Almost 2 weeks ago, my wife and I had the opportunity to see the movie Iron Man 2 (released May 7th). My opinion: not as good as the first but a really good movie with the continuing metanarrative from the first one.
This will be a 2 part post. Since this is my first post, I want to give you some background on what my goals are whenever I engage with a movie or even with a TV show for that matter. My wife and I love seeing a good movie in the theater but how we do that in a manner in which God is glorified? In the second part, I’ll give some thoughts on the first Iron Man movie and then dig into Iron Man 2 tying them both together. I’ll try to cover most of it without giving away any spoilers but the reality is that you know how these movies are going to end, you’re watching because of the characters!
My Goals with Movies & TV
#1. When in doubt about the makeup of the movie regarding explicit content that would have the potential to be a stumbling block, just avoid it. I’m not saying I’m perfect with regard to this goal but I usually do as much research as I can prior to watching a movie. I don’t even mind knowing the entire plot. Knowing the ending to a movie doesn’t usually take away from it for me as long as the metanarrative is strong. There is a progression in my life with this. There are movies that my wife and I viewed when we were first married (over 8 years ago) that there is no way I would choose to watch now or even take the chance with. This is an area where convictions need to be developed (see Romans 14 and Philippians 4) so that you can walk in faith with whatever media you take in. I definitely have failed with that many times but significantly less and less as my wife and I have grown in discernment.
This is my responsibility as a husband to lead in this and even recently I failed in having my wife and I watch a pretty terrible movie called Inglorious Basterds. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the satire in the characters and the violence and the acting was fantastic especially Pitt and Waltz (who won best supporting actor) but overall the movie was too over the top at getting you to the point that we American were just as rotten and violent as the Nazis were. I was just getting pulled into laughing at the wrong things. The point is – I’m a sinner and I’m in progress in learning discernment with regard to movies. I’ll try to help both you and myself with that with this blog.
#2. Seek out the metanarrative of the story. By metanarrative I mean the overarching big picture storyline that the movie is drawing from. This metanarrative is usually why we like a certain movie or why a movie is so rewatchable and what brings us to tears or draws out other emotions. We cannot be passive when we approach media. I know we all want to just relax and “veg” but if we are passive, our viewing will not necessarily be refreshing in the right things. It does not take much more effort to learn to watch for the metanarrative and for truth about ourselves or God. The movie is preaching to you in a powerful way, will you choose to engage with the message that is being evangelized?
#3. Seek to glorify God in seeing how the metanarrative reflects a truth about him or his character or reveals the very Gospel itself. Can this movie help me to see God more clearly? Does it point out something about myself that I need to understand further? Does it give me another illustration of gospel to use in communicating the gospel? These are things I want to be thinking about.
In my next post, I’ll dive into the Iron Man movies and try to demonstrate how to apply the above concepts.
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