10 Christian Perspectives On 2015's Movies
Terminator Genisys - an abomination against God?
Described as “dark and sadistic” and “a very evil movie”, Raja Gosnell’s live-action 2002 released Scooby Doo offended almost every Christian film critic who saw it, with one calling the picture “a tool for the Devil.”
What could be so terrible about a PG-rated kiddie comedy, you ask? Viewers objected to the “abundance of skin” as well as “the heavy emphasis on voodoo” while one critic claimed he was “uncomfortable with the idea of people trading souls and contemplating lustful advances.”
By no means were these views unique. Other movies deemed unacceptable by movie-going Christians include Armageddon (“the myth of Evolution is presented as scientific fact”), The Avengers (“Loki is a clear depiction of the Devil”) and the “evil and occultic” Harry Potter franchise. In a world where “mainstream” viewers debate hidden meanings in The Shining, however, such opinions are no less valid than those of anyone else.
A Christian film critic wants to know if the movie promotes Christ’s work and values, is biblically accurate and features nothing objectionable (profanity, nudity, violence etc). So Case For Creation, a 1991 documentary summarising the scientific evidence for Creationism, receives an “Excellent” moral rating (“a truly biblical, Christian film”) while Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s A Very Long Engagement, with its violence and sexuality, is “Extremely Offensive.”
In fact, movies from “secular” Hollywood are rarely rated more highly than “Offensive”, so anyone offended by casual profanity, women in revealing clothing, and the discussion of evolution should look away now.
10. Mad Max: Fury Road - "Better Than Exodus!"
“It is striking how much biblical imagery is in this movie,” claimed one viewer. “In way, it’s a better Exodus movie than the “Exodus” movie (which didn’t strike me as anything spectacular). You have water from the rock, the freeing of slaves, the search for a Promised Land, you have Pharaoh’s chariots updated to a post-apocalyptic vision.”
Claiming the movie is about “a struggle between those who seek something to believe in and those who follow a false god”, the viewer claims director George Miller took inspiration from Isaiah 35:1: “The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.”
Other viewers were more impressed by Miller’s “bold portrait of Biblical feminism.” Like Esther, Furiosa is “merely a possession until the serpent is crushed and she is enthroned….women must be empowered, but women can only be empowered by faithful men.”