My Hollywood Ramble

My wife and I watched a little of the Golden Globes last night and I didn't' know what to think. Many of the awards went to tv shows and movies that either had homosexuality tied to it or some other debauchery that I find myself not getting too excited about. My sister-in-law saw Brokeback Mountain and she stated that it was a boring movie. So, with the fact that it won a number of Golden Globes, it either means that boring to some is exhilirating for others or you have the other conclusion.
It's a political agenda.
It almost seems that if we take what some consider the "un-speakable" and put it on the silver screen it warrants a label of high-achievement. Some probably have no problem just writing Hollywood off and not ever investing it what it has to offer. I'm slowly getting to that point. However, being a person who enjoys the arts, it's hard to completely dissect myself from the Film world. I enjoy the creative process and I enjoy creative people. But sometimes I wonder if we have been seduced by the dark side of the force. Peter Jackson just spent over $200,000,000 to make a movie about a giant ape. I saw King Kong and I somewhat enjoyed it's special effects and all, but as I was driving home I said to my friend, "What was point of that movie?" And $200 million is a few million short of what Bill Gates donated this year for hunger relief. The seduction for me goes back to when I was a kid. I remember going to see movies like Star Wars and Superman on the big screen. The smell of popcorn, walking down dark hallways with flashing lights on the floor, previews of other great movies to come, the rousing music and that giant screen that came to life. Every kid loves a good movie. It's escapism at it's finest. However, it's also a platform for ideas and world views. When studying theater in college, we were taught that the greatest affector of emotions is music with drama being a close second. You put them together and "Walla!" you have a very powerful agent that can be used for good or for ill. (Hollywood knows what they are doing.) I guess that's where the rub is. This whole definition of what is good and what is evil. Most of Hollywood would see Christians and those of a religious bent as evil and intolerant. I'd have to say, there is some truth in that. Self-righteousness is as evil as any sin and it is easy for those who claim to have truth on their side to have a resemblance to the "Church Lady" and point fingers and call shame down from heaven. However, we have gotten to a point in our culture that truth is no longer exclusive. Logically, truth has to be exclusive in order to exist but our culture has decided to go for love and acceptance at the cost of truth. In our society, we tend to respect people who search for truth but have a disdain for those who claim to have found it. In my opinion, love cannot exist at the cost of truth. They are 2 halves of the same whole.
So what do we do about movies and anything else that our media puts out? Well, we can't expect righteousness to come from an un-righteouss world. So those of us that would be shocked by what Hollywood is putting out needs to pull their head out of the sand and face reality. We, as Christians, need to be salt and light. Light shines where it doesn't want to be shone. But it shines with truth and love. Rememer, Jesus hung out with sinners, but He did not sin. He was not a chameleon that changed His colors in reference to who He was with. But He loved them. He came to seek and save those who were lost. He came for what the religious would consider the disgusting filth of the world. He did not come for those who considered themselves "righteous." In their minds, they didn't need Him.
We definitely need to be careful of what we digest from this world. However, let's not forsake it. Besides, God didn't.