Saved!
I just finished listening to Mandy Moore's cover of the classic XTC tune "Senses Working Overtime". She has a good voice and the biting, bitter lyrics are still there but it lacks edge. She can't convey the frustration that the song describes. But I give her points for the choice: top-forty it ain't.
My wife and I watched Ms. Moore in the movie Saved last night. She did a good job with a one-dimensional role. I think we (the audience) are supposed to grok to the fact that her character uses Christianity as a weapon to keep the other kids in line and justify her own sense of self-importance. We get plenty of that. On the other hand, we only get a glimpse of the vulnerable "ugly-duckling" she used to be. This idea, if developed, would have made her character more sympathetic and interesting. She would have been someone who used Christianity to literally reinvent herself, which , as I understand it, is part of the point of being "born again". But the people behind this film make the easy choice: she - and most of the other Christians - are depicted as narrow-minded bores who cling to Christianity as a safe harbor from the ambiguity and difficult choices facing people (especially teen-agers) today. The protagonist and her friends (including the understated Macauley Culkin) are all poltically correct, diverse and triumphant. I don't consider myself a christian, and I certainly remember seeing things in such stark contrasts when I was a kid (growing up in a county where many people adhered to a fundamentalist view of Christianity helped), but as an adult I know there is more to both sides than that. This movie sacrificed nuance for the easy laugh.
2 Comments:
I haven't heard of this film, but from your description I think it's something I'd like to watch with my kids. Would you say it's a good conversation piece? Although I appreciate the noble aim of the church activities my kids participate in (considering some of the alternatives), I fear that they are also picking up on the negative side of a faith-based, communal-thinking ideology... I also must confess that I disagree with you, Uncle Patrick, when you say that there is more to the christian side of the equation. I believe you hit the nail on the head when you observed that the characters in the film "cling to Christianity as a safe harbor from the ambiguity and difficult choices facing people". It is my considered opinion (admittedly, as a rabidly anti-religious-institution advocate) that such clinging is the very basis for the continued existance of the christian religion. And all the negative elements associated with christianity are but logical consequences of that mindless clinging. Those christians who do not embody the extreme as represented by the reilgious right are merely hyprocritically failing to implement the ideals they supposedly profess. The flaw lies in embracing a communal, faith-based (ie anti-rational) ideology, rather than trying to understand the world and the fellow human individuals around you... Your post is also an interesting contrast to the post over on Grinding Metal, where Mr Mad Science is illuminating the masses on the growing political force of the so-called religious right. And I believe Mr Science, in his own sardonic way, has also hit the nail on the head in his assertion that the politician he mentions is merely following his professed position. In a way, he really could be considered blameless in his actions, because they are but logical extensions of the views he holds (although my skepticism of politicians in general keeps me from letting him off the hook that easily). I believe that rather than this being an illustration of a particular individual's personal fight, or of a religion vs politics struggle, it is but a symbol of the growing social unrest that would logically occur when a anti-rational ideology is allowed to fester unchallenged as a supposedly legitimate choice. And the increasingly assertive ways that christians are flexing their sociopolitical power is the inevitable result of having a communal based ideology - when you create and idealize the concept of a group composed of followers, then any so-called leader that comes along will almost by definition be someone who isn't truly motivated by the ideals the group is trying to foster. And the next question would be: what kind of person would benefit from leading that kind of group, and what are the benefits they garner?... Notorious Mjt!
Sadly, Notorious Mjt, you have fallen victim to Mad Science's leftist, relativist propaganda. I realize that his siren call is seductive but you must steel yourself against its hollow promises of promiscuous sex and free drugs. Be strong and think for yourself! I know it seems lonely outside the group think of the anti-christian left but at the end of the day you will be rewarded - with loneliness.
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