As was mentioned in my previous post, I am a Christian man who will proudly proclaim to anyone that Jesus Christ is my one and only Lord and Savior. It's been my faith ever since I was little; heck, I can't even remember a time when I wasn't one. I remember some of my first honest friends being Christians, and some of my happiest early memories all revolving around the church. And because I was being brought up in a traditionalist household, much of our home media revolved around the Bible as well; Veggie Tales, long may that franchise live, was always a favorite of mine, not only for its frequent and on-point Biblical messages but also for its rampant creativity and brilliant sense of humor. But as I grew older, I started yearning for Christian media that had grown up right along with me and tackled its subject matter in ways that an older, more rough-around-the-edges type of person could appreciate. I wanted something more mature, more brutally honest about the real world, and not at all afraid to go to the darker corners of human nature as well as why we need a Savior. But what did I keep finding time and time again?
Nothing but sappy "inspirational" melodrama that said nothing relevant or meaningful outside of "We love Jesus! We love Jesus! We're so happy! We love Jesus!"
Yes, unfortunately, it turns out that much of the Christian media scene has been over-saturated with the same bland, repetitive, predictable, condescending garbage that'd sooner insult our intelligence by speaking fluent Sunday School lessons than it would actually explore things like the inherent flaws of our sinful design, the gradual degradation of human society in the absence of Biblical values, the grit and pain we experience each day in the real world, or anything even remotely close to such things. And even when it tries its hardest to address these topics, as was the case with "God's (Not) Dead", it simply comes across as not only insultingly shallow and uncreative but also melodramatic with symbolism so blatantly obvious that they might as well be spelling out the whole point of the story so that the supposed grade-school audience can understand it. I'm at a loss as to why most of our Christian community has come to embrace these films with such love and fervor when we're constantly being talked down to as if we were kids; correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm fairly certain that when Jesus urged us to have faith like children, He didn't also mean we should be expected to stay in proverbial Sunday School for the rest of our adult lives.
Christian music doesn't fare much better; seriously, how many times have you heard a Christian song that went something like this?:
"I love You, Jesus, I love You, I love You... (20 repetitive verses later) You're amazing, You're awesome, something-something-glory, I love You, I love You..."
As opposed to something with more depth, artistic credibility, and effort put behind it? ... Yeah. Me neither. But this is the majority of the Christian musical market we're looking at here! Why? This can't be all that we as Christians can do with our talents and abilities! Why aren't we striving for more meaningful media and entertainment? Why is it that secular media like The Crow and The Dark Knight are far more interesting than anything offered to us by Christian cinema, or bands like Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie make for far more unique listening than virtually everything on offer from Christian musicians? What's stopping us from telling mature stories? Just because something is based on Christianity doesn't mean it should be accessible to both children and adults; in fact considering the violent and even frightening history detailed in Scripture, not to mention the dark and scary world that we live in now, I say we're in dire need of higher-quality material here!
I'll tell you why all this has happened: because Christian media is playing it so safe that they're absolutely afraid to tackle anything even remotely dark, depressing, mature, or otherwise intelligent beyond your typical church sermon. Christian filmmakers and musicians want to make sure that their work doesn't make the audience uncomfortable or uneasy, so instead of saying anything intelligent they go for the safest and happiest route possible. Even if they claim to be tackling something like cancer or militant atheism in school (which I can readily confirm is very much a reality), it's handled in a safe and non-threatening way. And speaking as someone who's grown fond of mature and hard-hitting media and wants to see the medium grow up with me, it's just plain depressing.
Now there IS hope, at least for Christian music; because believe it or not, there do exist interesting Christian musicians who use their beliefs to add meaning and depth to their songs. Alice Cooper, for example, is a born-again man of God who has explored Biblical themes in a great many of his albums. Blackie Lawless from W.A.S.P. is also a Christian musician who makes his work far more interesting than the uncreative fluff pieces written by the majority of his competition. And there's also bands like Skillet and Red, who take a decidedly darker approach to their music while still keeping it grounded in its Christian roots. Sadly though, talented artists like these are in very short supply and the market is still overflowing with happy-go-lucky albums that sound as if they were written more for children than for intelligent, deep-thinking adults.
So in closing; God may not be dead... but His peoples' cinematic creativity sure is. And it's a crying shame.
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