Book Details
- Author: Grant Horner
- Publisher: Crossway Books (2010)
- Category: Christian Living
Discerning Reader Editorial Review
Reviewed 07/22/2010 by John Bird.
Recommended. A sophisticated philosophical and biblical look at film and culture.
Grant Horner's Meaning at the Movies is not what you might expect. As he says, "If you're looking for a list of movies you should or should not watch to be a 'good Christian,' you'll have to look elsewhere." Instead, Horner says that his book "is an extended meditation on why we have movies at all, why they are so powerful, and why Christians need to think deeply and theologically about film art - indeed, about all cultural production."
Those not willing to go along with Horner in thinking "deeply and theologically" won't make it through the thirty page introduction, "Movies, Truth, and the Origins of Culture." In this highly philosophical chapter, Horner uses Romans 1:16-23 to explain how sinful man suppresses the truths about himself and God, and then "suppresses the suppression," (the latter, I admit, I can't quite grasp). The basis of most of his film interpretation is this suppression of truth, which he says will inevitably surface in culture, and particularly in works of art: "As I see it, all human cultural production, from worshipping a golden calf to watching German opera, is a return of suppressed truth."
The rest of the book consists of two parts, the first of which prepares the reader for movie analysis. Horner explains that Christians need (and lack) discernment when watching movies. Discernment "is not the default position - it is always rooted in a mind saturated with Scripture." This saturating our minds in Scripture, Horner says, is the key to recognizing faulty worldviews and their resulting errors. Horner then goes on to examine the most common and basic worldviews so that readers will be equipped to recognize them and, as a result, be more prepared to deal with the flawed thinking that accompanies them.
In the second part, Horner takes in-depth looks at the most common movie genres: comedy, horror, romance, and film noir. Not only does he discuss the histories, philosophies, and characteristics of each, but he analyzes several representative films within each. And he knows his movies - he has taught college level film courses for fourteen years. He also knows his Bible. His critiques are based upon sound, biblical theology - "a mind saturated with Scripture."
While I find Horner's philosophical discussions about movies interesting and his use of Scripture edifying, I'm not sure that I've benefited from reading Meaning at the Movies. Perhaps I'm not within the intended audience. Those who are more intellectual and take their movies more seriously may love this book. But it seems that those who enjoy deep philosophical and theological discussions will find the ultimate conclusions self-evident - they know that Hollywood suppresses the fact that humans have a fallen nature, and that romance, as it is portrayed in movies, is superficial and unbiblical. On the other hand, un-informed viewers who don't see these things, or at least suppress them, are unlikely to stick around long enough for Horner to convince them.
