Hollywood Worldviews: Watching Films with Wisdom and Discernment [Paperback]

I found myself agreeing with Godawa in many places, including his analysis of various films. At other places, I found myself disagreeing out loud. Besides disagreeing with his analysis of certain films, let me give one example where I did not click with Godawa. In the appendix, much space was used to show how the Bible has sex, violence, and profanity, thus almost making it seem that watching practically any movie would be A-OK. He tempers this, especially in the last few pages, but I still think it's apples and oranges if we were to say that we can watch whatever we want because such issues are dealt with in the Bible. In a way Godawa acknowledges this and says that "a sense of balance is what a Christian needs...Christians tend to be either cultural gluttons or cultural anorexics. It seems we either avoid all movies or watch too many of them." I agree with him that, if we pick our movies wisely, there is much to gain. I found it interesting, though, that many of the movies talked about in the book are probably those movies I myself would avoid, either because they were lame (as many movie critics would attest) or are so morally objectionable that I would have to ask, Can you really get anything good out of a dumpster full of garbage?

Two other criticisms are the inclusion of "director's cut" notes throughout the book, which in reality was multiple promotions of his web site. Several times I wished that Godawa would have further expanded on a particular topic in his book rather than ask us to go to his site. Isn't this why we buy a particular book? Couldn't he have expanded it to include the issues his sites had, including unpublished chapters? I appreciate the fact that he had other information available, but I didn't look up one reference. Finally, how could a book like this not include an index, especially one that would have incorporated the different movies talked about in the book. Since he talked about a movie more than once, I found myself thumbing backward to see what else he had said about that particular film. Not being able to look in an index was extremely frustrating. It might have also been a benefit for the reader if Godawa provided his personal ratings of the books he reviewed, perhaps giving us an idea of movies that he feels we should or should not see. These ideas would have given Hollywood Worldviews a more complete feel.

My criticisms aside, I still feel that this is worthy of a look by the discerning Christian moviegoer.

He exhorts and equips us to move beyond our justified worries over Hollywood's exploitation of sex and violence to recognize and properly evaluate the more powerful and frequently destructive influences of worldview in film. For instance, an erroneous and devastating assumption of the movie AI: Artificial Intelligence -- that consciousness, and ultimately humanity, "naturally emerges out of the inherent properties of matter" -- may well seem not only more plausible but desirable to many viewers through experiencing this film.

Under Godawa's clear teaching, we enjoy far richer movie watching experiences in learning to engage a film with valid questions and to apply sound principles of discernment and evaluation. (For example, in The Matrix people are deceived about reality -- how could they have known otherwise? Are they knowingly deceived? What tests for truth might we employ to discern whether our own understanding of reality is worth maintaining?) Best of all, throughout his intelligent discussion he shows us how to employ those principles through myriad incisive and often provocative film analyses (some of which have ignited much thoughtful debate in our family over story, art, and interpretation).

Godawa begins by stressing the overarching importance of stories and mythology to film. Here he does an admirable job of explaining how influential mythologist Joseph Campbell's idea of the "Monomyth" has strongly informed modern filmmakers. He goes on to show where Campbell went astray in not seeing that the Monomyth is actually the suppressed image of the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. In this, Godawa reflects the thinking of the Apostle Paul who saw in the Pagan idols of his age the unrealized yearnings for true redemption. And this yearning for redemption brings forth what I think is one of the most powerful chapters in Hollywood Worldviews, in which Godawa makes the case that all motion pictures are mostly, if not always, about redemption of one type or another. I must admit that I was floored by this idea, as it seems so elemental once you have read Godawa's thesis. The ultimate Desire of life expresses itself in our stories.

Godawa then outlines nine structural elements of film storytelling. He shows how an understanding of these elements can be used as a scheme of film analysis that helps the viewer understand any particular motion picture in a deeper way. He applies these same structural elements to the Christian testimony in a delightful way that you must read.

Godawa spends the remainder of the book outlining how modern film reflects various worldviews (a worldview being something like the "story" we tell concerning where we come from, where we are headed, and how we ought to act in that journey - here I am borrowing some of Godawa's vocabulary). Here perhaps is where Godawa most earns his chops. He introduces the several worldviews and points out contemporary films that have reflected them. While his critiques are not coldly analytical (his point is not to be the Linnaeus of film), neither are they belligerent. At just the point where a Christian writer could turn against the medium, Godawa writes in a refreshingly conciliatory manner. As I read this section I thought that this most reminded me of the style and manner with which Schaeffer analyzed art and culture. Though not exactly the same, the tone is quite similar. I was very happy for it.

Hollywood Worldviews may well turn out to be a very durable book. The scheme of analysis and the essential message are timeless while the specific films may not be. Schaeffer's books on art and culture are still widely read and influential on Christian thought, even while some of the particular artistic movements he detailed have fallen out of favor. The grid of analysis that Schaeffer used, Biblically informed as it necessarily was, is what will forever stand. It is in this that Godawa's book may also stand for several generations, even after we no longer call it "film" - perhaps we'll call it "digi's" after digital formats take over, who knows.

I must also mention that the book contains very do-able chapter exercises called, Watch and Learn. These help to internalize the ideas in the book. They make the book even more reader-friendly for group use. On that thought, I would HIGHLY recommend this book to church youth groups. We cannot exaggerate the importance of film as an influence on culture - especially for younger viewers. This book can give young people the ability to think critically about what they are viewing. I wish I had had this book when I was a young man. I was a huge film fan who watched relatively uncritically all types of movies. I still retain my favorite film book from my youth, Hitchcock/Truffaut, because it so well spoke to "story" in film. Hollywood Worldviews ought to be a keeper for lots of younger film fans because it so well outlines the importance of "story" and how the Greatest Story influences and judges them all.