See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ – Colossians 2:8
Movies are deceptive. They deceive on several levels. Most fundamentally, “movies” (a nickname for what was originally called “motion pictures”) do not move – they traditionally were still photographs placed as frames in a series on film and then rapidly flashed on the screen at 24 frames per second so that our eyes would perceive slight variations as simulated “action”. As a kid, I would doodle cartoons in the margin of a book and then flip the pages quickly to create my own little movie. Nowadays, even movies shot as digital videos are still just a series of snapshots. As such, they deceptively seem to show movement.
At another level, movies – and cameras in general, including surveillance videos and police body cams – only represent a scene from one angle at a time. Thus, movies can be deceptive because the audience thinks that they are seeing a real-life setting, perhaps a beautiful outdoor event, when it is just a movie set shot in a studio with a bunch of people sitting in director’s chairs behind the cameras. Through editing, the movie cuts from one shot to another and you are duped into thinking that everything is happening in real-time, when perhaps the actors spoke their lines on different days without the other person even being present. “Let’s try it again. Take 52”. What you see is a highly processed flow of images, sanitized for your protection and entertainment.
Scripture teaches us to be more circumspect – gaining a circular perspective. We are called to not just evaluate someone’s situation from our own perspective, but to walk around, in effect, to see something as others might see it, and especially to consider a situation from God’s perspective. Rather than jumping to conclusions – “oh, he’s a tax collector, he should be avoided” – Christians learn to wonder about what others think as we get to know them. The opposite of love is presuming to already know someone enough to reject his perspective before you even hear it.
At yet another level, movies invoke drama, comedy, action, memories, shock, and awe to deceive us into swallowing the director’s story – hook, line, and sinker. Audiences regularly consume the bait and leave a theater – or living room – believing that much of what they have experienced is a reflection of real life. Sure, they know that it might have been only “based on a true story”, but they still process conversations and situations as if they witnessed truth. Movies can effectively reinforce stereotypes and/or create new “knowledge” about how people behave. This, despite the fact that these were all, literally, “actors” (in Greek, “hypocrites”).
Scripture does the opposite. The stories in the Bible are true accounts of what people actually did and thought, reported from multiple perspectives, including clarity about what the Creator of the universe has to say about such events and behaviors.
If movies are so deceptive, what should we do with them? One thing that we do at First Presbyterian Church on the first Friday of the month is watch a movie alongside people with different backgrounds and viewpoints. We set up zero-gravity chairs in our Fellowship Hall, fire up the popcorn machine, break out the Raisinets, and view a movie together. We then discuss the film, considering the apparent philosophy of the moviemakers. We listen to each other’s reactions and compare what we have seen and felt with what the Bible teaches about the topics. Each month, we select a film from a different genre and evaluate it together, learning what others liked or didn’t like, thus gaining new perspectives. If you are able, join us February 2nd at 7pm so that we can encourage one another to gain knowledge and avoid deception. Don’t like movies? Then this activity is an excellent opportunity for you to appreciate why some people do. God calls us to get to know Him and each other. This is His pattern: He sent His Son so that we might get to know Him. He established His church for us to get to know others.
