Topic 2 Day 2 Exegeting Film

1. Topic 2, Week 1, Day 2
Exegeting Film
INT-460 Christianity & Culture

2. Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, and when they
arrived they went into the Jewish synagogue. Now
these Jews were more noble than those in
Thessalonica; they received the word with all
eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see if
these things were so.
(Acts 17:10–11 ESV)

3. 1. Noble - “These Jews were more noble”
2. Teachable - “Received the word…eagerness”
3. Critical - “Examined the Scriptures daily”

4. Using a Biblical Lense

5. Using a Lens to Exegete Culture

6. Exegeting Culture

7. Visible
Invisible

8. Behaviors
Traditions
Cultural Artifacts
Values
Political Beliefs
Religious Beliefs
Worldview
Visible
Invisible

9. Behaviors
Traditions
Cultural Artifacts
Values
Political Beliefs
Religious Beliefs
Worldview
Exegete

10. Behaviors
Traditions
Religious Practices
Values
Political Beliefs
Religious Beliefs
Worldview
Exegete
Making
Meaning

11. How do people “make meaning”?
Making Meaning

12. What does it mean to “make meaning”
through story?

13. BBC Ideas. 2019. “How Stories Shape our Minds”. London: Angel Sharp Media. https://www.bbc.co.uk/ideas/videos/how-stories-shape-our-minds/p07h9t70

14. Our culture makes meaning through film

15. George Miller
Film Director
Mad Max (1979),
Lorenzo’s Oil (1992),
Babe (1995),
Happy Feet 2 (2011),

16. Cinema is now the most powerful secular religion.
People gather in cinemas to experience things
collectively the way they once did in church. Cinema
storytellers have become the new priests.
George Miller quoted in Eyes Wide Open: Seeing God in the Ordinary. (Australia: Albatross Books, 1998), 100.

17. Robert Johnston
Professor Film Studies
Fuller Theological Seminary

18. Movies function as a primary source of power
and meaning for people throughout the world.
Along with the church, the synagogue, the
mosque, and the temple, they provide people
stories through which they can understand their
lives.
Johnston, (Kindle Loc. 114-116).

19. Why Exegete Film?
1. To understand how culture makes meaning through
fi
lm
2. To learn how to engage culture
3. To disiciple Christians to be critical consumers of culture
4. To discover how to explain gospel in modern parables

20. How do we exegete film?

21. The Filmmaker

22. Who is the Filmmaker?
• Director
• Producer
• Screenwriter (sometimes)

23. What perspectives does the filmmaker bring?

24. What perspectives does the filmmaker bring?
1. Political perspective
2. Religious perspective
3. Cultural perspective

25. Cecile B. DeMille
1881-1959
[Political perspective]
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
War of the Worlds (1953)
The Ten Commandments (1956)

26. “Man shall be governed by law”, The Ten Commandments (1956)

27. “Proclaim Liberty”, The Ten Commandments (1956)

28. Norman Lear
[Political perspective]
All in the Family (1971)
Maude (1972)
One Day at a Time (1975)
The Je
ff
ersons (1975)

29. Stephen Spielberg
[Religious perspective]
Schindler’s List,
Empire of the Sun
American Tail

30. Robert Duvall
[religious perspective]
The Apostle (1997)

31. The Apostle (1997)

32. How did Evangelicals
Respond to the Apostle?

33. To research the role I traveled to Hughes, Ark. Wandering the
streets of the sleepy Delta town, hanging out in the co
ff
ee
shop and the post o
ffi
ce, I hoped to learn something about
my character from the way a man tipped his hat or drawled
the directions to the local hotel,” he added. “But what I never
expected to
fi
nd was something that would change how I
looked at religion.
https://www.movieguide.org/news-articles/how-the-apostle-changed-robert-duvalls-perspective-on-faith.html

34. One Sunday as I strolled down the main drag I noticed
people
fl
ocking to a simple white clapboard building, the
local Pentecostal church. All sorts of folks, young and old,
were going inside, where I could hear the clink of
tambourines, the rap of a snare drum and organ music
rising. Might as well check this out, I thought. I slipped in
and sat in back
https://www.movieguide.org/news-articles/how-the-apostle-changed-robert-duvalls-perspective-on-faith.html

35. People could barely contain the joy of their faith. Their faces were
alive with it, imbued. Folks were on their feet, singing praise and
clapping, shouting to God! The air crackled with the Spirit,” he
recalled. “It was nearly impossible to be a mere observer. I
wanted to sing and shout with them. I couldn’t explain it, but I
knew the people in that church had a gift, a story to share.
Somehow, someday, I would tell that story.
https://www.movieguide.org/news-articles/how-the-apostle-changed-robert-duvalls-perspective-on-faith.html

36. Spike Lee
[Cultural perspective]
Malcolm X
Crooklyn
Rodney King
BlackkKlansman

37. “Let’s stop telling lies and teaching young people
bullsh-t. The United States of America’s foundation
is genocide of native people and slavery!”
Spike Lee
Browne, R. 9 Aug 2018. “Spike Lee”. Time Magazine. https://time.com/longform/blackkklansman-spike-lee/

38. What perspectives does the filmmaker bring?
1. Political perspective
2. Religious perspective
3. Cultural perspective

39. Where can we go to learn about the
filmmaker?

40. How the Filmmaker Engages Us

41. How the filmmaker
engages audience
1. Voyeuristic Eye
2. Vicarious Eye
3. Visceral Eye
Jon Boorstein. 1995. Making Movies Work. Beverly Hills: Silman-James. 12

42. How the filmmaker
engages audience
1. Voyeuristic Eye
Jon Boorstein. 1995. Making Movies Work. Beverly Hills: Silman-James. 12

43. 1. Voyeuristic Eye
The voyeuristic eye sees with the mind. Film draws you into
its world. The voyeuristic experience is
fi
lm’s magical ability
to take us places and show us things we’ve never seen
before.
Jon Boorstein. 1995. Making Movies Work. Beverly Hills: Silman-James. 12

44. 1. Voyeuristic Eye
What must a movie do to “draw us in”?

45. 1. Voyeuristic Eye
a. Visual cues draw us into its world
b. Scenes are believable
c. Film has engaging images and sounds

46. “Opening Scene”, Forest Gump (1994)

47. How the filmmaker
engages audience
1. Voyeuristic Eye
2. Vicarious Eye
Jon Boorstein. 1995. Making Movies Work. Beverly Hills: Silman-James. 67

48. 2. Vicarious Eye
The vicarious eye sees with the heart. The vicarious
experience puts our heart in the actor’s body; we feel what
the actor feels.
Jon Boorstein. 1995. Making Movies Work. Beverly Hills: Silman-James. 67

49. 2. Vicarious Eye
What must a movie do for us to identify with the actor?

50. Dear Evan Hanson (24 Sep 2021)

51. How the filmmaker
engages audience
1. Voyeuristic Eye
2. Vicarious Eye
3. Visceral Eye
Jon Boorstein. 1995. Making Movies Work. Beverly Hills: Silman-James. 111

52. 2. Visceral Eye
The vicarious eye is body’s sensation. The visceral
thrill is not what is plausible, but your gut sensation a
thrilling scene imparts.
Jon Boorstein. 1995. Making Movies Work. Beverly Hills: Silman-James. 111

53. 2. Visceral Eye
What must a
fi
lm do to create “thrill”?

54. Captain Marvel (2019)

55. Why is the visceral eye important to engage moviegoers?

56. Where is meaning located?

57. Where is meaning located?
1. The Storyline
2. The Character
3. The Atmosphere
4. The Point of View

58. Where is meaning located?
1. The Storyline (plot)

59. Beauty and the Beast (2017)

60. What are the “Acts” of Beauty & the Beast?
Act 1 __________
Act 2 __________
Act 3 __________
Act 4 __________

61. Where is meaning located?
1. The Storyline
2. The Character

62. Moana (2016)

63. How does Moana’s character develop?

64. Where is meaning located?
1. The Storyline
2. The Character
3. The Atmosphere

65. The Chair (2021)

66. What camera shot signals there is meaning in the
“atmosphere”?

67. Where is meaning located?
1. The Storyline
2. The Character
3. The Atmosphere
4. The Point of View

68. “Opening Scene”, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

69. “Stair Dance” The Joker (2019)

70. The Princess Bride (1987)

71. “I’m Cruella” Cruella (2021)

72. How does “point of view” shape the
meaning of the story?

73. How does the filmmaker impart meaning?

74. What directing techniques signal there is “meaning” in a scene?
1. Key dialogues
2. The music
3. Book ends (opening scene,
fi
nal scene)
4. Repeated themes
5. Repeated images
6. Camera shots (long shot, full shot, close up, half-face)
7. Lens
fi
lters (saturated, sepia, brown)

75. What is our role as exegetes of culture?

76. What is our role in exegeting a movie?
1. To understand how culture makes meaning through
fi
lm
2. To learn how to engage culture
3. To disciple Christians to be critical consumers of culture
4. To discover how to explain gospel in modern parables

77. 1. To understand how culture makes meaning through
fi
lm
What is our role in exegeting a movie?

78. “This is me!”, Greatest Showman (2017)

79. • What meaning is the
fi
lmmaker making in this scene?

80. 1. To understand how culture makes meaning through
fi
lm
2. To learn how to engage culture
What is our role in exegeting a movie?

81. • What meaning is the
fi
lmmaker making in this scene?
• How is his message important for us as we seek to
engage today’s culture?

82. 1. To understand how culture makes meaning through
fi
lm
2. To learn how to engage culture
3. To disciple Christians to be critical consumers of culture
What is our role in exegeting a movie?

83. Life of Pi (2012)

84. 1. How would you use this scene to disciple your youth group?
2. What in this scene can we affirm, from a Christian Worldview?
3. What in this scene might we disagree with, from a Christian Worldview?

85. 1. To understand how culture makes meaning through
fi
lm
2. To learn how to engage culture
3. To disciple Christians to be critical consumers of culture
4. To discover how to explain the gospel in modern parables
What is our role in exegeting a movie?

86. The Good Place, Pilot (2016)

87. 1. How could you use this scene to explain the gospel to seekers?
2. What part of this scene describes the human condition?
3. What part of this film suggests the human solution to sin?