Io9: Is The Book of Eli A Christian Movie?
Very interesting interview with the Hughes brothers about their new film and the increasing suspicions that it is evangelical propaganda. Here’s a teaser:
Q: This book, which isn’t revealed to be the Bible before you see the film, but is clearly noted as the Bible close to the beginning, is being described in the synopsis as a work that “provides knowledge that could redeem society, and the source of all their pain knowledge,” what is that knowledge exactly, and how is that more important than knowledge of building an irrigation system, or medicine or anything survivalist?
Albert: It depends on what you believe. It could be about irrigation, if you want that kind of irrigation for your mind. Some people need to read to stimulate themselves. It could be that book or another book. That character [Eli] believes that he was told to take it somewhere. I can agree with the intent of that question, you know? But as a filmmaker, you have to believe in the story and that translation. If you’re making Lord of The Rings, you have to believe in Middle Earth. If you are making Star Wars, you have to believe that there are spaceships up there going around in space, even though it’s not reality. You have to believe in the mythology of that movie in order to do it.
I love how the interviewer can’t grasp the illogical quest for spiritual knowledge as being somehow more important than “irrigation systems.” I also love how Albert gives him “mythology” as an answer. This conversation probably couldn’t have happened ten years ago. Click here to read the whole interview.
“I think it’s definitely very difficult to walk that line. Even with the music, if you play one note while he’s talking about the Bible it can become very Christian. Music can do that alone. If you play it one way, it can be very corny [and] Christian. If you play it [a different] way, it can be very nondenominational or spiritual. So I went to test, and I made sure, sonically speaking, that the movie is about oneness. It’s about accepting the common human spiritual condition. And let’s not split hairs over who God is or what God is, we’re all going to assume coming in, even non-believers, that there’s something going on. There’s some energy, life force or interconnectivity we all have.”
i thought this was an interesting piece from the interview…i have had conversations with others about ‘manipulative use of music’; it’s not manipulation if we are honest about what is happening and explain what is happening and people understand and choose themselves to enter into worship/ministry time…of course, i’ve also had people ask why we begin with karaoke too…