Eschatological Journeys

Crash: A Movie Assessment

Tim — Tue, 29 Nov 2005 12:44:36 -0600

Last week I watched the movie 'Crash'. I am still in the process of thinking through this movie. If you are unfamiliar with it, you can get some info here. Basically the movie is constantly working racial stereotypes. One redeeming feature about the movie is that everyone in the movie is racist. But some in the movie are more racist than others. This movie has received many good words, but there are two points that have caught my attention with the movie. First, is that there are really no answers given in the movie. Yes, people change in the movie, but there are ultimately no answers given for how one should live. This then brings me to another thought: can this movie and the worldview with it actually offer any real substantive answers? No it cannot. This, then, reminds me of an article I read some time ago by Doug Jones (Read it here). The sin of racism is a sin against which the Church can speak most powerfully. It is Christ alone who unites people of all races under the banner of a new people. Also, it is Christians alone, who give a reason for the sin of racism. Ask people if racism is wrong, and most will say yes. Then, ask them why it is wrong, and most won't have a clue. Christians can speak to the presupposition of the wrongness of racism. Let us speak!

The Problem with the Redemption of Anikan

Tim — Fri, 20 May 2005 01:23:13 -0500

Well, I just saw Star Wars III. It was good. Not huge, but good. I hesitate to write too much about this movie for many reasons. One, I have not processed the movie yet, so my comments may be a bit premature. Two, I may give away a bit of the movie, and this would ruin the fun for some. But then again if you do not know where the movie is going after seeing all the other episodes, then even if I do give away a bit of it, it will probably be so obvious so that you will miss it. But I know my readers are not that dull. Three, once my friend Scott at Nehring the Edge writes his review next week, everything which I say here will be very trivial. Nonetheless, I drank a cup-and-a-half of Turkish coffee at some Mediterranean restaurant today, and the waiter promised me that I would be awake for three weeks. So I am going to take full advantage of the caffeine high and write a few thoughts.

What I am pondering most about this movie is its lack of justice. What I am primarily concerned with is the redemption of Anikan Skywalker. Now unfortunately Lucas made Anikan easily deceived, so the move from the force to the dark side was an easy move. But in Episode II Anikan slaughters a whole tribe of Sandmen because they tortured his mother and killed his mother. Anikan knows that this is wrong, and he is resolved never to let someone he cares about die. This is his repentance for the crime he committed. We learn in Episode III that Anikan confessed it to the Chancellor (The Sith lord). But there is no restitution, there is no justice for the crime. The crime goes without punishment or forgiveness.

Well, in Episode III the crimes that Anikan commits by way of his transformation to Darth Vader and after he is named the apprentice to the Sith lord are horrible. He is a murderer in the worst sense of the word. Now fast forward to Episode VI, The Return of the Jedi. How is the balance in the force achieved by the ‘chosen one’? Because he has compassion on his son Luke, Darth Vader picks up the Emperor (the Sith lord), and throws him to his death, thus saving his son from the torture of the Emperor. This deed displays the little remaining good in Vader, and in the closure of the film, Vader returns to Anikan, and Anikan takes his place in the place of immortality along with Yoda and Anikan’s former apprentice.

Now, this is where my question of justice comes in regarding the redemption of Anikan. This transformation from Vader to Anikan begs the question, where is justice regarding all of the atrocious crimes that Anikan committed before and after becoming Vader? Anikan took out vengeance on the Sandmen. He wanted justice for their crimes. But where is the justice for the Sandmen and all the others that Anikan and Vader murdered? This is a serious flaw in the worldview that Lucas presents. Justice is a theme in the movie, but the greatest injustice is that Anikan is given immortality without the absolving of guilt. In fact Lucas’ worldview cannot stand, because he gives no answer for justice with regard to Vader. Believing that people have good in them is not enough. Something must be done to rectify the evil that ‘good’ people do.

I may have more in the future on this. The Turkish delight, I mean Turkish coffee, is wearing off.

The Village

Tim — Mon, 17 Jan 2005 15:35:30 -0600

Over the weekend I rented the The Village (I just don't go to too many movies in the theater), and for the most part I liked it. In my view it was not as good as Sixth Sense, simply because Sixth Sense totally caught me off guard. I loved the surprise in the last five minutes of the movie.

The Village though was a bit more predictable, though still enjoyable. One thing that has captured my mind since my viewing was how the publicity for The Village shaped how I watched the movie. That is, the movie is marketed as a horror movie, but it is not at all a horror movie. In fact the movie is not really that scary, at least in an of itself. What makes the movie scary is the marketing. That is, because of the marketing one watches a non-scary movie expecting it to be scary, though the movie in and of itself is not scary, and because of aspects of the movie, one believes the movie to be scary.

In other words, what I am seeing is that the possibility exists that the movie was marketed in a way that corresponds to the theme of The Village, which is about social constructed reality. That is, all those who belong to the village, except for the elders, believe that they are living in a valley surrounded by woods, which are inhabited by the creatures of which they will not speak. But there are no creatures, the creatures are constructed by the elders. Also, they may live in a valley, but the valley is really in the midst of a wildlife preserve. The elders of the village constructed the whole reality.

So as the theme of the movie is about social construction of reality, so the marketing of the movie corresponds to this, so that we watch The Village looking for a scary movie, but the movie really isn't a horror movie.

Just some thoughts...