The Apologetic Value in Film and Visual Arts

by | Oct 9, 2018 | Resources, Reviews | 0 comments

When God created man, he made us as more than spirit and thought.  We, as well as the world around us, has material form.  There is design, there is order, and there is beauty.

This is also the way God speaks to us.  He not only speaks to us through story, but he also paints a picture.  From the beginning, the faithful were told to make memorials, build a temple, and take a physical action (such as marching around Jericho) to represent the war in the heavenlies that was in process.

Images have impact.  Regardless of their message, they communicate meaning.  In our culture full of positioned images, it is important to identify the message that is being communicated, whether that be through visual art or film.

This was the focus of one of my very first classes in my apologetics program and it was a very fun way to begin.  In addition to the required text, there was a list of required films to view ranging from The Birds by Hitchcock, to The Last Temptation of Christ by Scorsese, to The Decalogue by Kieślowski.  Two of my reflections from this class were published in the third edition of An Unexpected Journal, one on the deeper meaning in the Pixar short, Lava, and a second on the symbolism of hope found in the Fountain of Trevi.

Books on Film & Apologetics

Beholding the Glory on Amazon

Beholding the Glory:
on Amazon

Shows About Nothing Book

Shows About Nothing:
on Amazon

Reel Spirituality Book

Reel Spirituality:
on Amazon

Visual Faith Book

Visual Faith:
on Amazon

The Way Hollywood Tells It Book

The Way Hollywood Tells It: on Amazon

The Philosophy of Film & Motion Pictures Book

The Way Hollywood Tells It: on Amazon

The Philosophy of Horror Book

The Way Hollywood Tells It: on Amazon

 

Movies

Part of apologetics is knowing the conversation that are going on in our culture.  In today’s culture, morals and values are not transmitted by religious institutions, but by the shows we watch and the movies we go see.  This class covered not only the technical details of how stories are told, but examined what the underlying message of the storyteller was.  Some of these movies, such as Obvious Child, have no value in and of themselves other than highlighting how our postmodern culture views a certain topic (actually, Obvious Child is the only one on this list that has absolutely no redeeming qualities), others, such as Christopher Nolan’s films that explore the problem of evil from a nihilist perspective, are really discussing the same issues that philosophers have pondered for centuries.

The Birds Movie by Alfred Hitcock

The Birds:  On Amazon

movie rear window

Rear Window:
On Amazon

Moonrise Kingdom movie

Moonrise Kingdom:
On Amazon

Palm Beach story film

Palm Beach:
On Amazon

Psycho movie

Psycho:
On Amazon

The Royal Tenenbaums

The Royal Tenenbaums:
On Amazon

Rushmore movie

Rushmore: On Amazon

The Life Aquatic movie

The Life Aquatic:
On Amazon

The Fantastic Mr. Fox movie

The Fantastic Mr. Fox:
On Amazon

Crimes & Misdemeanors movie

Crimes & Misdemeanors:
On Amazon

dogma movie on Amazon

Dogma:
On Amazon

Shadow & Fog movie

Shadow & Fog:
On Amazon

Lars the Real Girl

Lars & the Real Girl:
On Amazon

Obvious Child movie

Obvious Child:
On Amazon

The Prestige movie

The Prestige:
On Amazon

The Dark Knight on Amazon

The Dark Knight:
On Amazon

Close Encounters of the Third Kind movie

Close Encounters:
On Amazon

Fight Club movie

Fight Club:
On Amazon

Children of Men on Amazon

Children of Men:
On Amazon

the decalogue on Amazon

The Decalogue:
On Amazon

Inception movie

Inception:
On Amazon

Stardust memories movie

Stardust Memories:
On Amazon

Tree of Life on Amazon

Tree of Life:
On Amazon

Carla M. Sallee Alvarez

Carla M. Sallee Alvarez

Carla Alvarez is the founder of Raised to Walk and a founding board member of An Unexpected Journal, a Communications Director at Legacy Marketing Services where she uses her BS in Marketing to create communication strategies for business, and an unlikely case manager and Bible Study teacher for the Afghan Christians of Kabul Hope Latest Series: Hacked: the Saga How an oily politician and a band of intellectual property and identity thieves conspired to erase a third-grade Sunday school teacher, Read more of her work on Google Scholar and Substack or contact her to write for you.
Light in the Darkness by Charlotte Thomason

Light in the Darkness by Charlotte Thomason

Light in the Darkness is a 25-day devotional for trauma survivors written by Charlotte Thomason. Watch an interview on the inspiration behind the book.

5 Books You Should Read Before You Die

5 Books You Should Read Before You Die

There are many “lists” of books to read. But if you had to pick just five books to recommend to someone that they should read before they die, what would those books be?
These are my “5 books to read before you die” that I am recommending.

The Insanity of God Review

The Insanity of God Review

The Insanity of God is a book by missionary, Nik Ripken about his experience as an on-the-ground missionary, as well as a compilation of his years of research on the persecuted church. It was published in 2012. Nik has also published two other books: The Insanity of Obedience: Walking with Jesus in Tough Places and The Insanity of Sacrifice: A 90 Day Devotional.

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