The hits just keep coming from my friends over at Christ and Pop Culture. Alan Noble has a post today called Reviewing the Critics: Can We Trust Secular Film Critics? in which he says . . . awww, you need to read the post for yourself to see what he says.
As much as I love Alan's stuff I feel the need to highlight a comment on the post from Jeffrey Overstreet that makes all kinds of sense and that we ought to think seriously about:
The American audience is famous for choosing cheap, trashy stuff. In food. In merchandise. And yes, in entertainment and art.
If we look to the box office and say, “Well, this is what people WANT,” and let that guide us, we’re only going to perpetuate a decline in artistic appreciation and understanding.
In the same way, if we point to McDonalds’ “a bazillion people served,” and let that be our guiding fact, we’re just going to ensure that Americans continue to eat garbage and become obese and unhealthy.
It’s our job to coax people toward what is better. And what is better is not necessarily what is *easy*, or what is “family-friendly,” or what the majority prefers. Even amongst Christians, what is popular is often mediocre, simplistic, and telling us what we *want* to hear rather than what we *need* to hear.
I prefer to learn from those who study hundreds of movies every year, and grow in my appreciation of artistic excellence and artful storytelling. Let truth and beauty, not the box office, lead. And truth and beauty are messy subjects, often troubling, and sometimes, yes… R-rated.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I always facinating to read.
Posted by: George | February 28, 2008 at 03:58 AM