Hollywood Worldviews: Watching Films with Wisdom and Discernment

Brian Godawa suggests that movies are to contemporary culture what the Areopagus was to Ancient Greece -- a significant arena of ideas and communication. Indeed, through well-crafted storytelling, movie makers communicate powerfully to influence the way we think and behave. We must, then, think rationally and reflectively about the films we watch, especially since each of us should understand and impact culture for the good rather than thoughtlessly imbibe whatever culture brings to us. But learning such a discipline requires training and effort. Godawa's unique book offers just the insightful teaching we need to practice meaningful, effective reflection on what for many of us has been simply passive entertainment.He exhorts and equips us to move beyond our justified worries over Hollywood's exploitation of sex and violence to recognize and properly evaluate the more powerful and frequently destructive influences of worldview in film. For instance, an erroneous and devastating assumption of the movie AI: Artificial Intelligence -- that consciousness, and ultimately humanity, "naturally emerges out of the inherent properties of matter" -- may well seem not only more plausible but desirable to many viewers through experiencing this film.Under Godawa's clear teaching, we enjoy far richer movie watching experiences in learning to engage a film with valid questions and to apply sound principles of discernment and evaluation. (For example, in The Matrix people are deceived about reality -- how could they have known otherwise? Are they knowingly deceived? What tests for truth might we employ to discern whether our own understanding of reality is worth maintaining?) Best of all, throughout his intelligent discussion he shows us how to employ those principles through myriad incisive and often provocative film analyses (some of which have ignited much thoughtful debate in our family over story, art, and interpretation).

Hollywood Worldviews is a book that is as needed as it is almost singularly notable: a Biblically informed analysis of contemporary film that chooses to light a candle rather than curse the darkness. The author, Brian Godawa, is actively involved in the business of motion pictures as a screenwriter (a check of IMDB shows that he has a film, To End All Wars, due out soon). Godawa has clearly been influenced by one of the most influential Christian philosophers of the 20th Century - Francis Schaeffer - to whom in part he dedicates the book. He knows well Schaeffer's "Line of Despair" and does a brilliant job of demarcating it to a new generation to which film is the single most important cultural determiner.Godawa begins by stressing the overarching importance of stories and mythology to film. Here he does an admirable job of explaining how influential mythologist Joseph Campbell's idea of the "Monomyth" has strongly informed modern filmmakers. He goes on to show where Campbell went astray in not seeing that the Monomyth is actually the suppressed image of the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. In this, Godawa reflects the thinking of the Apostle Paul who saw in the Pagan idols of his age the unrealized yearnings for true redemption. And this yearning for redemption brings forth what I think is one of the most powerful chapters in Hollywood Worldviews, in which Godawa makes the case that all motion pictures are mostly, if not always, about redemption of one type or another. I must admit that I was floored by this idea, as it seems so elemental once you have read Godawa's thesis. The ultimate Desire of life expresses itself in our stories.Godawa then outlines nine structural elements of film storytelling. He shows how an understanding of these elements can be used as a scheme of film analysis that helps the viewer understand any particular motion picture in a deeper way. He applies these same structural elements to the Christian testimony in a delightful way that you must read.Godawa spends the remainder of the book outlining how modern film reflects various worldviews (a worldview being something like the "story" we tell concerning where we come from, where we are headed, and how we ought to act in that journey - here I am borrowing some of Godawa's vocabulary). Here perhaps is where Godawa most earns his chops. He introduces the several worldviews and points out contemporary films that have reflected them. While his critiques are not coldly analytical (his point is not to be the Linnaeus of film), neither are they belligerent. At just the point where a Christian writer could turn against the medium, Godawa writes in a refreshingly conciliatory manner. As I read this section I thought that this most reminded me of the style and manner with which Schaeffer analyzed art and culture. Though not exactly the same, the tone is quite similar. I was very happy for it. Hollywood Worldviews may well turn out to be a very durable book. T

Publishers Weekly's review is pure Relativism. Apparently they don't believe in correctness or accuracy. They fault Godawa for believing that there is correct interpretation of art and an accurate view of Heaven. Strangely they don't believe there is such a thing as a correct interpretation of a screenplay and yet they assume their interpretation of Godawa's writing is correct. Their review is Relativism at it's most simplistic. Which leads to another of their contradictions - they site Godawa as being "simplistic" for ending his definition of Worldview with "it is our view of the world" yet, if you look at the full sentence on page 15, which they did not quote, you find it is not so simplistic after all: "a comprehensive web of beliefs through which we interpret our experiences - it is our view of the world." Godawa takes complex philosophical ideas and makes them simple, not simplistic. That is what great teachers do.I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in cinema who also believes that there is true-Truth.

For those people who are interested in applying the Word and Will of God to all aspects of their lives, this book truly identifies ways in which we can accomplish such a task as it pertains to our "movie watching". The emphasis the author maintains on Christian WORLDVIEW provides a guiding theme throughout the book, and provides illuminating lessons to those of us not wanting to be fooled, deceived, influenced, or manipulated at the hands of those who despise our own worldview. The book provides broad and historical applications, and represents quite a fascinating take on how we can watch movies from a Christian perspective - something I am sure most readers didn't even know was possible. Beyond a thin, fundamentalist take on Hollywood that simply "warns" us of the "bad" things in Rated "R" movies, the author provides a much more helpful analysis of the "bad" elements in most movie-maker's worldview, and explains the way in which art can be used to make claims for or against an entire particular way of thinking. Bottom line: a GREAT read for culturally minded Christians!!

Most of us just watch movies to be entertained, not necessarily to "learn". Do we realize that when we watch a movie we are seeing the world through the eyes of the writer/director/producer? This book challenges us to open our eyes to the bigger picture and unveils the worldview being taught to us in several movies. I know that I now watch movies differently than before I read this book! Brian Godawa's clear, thought-provoking writing reveals the importance of looking beyond what we see on the screen to analyzing what worldview is being programmed into our subconscious minds. Being aware is the first step. You will want to rewatch the movies mentioned newly enlightened!