You Still There? If so, here are some thoughts on Don Jon

Sooooooo it’s been a while since we lasted posted something here on Reel Thinking.  You may remember we told you that we would be posting less often, but we thought we would at least have something once a week or so.  Well, there’s been some travel this summer for all of us and life has just gotten busy.  And, for me at least, I haven’t been able to watch a movie in over a month!  It can some be somewhat of a challenge to blog on film when you don’t watch film.  Anyway, I do hope to get some posts up to you soon, and hopefully some of our other bloggers can find the time as well.  Be sure and check back soon, or subscribe to our email which will keep you up-to-date on our current posts.

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Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let me share some thoughts with you about a film that comes out today, Don Jon.  Let me just say upfront that I don’t plan on seeing Don Jon.  Part of me wants to because I’m interested to hear the world’s commentary on the outrageous porn addiction of our culture; however, I would have to watch a lot of porn in this film if I did.  All that to say, I may watch an edited version of the film down the road.

Not only am I curious to hear an opposing worldview looking at the issue of porn, I would also like to see Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s writing/directing debut.  He is talented and has a certain likability to him.  With that being said, let me share a couple of thoughts that interest me about this film.

The World is With Us

Christians have been discussing the issue of porn for quite some time now.  Books have been written, studies have been performed, software has been installed on computers and accountability partners are set up.  Now, however, it seems that the world is with us on this issue.  I’m not saying that the world agrees with us, there are still many that see porn as a non-issue or a personal freedom, I’m simply stating that certain spheres of pop culture are seeing this as a concern.  The entire premise of Don Jon centers on this tension.  Can a man have real relationship with a woman while having multiple fake relationships through porn?  I’m not sure what conclusion the film comes to, especially since it’s a comedy, but there is at least some tension expressed in the movie.  To be honest, Don Jon couldn’t be an interesting film if Gordon-Levitt, producers, and audiences didn’t see porn as somewhat of a problem.  The controversial nature of the topic actually affirms that the world is (somewhat) with us on this.

Using the Problem to Solve the Problem

Documentaries, as well as feature films, have been used to “solve”, or address, various problems in our culture.  However, one could easily argue that movies have been a major contributor to the problem of porn.  To say it another way, a movie is dealing with a problem created by movies.  Moving pictures have only increased the allure and danger of pornographic images.  Yes the MPAA has setup various boundaries to guard from explicit porn entering the theaters, but we know you don’t even necessarily have to view an explicit image for it to be pornography (see PG-13 sensuality). Even Don Jon addresses the problem by exploiting it.  There may be some good thoughts in the movie and it may actually call out people in the various problems, but the genre implies that it pokes fun at something that’s very serious.

Again, I’m not telling anyone to view or abstain from this film, these are just some thoughts to ponder.  You may also find this article interesting.

The Shawshank Redemption

Often times when I see a certain film there’s needed time for reflection before deciding wether or not I enjoyed it; not so with The Shawshank Redemption. Of course reflection over the years has caused me to more fully enjoy the depth and greatness of it, but it has proved to be one of those rare films where I consciously thought,This is a uniquely great film, while watching it. It is easily in my top 10 favorite films and is on AFI’s top 100 movies of all time (#72).

I must give the common disclaimer that the film is rated R, and rightly so. It is set in a prison, therefore, the language used by the inmates is filthy and there are some other disturbing scenes that take place.

With those cautions in mind, this is a film I would recommend. Now, it has been quite some time since I’ve seen this film, so I’m going on memory here. Please be gracious if you can recite every line of the film from memory. Some of the themes I enjoy are friendship, loyalty, justice/injustice.

Something that has always intrigued me about this film is the fact that Stephen King wrote it. The man who is known for horror and aliens dressed like clowns, writes such an excellent drama (he also wrote the short stories that Stand By Me and The Green Mile are based on). I am not only surprised that King would excel at another genre, but some of the theology that makes its way into his writing has been interesting to me. Redemption, being one of those themes and the one I want to highlight today.

Ellis Boyd ‘Red’ Redding (Morgan Freeman) is the supporting character and provides the narration of the film (this was before it was cool to get Freeman to narrate every movie). As some of the guys are talking in the yard one day, introducing themselves to Andy Durfresne (Tim Robbins), and telling of their various backgrounds, one thing they all share is the fact that they ‘didn’t do it.’ That is, each of them were innocent in their own eyes. Most, if not all, of the inmates knew they had committed a crime but it was apparent that they actually started buying into the lie they had been telling. You could tell they had been making a profession of innocence for so long that their hearts had become calloused to their own guilt.

One interesting aspect to Red was the fact that he admits his guilt. As Andy assumes to hear the same testimony from Red, he breaks the mold, exclaiming, “I’m the only guilty man in Shawshank.”

This is a similar profession of the Christian. The world tends to think of us as the other inmates in Shawshank. They think we are people who testify to the fact that ‘we didn’t do it’, however, we are people who did do it. Not the righteous, sinners Jesus came to call. Part of being a Christian is understanding and affirming what is said in Romans 3:10-12, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

It is a contradiction for the Christian to profess repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, without knowing, believing, affirming, and exclaiming that we are guilty. We are prisoners to our sin apart from this.

And yes, even after a true profession of faith in Jesus, we are still prone to our prison inmate lifestyle. Which is portrayed through the characters of Brooks and Red. They are both released from their bondage in Shawshank, but don’t know how to function. They both want to go back to prison. There are comforts there. Brooks even attempts to murder one of his friends, prior to his release from Shawshank, just because he doesn’t know how he will live outside of prison. Is this not true of the Christian? Old habits die hard and our indwelling sin keeps calling us back. But, as Red says, we must ‘get busy living or get busy dying.’

The ‘living’ we must be doing is living under a constant humility of our sin, a boastful assurance in the finished work of Jesus Christ and strength through the gift of the Spirit. Therefore, Red is a character that should resonate with the Christian. We are guilty, we are prisoners, we are free, and we must get busy living or get busy dying. We could say that the testimony of Ellis Boyd Redding echoes that of the Christian. He appears to be one who has been bathed in the blood of Christ. No wonder they call him Red.

21 Jump Street Interview

Not too long ago we interviewed my friend, Turner Crumbley, about his role in Mark Wahlberg’s most recent film Contraband. It was very interesting for us at Reel Thinking and it seems that it was interesting to you as well, because we had some very large hits on those days. Since we didn’t just want to do a follow-up interview with Turner on the same film, he went out and got another role – just for us.

So I’m obviously kidding about that, but I’m not kidding about the fact that he does play a part in 21 Jump Street. The film stars funny-man Channing Tatum and heartthrob Jonah Hill and it opens this Friday. It tells the story of two slacker cops who are sent, undercover, to high school with the hopes of bringing down a drug dealer. Although the synopsis seems like an action/drama, it is a buddy comedy that promises laughs. For those of you who are a bit older, you will know that 21 Jump Street was a television show starring Johnny Depp, who is said to have a cameo in the film.

So tomorrow we will have our interview with Turner discussing the film, but highlighting questions about Christians starring in movies. 21 Jump Street has some questionable content, just like Contraband did, therefore, we hope these interviews raise some interesting thoughts for you to reflect on. We hope these posts are not only interesting to our readers, but help in cultivating discernment.

Be sure and check back tomorrow (we hope, Turner is pretty busy so it may be a bit late) to do more reflection on Christians and film.