Book Description
our engagement with films, and new television channels enabling us both to
see more films and to find out more about them, our culture is becoming
increasingly film-literate. It is therefore more important than ever before
that Christians should understand the significance of films within our
culture and be able to engage with them. Film is a wonderfully rich medium.
We see a rapid succession of moving images - in a cinema we see them on a
huge scale. The images are accompanied by dialogue, sound effects and a
musical score. All these elements combine to create meaning - to tell a
story that may resonate with our own experience, or perhaps move us or make
us laugh, excite us or scare us.
It is important for our ongoing Christian growth that we learn to watch
films thoughtfully rather than let them wash over us, seeing them as mere
entertainment. It is important for our ability to relate to our friends
that we learn to understand the messages which films communicate and how
they relate to the good news of Jesus Christ.
So this is a book about understanding films. We will consider how films
communicate their messages and how we can engage with them, digging beneath
the surface to think about beliefs and values. It can seem like a
formidable challenge at first, but as with everything it gets easier the
more practice you get. A number of people over the years have suggested
that it rather spoils our entertainment to be thinking critically at the
same time. I don't think so - at least, in the longer term. In the short
term, while getting used to thinking about films in this way, it may feel
more like hard work than enjoyment. But as one becomes familiar with this
way of thinking, it begins to be second nature, an integral part of
watching a movie. In fact, rather than diminish our pleasure, I would argue
that before too long it positively enhances it.
Film-makers put a great deal of effort into their work. So we will be
rewarded for paying closer attention to what we see and hear. We will spot
more of the connections - both between one part of the film and another,
and between one particular film and other films, books and other aspects of
culture. We will discover deeper levels of meaning and understand more
fully what the film-maker wanted to communicate - as well as that which he
or she communicated unwittingly (as Federico Fellini once remarked, `Even
if I set out to make a film about a fillet of sole, it would be about me').
My experience is that this is an altogether richer encounter with a film,
and one which thus deepens and extends my enjoyment. It is just the same
with all other arts - the more we understand, the more we gain from each
experience.
