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Shari Lloyd, whose website The Phantom Tollbooth offers reviews of both contemporary Christian and mainstream art and entertainment, agrees that Christian filmmakers should "preach to the world, not the converted." She also testifies that, "for the most part [Christian divisions of art] legitimize shoddy substandard art rather than pushing [artists] to excel. If it's good, it shouldn't need a separate industry to get people to go see it or buy it."

Elizabeth Rambo , associate professor of English at Campbell University, is bothered by shoddy craftsmanship: "Almost every 'Christian' movie I've seen has been embarrassing, artistically. It may mean we aren't trying hard enough to integrate art and ardor. However, movies made by Christians, or movies that have Christian themes or metaphorical elements that may be interpreted from a Christian perspective—The Apostle, Chariots of Fire, Savior, Donnie Darko, Magnolia, Moulin Rouge, Lord of the Rings—are much more thought-provoking, more moving emotionally, and thus, it seems to me, more effective."

Reader Andrew Spitznas agrees: "The message and metaphor of M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable and Sixth Sense, for instance, feed my spirit more satisfyingly than the script-by-numbers and cardboard characterizations of any evangelistic redemption saga. [And I don't] believe that the Christian film industry has the courage to tackle our society's tougher issues. It's inconceivable that any evangelical filmmaker would address our subculture's idolatry of patriotism in the fashion of Philip Noyce's The Quiet American. It's much safer to cater to the intellectual lowest common denominator … keeping the tales comfortable and uncontroversial."

Quality is also a concern of Randall Ajimine, who writes, "As an aspiring filmmaker, I do not want to be pigeonholed as a Christian filmmaker. Because I'm ashamed of Christ? No, because I'm ashamed of what Christians are known for producing."

Ajimine also objects to an industry that makes money by marketing art directly to Christians. "[This] is particularly troublesome to me because it turns Christians into a marketing demographic. Christian music is confined to Christian bookstores and the Gospel section of mass music stores. Thus, one might say that Christian music is of the world but not in the world."

Artistic merit is on Barry Werner's mind as well: "Well-done movies with Christian content tend to be very fruitful, but bad movies portraying the Christian worldview tend to be just as unprofitable as bad movies with other worldviews. Fruitfulness has little to do with the Christian content and more to do with the quality of the film."

Clearly there is a deep divide on this question of whether Christians should create and support their own film industry. But behind the question lie other issues:

1. Does God speak only through 'Christian' media?
   
   
2. If we come to focus solely on the work of a 'Christian' industry, do we cut ourselves off from God's revelation in the very lives and workmanship of the rest of the world?
   
   
3. Do our responsibilities as Christian moviegoers differ from our responsibilities in interacting with other people?
   
   
4. Are excellence, beauty, and truth immediately identifiable in a work of art?

Movies, like anything, whether they are Christian or otherwise, can reflect and reveal the Lord in different ways to different people. In Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddell's father exhorted the ambitious runner, "You can glorify God by peeling a potato if you peel it to perfection." Artistic excellence is a worthwhile endeavor, and a specifically Christian responsibility, no matter what label is on it.

Next week: Religious press critics look at the finer points and the flaws of The Matrix Reloaded, and offer reviews of Daddy Day Care, The Shape of Things, and more.

Copyright © 2004 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

For more on Christianity and popular culture, check out this intriguing essay by David K. Naugle at Findings Online.

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May (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47