There are some R rated movies that while filled with nudity, violence, and vulgarity still present what could only be called Christian themes. I realize that some people, particularly Christians, would find that hard to believe. It is, however, true. Even though I doubt the film makers intended to do that or were even aware of it.
Let’s look at some of these movies. I’ll admit these movies are fairly old. All of them were released before 2000. Which I suppose is an indictment of the quality of current cinema and culture. But all these movies have a well-deserved R rating, some may even flirt with NC-17.
The first one is the 1971 film, A Clockwork Orange. The protagonist is a teenage delinquent whose greatest joy is bashing heads, thievery, and rape. His only redeeming quality is that he loves Beethoven’s music. In the course of the film, he finally goes too far and kills a woman during one of his break-ins, is tried as an adult, and sent to prison. While there he volunteers for an experimental treatment that psychologically conditions him to become violently ill whenever he attempts, or even thinks about doing a violent act. He was then released, and as luck would have it, he runs into several of his past victims. They of course have their revenge on him. Of which his conditioning has made it impossible for him to defend himself. During his conditioning, a priest protests the entire concept. The priest points out that taking away a person’s ability to do evil doesn’t make him good. Without the ability to choose good over evil, we are nothing. Better to permit someone to do evil and then punish them than to deny them the choice. Without the choice of freewill we are only more wretched, not better. Is that not a Christian thesis? That we cannot be good if our choice to do evil is taken away.
The next one is the 1994 movie, Pulp Fiction. There are several rather convoluted storylines in this movie, but I want to concentrate on the one with Jules and Vincent. These are to gangster hit men sent to retrieve a mysterious item and kill those who double crossed their boss. Which they do, but while doing this one of the men they were sent to kill jumps out and empty’s his gun at point blank range one Jules and Vincent. However, to everyone’s amazement he completely misses them. After they kill the man, Jules says they should be dead, and Vincent agrees by saying they were lucky. However, Jules sees it as a sign form God and decides to leave the gangster life. Vincent tries to talk him out of it, but Jules is adamant. Later in an unusual set of circumstances Jules gets the drop on a couple of would-be armed robbers, to whom he explains that he (Jules) is “the tyranny of evil men,” but is trying to become the shepherd of the weak. How many times has Christians asked for a sign from God, and when we get it, we are like Vincent, we sluff it off as a freak coincidence. Should we not be like Jules and be open to recognizing these miracles and having them change us to the point we are willing to completely change our lives. That’s what makes this such a Christian theme. Jules willingly embraces his “road to Damascus” moment while Vincent ignores it to his own eventual destruction.
The last one is the 1997 movie, Chasing Amy. In this film the protagonist is the comic book writer Holden, who falls in love with the lesbian, Melissa. Who turns out to be bisexual since she falls in love with Holden. And he can accept her wild past as long as it was only with girls. Then he finds out that before she came out as a lesbian Melissa had experiment with almost every type of sexual activity imaginable, including ménage à trois when she was in high school. This drives Holden crazy. To the point that he feels the only way he can accept this is for him to have the same experience. So, he begs his best friend and comic book writing partner, and Melissa to have a three-way with him. His friend reluctantly agrees, but Melissa gives an emphatic no. When asked for an explanation, she says, to paraphrase, that he thinks he wants this, but it will destroy him and their relationship. She made it out of that life and doesn’t want to go back. The final scene of the movie jumps to a year later. In this scene we find out that Holden has lost everything. Melissa left him and his comic book stopped being published when his partner quits. We find this out when his old partner is explaining to a fan what happened without going into details. His final line is “Some doors should never be opened.” Isn’t that what Christians have trying to tell society for centuries. The Devil will tempt us with all sorts of things, promising they will expand our horizons and make us better, stronger, more understanding, but it’s a lie. Those who have opened that door, and some how made it back to warn us that we think we want it, but it will destroy us. Some doors should never be opened.
These three movies are modern examples of what the Apostle Paul did on the Areopagus in Athens. Recall in Acts Chapter 17 Paul gives a sermon to the philosophers of Athens in which he does not quote one Old Testament verse, but instead a pagan poet. He had to start with something these men had familiarity. He used the art of their own culture to preach the Gospel. And now with our massively secular culture we must do the same. Too many of today’s people have no knowledge of the Bible, and that means we must find other ways to explain to them their need for Christ. We have to use what they know, and that means pop culture. Which includes television, rap music, and even R rated or NC-17 movies. Yes, these are vulgar and profane things, but so were the ancient pagan poets.
#Movies, #Paul, #Arepagus, #PopCulture