving, while the secular humanist just live their lives, recycles, drinks lattés on Sunday afternoon and adopts children from Uganda. I'm sure at every college there aren't atheists plotting the demise of Christian students one grade point average at a time, but there does exists among the educationally elite this cynical worldview that points its fingers in our direction. Those silly Christians and their dinosaurs!
As Christian writers, believers, followers and church goers, we must be aware of how we are portrayed as well. The world wants us to believe that one can live without God. Do good, the world says, and you will be rewarded. Call American Idol during their Feed Africa campaign and you'll feel better about yourself. All those concepts of giving and sacrifice are Christian ideals. When the next tornado or hurricane ravages the country, let's see how many Agnostic church vans roll up to volunteer. Can you go "good" without God? Who do you think placed this feeling in your heart in the first place?
By the end of the film, there's really only two conclusions door the viewer. You either realize your connection to others in this grand universe He created or you reject it. That's the essence of free will, isn't it? We get choices each day of who we will follow. Your life won't be perfect by being a believer, but let's not also fool ourselves to think that a lack of belief will not make a difference. In the end, all Christians should unite ands support artistic and entertainment choices made for us. Pointing out the stereotypes and gender differences only reminds us of our differences. You think God is worried about what political party, gender confused, doctor prescribed, neighborhood associated, team loyal, authentic bloodline you hail from? I've stopped worrying about my skin tone among my peers, or the fact that I don't speak Spanish. Those differences only build gaps and walls.
So see the film for yourself. I'm going to see "Heaven is For Real" on Tuesday. I hope it's blatantly Christian, and I hope every white character in the film are down home country folk. Would I expect anything less?
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