This document contains a discussion guide for the film "Reel Theology" led by Paul Tilley. It includes prompts for participants to name their favorite film and why, lists 30 films and asks participants to name 1-2, and explores theological topics through discussions of films like "Avatar", "The Matrix", and "Dark City". Participants are asked about the influence of Buddhism on "The Matrix" and whether films can become more real than reality. They are also prompted to name their top 3 "spiritual" films and discuss postmodern themes in "Dark City".

1. Reel Theology
Paul Tilley

2. Name/Fav Film & Why

3. Write 1 - 30 & name
the movie

4. Write 1 - 30 & name
the movie

5. 1. Napoleon Dynamite
17. Up
2. Incredibles
18. Star Trek
3. Finding Nemo
19. Open Season 2
4. Shrek 2
20. Kung Fu Panda
5. 50 first dates
21. Bolt
6. Night at the museum
22. The Dark Knight
7. Willy Wonka and the
23. Wall-E
Chocolate Factory
24. Cars
8. Toy Story
25. Lord of the Rings: Two
9. Ice Age
Towers
10. Madagascar
26. National Treasure 2
11. Elf
27. Indiana Jones: Temple of
12. Mrs. Doubtfire
Doom
13. Nacho Libre
28. Pirates of the Caribbean: At
14. Prince of Egypt
World’s End
15. Wizard of Oz
29. Spiderman 3
16. Transformers: revenge of
30. Robots
the fallen

6. Sola scriptura

9. Metanarratives have lost their power to
convince – they are, literally, stories that
are told in order to legitimise various
versions of "the truth"

10. Solition is to replace metanarratives by focusing on
specific local contexts as well as the diversity of
human experience.
"multiplicity of theoretical standpoints"rather than
grand, all-encompassing theories.

11. Christ, Postmodern or
Christian Postmodern
epistemology?

12. Chicken + Egg
Is theology already there for us to find or
are we just imposing our own
epistemology onto another?

14. . In a 1999 online chat, the Wachowski
brothers were asked, "Did ideas from
Buddhism influence you in making the
film?" They responded, "Yes, There's
something uniquely interesting about
Buddhism…that has fascinated us for a
long time."

15. Is Avatar ‘satanic’?

18. • “After I watched Avatar for the first time, I truly felt
depressed that I was awake in this world again.”
• “It’s so hard, I can’t force myself to think that it’s just a
movie, and to get over it, and that living like the Na’vi will
never happen”.
• “I want to go to Pandora because life here sux [sic], with no
sense of companionship, and because mankind has destroyed
our planet.”
• “I even contemplated suicide, thinking that if I do it I will be
rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora, and that everything
will be the same as in Avatar.”

19. •“With Avatar, the technology has become
so highly sophisticated that it makes the
screen world seem more vivid than reality
can ever be,”
•...it is the pinnacle of a subtle process,
prevalent in modern culture, that
prioritises screen realities over lived
experience.
•“In the modern world an event has not
happened unless it has been photographed
or filmed,”
•“The failure of primary experience means
that the film becomes the reality instead ...
The reality of the screen is infinitely more
real than the reality around us.”
•The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes it Hard to be
Happy
•by Michael Foley
•272pp, Simon & Schuster Ltd, £10.99

22. • The Matrix Trilogy - Cyberpunk
twist where the world is in fact
a simulated prison for humanity
run by intelligent machine agents
• eXistenZ - A designer gets lost
in her own virtual reality game,
full of Kafkaesque references
• The Thirteenth Floor - Murder and hallucinations
mystery set in a virtual
recreation of 1930's Los Angeles
• The Truman Show - A sense that
the world is not quite right
• Total Recall - Adaptation of a leads Truman to find that he is
the star of an expansive reality
Philip K. Dick story with the
ambiguous premise that the TV hoax
whole experience was an
implanted memory

23. • Is Christianity ‘hyperreality’, more real then real?
• Another reality?
• A Pandora?

24. Is Avatar ‘satanic’?

26. The Arts & Faith Top
100 Films

28. Your top 3 ‘spiritual’
films?

29. Dark City

32. Dark City
• The Dark City is a • In addition to seeing
thought provoking postmodernism in the
postmodern movie. themes of the movie,
you can also see many
• It explores themes of forms of postmodern
architecture and art in
what it means to be
human and free will. the film if you watch
closely.
• 1940 dinners, 50s cars,
30s dress, and modern
office buildings.

33. Dark City
• Flows in the same vein as The Truman
Show, The Game, and Pleasantville.
• It is a city constructed out of memories.
• Beyond the city is nothing but an eternity
of space.

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