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ABSTRACT Faith-Based Films: a Cultural Analysis Alex Dillard ABSTRACT Faith-Based Films: A Cultural Analysis Alex Dillard Director: Leslie A. Hahner, Ph.D . This thesis analyzes two faith-based films, God’s Not Dead and Silence , and corresponding paratextual sources, as cultural artifacts to identify each film’s encoded and decoded messages and representations of Christians and non-Christians. First, a history of Christian film and summation of current literature is presented. Then, the significance and relationship between film, culture, and Christianity is discussed. Cultural studies, whose interdisciplinary tenets guide the methodology of this study, is explained. The analysis in this thesis is three-pronged and examines the production and marketing of each film, the films proper, and the critical response to each film. In light of this analysis, whether or not each film was able to maintain a label of faithfulness and the significance of the Christian culture industry is discussed. This thesis concludes that God’s Not Dead is able to maintain a label of faithfulness through its explicit conservative, evangelical messaging and extensive marketing, while Silence is unable to maintain a label of faithfulness due to its vague messaging and noncompliance with the Christian culture industry. This thesis contributes to current literature by examining how paratextual resources aid in crafting an understanding of a film, identifying a faith-based pedagogy, and discussing the Christian culture industry. APPROVED BY DIRECTOR OF HONORS THESIS: Dr. Leslie A. Hahner, Department of Communications APPROVED BY THE HONORS PROGRAM: Dr. Andrew Wisely, Interim Director DATE: __________________ FAITH-BASED FILMS: A CULTURAL ANALYSIS A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Baylor University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Honors Program By Alex Dillard Waco, Texas May 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter One: Introduction . 1 Chapter Two: Film and Culture, Cultural Studies, and Methodology . 14 Chapter Three: Cultural Analysis . 31 Chapter Four: Discussion and Conclusion . 84 Appendix . 94 Appendix: Campaign Guide for God’s Not Dead . 95 Bibliography . 121 ii CHAPTER ONE Introduction History of Christian films Christians have had a complex relationship with cinema. In the early Twentieth Century, the statement ‘church and cinema’ was equated to ‘church versus cinema’ (Wall 11). The church acknowledged its power to influence audiences and was concerned with the lack of morality shown within films. Protesting against Hollywood was a combined effort of both Roman Catholic and Protestant leaders (Lindvall 1). During a visit to the United States in the 1920s, Roman Catholic journalist G.K. Chesterton offered a different approach to combating cinema. He stated the “problem with movies is not that they go to places like Middle America, but that they don’t come from places like Middle America” (Lindvall 3). Chesterton was suggesting that the church should begin to create its own films in order to ensure moral messages. The realization that churches could use cinema to “instruct, evangelize, and entertain its congregants” led to the use of film as an extension of sermons (Lindvall 4). In the 1930s, Congregationalist editor George Reid Andrews highlighted the similarity between revivals and modern motion pictures in their ability to excite (Lindvall 7). Andrews explained that the “beauty and romance of the silver screen” impacts people the same way that revivals afforded participants “temporary release from the corroding cares of the day and giving them a prospect of the streets of the God and the gates of pearl” (Lindvall 7). Over the course of a decade, Christians used films to call for repentance and 1 conversion, highlight social justice issues, and depict biblical stories. Films such as the 1932 The Sign of the Cross were shown at Christian conferences followed by discussion of Christian persecution, peace, and racial prejudice (Lindvall 10). Christians shifted their position on motion pictures, believing that if films acted in concurrence with biblical teachings, with clear and direct address in order to minimize misunderstandings, they could be beneficial to churches (Lindvall 11). Two early producers of Christian cinema, James Friedrich and Carlos Baptista, illustrate two differing philosophies of Christian filmmaking. Friedrich believed the goal of Christian films should extend into multiple realms whereas Baptista saw no use for film beyond visual evangelization (Lindvall 37). Additionally, Friedrich and Baptista disagreed on the qualifications of a good film. Friedrich believed it was of the utmost importance to have good actors regardless of if they were Christian (Lindvall 37). Baptista felt as though quality was of tertiary importance, and all workers on the film must be of the Christian faith (Lindvall, 38). The debate of whether having a good quality film or having only Christian workers on set as more important continues to be a point of tension in the Christian movie industry. The quality of Christian films in general has always been a common criticism of the films, which usually have a preference for “dogma over drama” (Lindvall 20). Michela Robins, writer for the Hollywood Quarterly, questioned whether Christian films would always be “insipid missionary conscience-tweakers” or if they would ever venture out into dramatic films that “dealt with pressing social and moral issues from Christian perspectives” (Lindvall 23). While some films did delve into “life situations” that focused on personal, social, and economic issues, these films struggled to preserve and convey 2 personality (Lindvall 126). The scripts of the films struggled to make “God-talk genuine and non-God-talk realistic,” and they followed a predictable pattern of dramatic conversions, sob stories, and testimonies (Lindvall 152). Beginning in the 1960s, independent filmmaker Mel White endeavored to break the status quo of Christian films by communicating the trials and tribulations of being a Christian (Lindvall 137). He hoped to “make the Christian faith a little more full-orbed, a little more honest” by capturing moments of “incomprehensible suffering that laid out human anger, frustration, anxiety, fear, and desperation at the feet of God” (Lindvall 137). While at first less concerned with the criticism of their media’s quality, Christian filmmakers have grown to recognize the importance of a film’s quality in communicating its message. In the early 1980s, Fred Carpenter, a provocative and inquisitive young filmmaker, furthered the work of White. Carpenter posed that Christian films should be “discussion starters,” that act as a tool to engage nonbelievers (Lindvall 207). His ideal Christian film would capture the attention of those who otherwise would not listen and invite them to reflect on what was eternally important (Lindvall 209). This carries into the present day Christian film industry, which often endeavors to create compelling narratives rather than just transmitting Christian teachings (Lindvall 215). Throughout the history of Christian cinema, church leaders have learned the significance of film. Once the church realized that film is a cultural medium that has the potential to deeply impact its audience, it opened itself up to a new way of spreading the gospel. Just as Saint Augustine said of rhetoric, that it is a neutral art that can be used for God’s glory, the same can be said of film (qtd. in Brinton 441). Film, a medium with the 3 power to “grip the emotion and transform the mind like no other medium,” can be used as a tool of communication for Christians (Wall 18). Christians were correct in their understanding of film as a maker of meaning within society. While watching a film, the viewer assigns a conceptual meaning to the diegesis (Bordwell 8). Through this assignment, which is a “social activity governed by norms,” the film speaks directly to the audience (Bordwell 18). The way in which the viewer comes to interpret the film is partially through the rhetorical construction of the film. Films are rhetorically infused with devices that can “stir emotions and advance ideologies” (Wetherbee 32). The advancement of ideologies is one way that a film speaks indirectly. The discourse of the film is “internalized” and used to “understand our world and our own lives” (Wetherbee 2). The ideologically motivated “micro-level utterances” of a film compose a “complete, complex utterance” that can shape one’s world view. Since film has the ability to construct our worldview, it is a “cultural standard-bearer” (Ostwalt 76). Films can continue to reinforce “older myths,” and they can also communicate and create new myths (John 52). Overall, film has the power to change beliefs, myths, symbolism, and structures (John 54). Films operate through identification of the audience with characters and the ‘reality’ being presented. Moreover, the ways films “carve up” a part of reality to make it feel true to the viewer is how representation can impact one’s worldview (Messaris 21). The more one believes that what is depicted is real, the more successful the film in its persuasion (John 9). Since identity and representation are linked, representation in film “shapes the views of identity and self-perception” (Sumera 13). The conception of the social construction of reality says that we learn about ourselves through many influences, 4 one of which is media. Films are “infused with cultural values” that the audience will either accept or reject (Wetherbee 60). Therefore, films are “fictional stories being performed to create visual representations of culture” (Wetherbee 35). This is why representation is important within cinema. Films often act as a synecdoche, representing a larger generality of the depicted characters (Wetherbee 64). Characters serve as the personified form of ideas and embody abstractions, such as religion (Sumera 19) However, there is a fine line between reality and the construction of reality through representation in film; within that fine line is popular culture and public perception, which feed off one another (Sumera 80). The paramount issue of this thesis is how films are identified as Christian and the ways viewers process the narratives and lessons of Christian films.
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