You know the sensation where you have witnessed something so beautiful and incredible and you just want to share it with everyone? Well, tonight I saw Into the Wild. Go see it. There is some intensely spiritual stuff going on in this story. It was good. Lets just say that I have some serous work ahead of me in reorganizing my Top 10 favorite movies.
“When you forgive, you love. And when you love, God’s light shines upon you.”
I was talking to Dave last week at camp about music and a few things came to mind. So over the next few days I will be adding installments of some of my thoughts on art.
So, we were talking about mincing words in Christian music and whatnot and having open, honest lyrics. I have to admit, I often think of Christian music as a negative thing because I associate words about Jesus with bad music. Thats just the way it is. However, I realized something.
I’ve never heard someone really complain about something being offensively Christian if it is a good enough piece of art. For instance, have you ever heard of anyone credible dismiss the Sistine Chapel ceiling because it is too Christian? I at least have never heard anyone say that. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone criticize the Passion of the Christ for being too Christian. Everyone recognizes those things as amazing pieces of art and doesn’t really even care that they are spiritual. For one example we have Mel Gibson who has already proved himself as a very talented artist, and therefore no one really cares about his beliefs, or rather, no one is offended or dismayed by the fact that he is a Christian. Of course there have been those unfortunate blunders of his, but that’s beside the point.
And then with Michelangelo, he is recognized as one of the greatest artists ever and his Creation of Adam is one of the most famously reproduced, copied, even parodied pieces of art in history. And everyone knows and respects his work, even though it is blatantly Christian.
Some of you may have heard about the new FoxFaith studio. It seems like every good Christian now is praising this whole deal because it means family-friendly films (not a bad thing at all, don’t get me wrong) and maybe some stuff that will spread the gospel. You see, FoxFaith has come out with the purpose of producing films that are “morally-driven, family-friendly programming,” and each of their films must “have overt Christian Content or be derived from the work of a Christian author.” (www.foxfaith.com). Now, I don’t really have a problem with this at all, but here is what gets me. FoxFaith has planned to produce up to 12 films each year(TheGuardian.co.uk). The problem with this is that it makes the films mere products. No matter how you spin it, when you make plans to produce a certain number of films in a year, the focus is taken off the art. They are no longer artwork. Now, granted, I’m pretty sure any major studio is going to treat films as products, but thats probably why we now often consider the independent film the source of artistic flame in the film industry. Handel never decided to write the Messiah in 24 days, it just happened. On the other hand, the Sistine Chapel ceiling took 4 years to complete.
My point is that artwork is not about numbers, and in the same way, Christ’s message is not about numbers. Christ’s message is not a product and neither is the new believer. Maybe I am wrong, but the Gospel does not “produce” new believers. However, isn’t that what we are doing? Have you ever considered the Psalms as products? Did the Psalmist enter into a deal saying he had to produce 12 of them each year? Isn’t that what we are doing though?
I think that Christians should especially be the ones attempting to revive true art today. After all, would you not agree with me in saying that art is from God? Again, I give you Michelangelo.
I guess I really think that you can be as obvious about your message as long as the product is actually worth seeing/hearing etc. What I mean to say is that “you have the earn the right to be heard.” If your artwork is mediocre, how can you expect other people to really care to hear your message. How will you convince people that Christ’s message, the message you are representing, is incredible and the greatest thing on Earth unless your medium (the artwork) is at least excellent. Maybe by using a mediocre medium to spread our message, are we not in turn sort of making the message something it is not? We express an amazing message in a mediocre way and I don’t think this is honoring to God.
I think its the same as the way we live our lives. We should try to mirror the excellence of what we are representing. But thats another story…
So, some artists I suggest you check out. I think these people have it right:
C.S. Lewis
Derek Webb
Sufjan Stevens
Rembrandt (just stare at his paintings)
Wim Wenders
There are many more, but for now, just try to check some of them out.
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