Up until recently, Christians were notoriously known for making subpar (sometimes laughable) forms of entertainment. From movies, to TV shows, to video games, the Christian industry fell short, time and time again. Need I remind you of the famous words of David A.R. White?
(No I don’t think I’ll ever let that go. Sorry David lol) Though the Christian entertainment industry had a rough past, it has made an incredible turn around in the past few years, especially in the film industry. One of the leading innovators of the Christian film industry is Angel Studios. They’ve come out with great movies such as Sound of Freedom, Sound of Hope, Cabrini, Bonhoeffer, and The Shift. Angel Studios have also been successful in the TV show industry with programs such as The Chosen, DryBar Comedy, and the Wingfeather Saga. Also, I have to give a shout out to the Kendrick Brothers as well. Though their films are still a little bit cheesy, they are still creating decent Christian films like The Forge, War Room, and Facing the Giants. Even Christian video games are trying to make a comeback with new releases such as Gate Zero and One of 500 coming out in the future.
I’m glad that these studios are making serious advances in the Christian entertainment sphere. However, this begs the question, what is the next step for Christian entertainment? Maybe you’re wondering a different question: how can Christian entertainment get better? Let’s be clear, there are great films and ideas being produced but most of the products still have that ‘Christian film’ feel. Why? It’s because, like what the Kendrick Brothers have said, most of the films are still video sermons even though some may be better than others. By video sermons, they mean that they are designed to be an acted out sermon like one that you hear on Sunday.
Let’s take the Sound of Freedom and Sound of Hope. Both are great movies and Sound of Freedom was a smash hit in the box office whereas Sound of Hope is a relative success. Let me be clear: they are good films. I have no qualms about the quality of the production especially with their minimal budgets. However, even in the trailers, you already knew exactly what the theme and the message of the stories were. Sound of Freedom is talking about the horrors of the child sex trafficking industry and Sound of Hope is talking about the foster care/adoption system. Both were not created to entertain but to inform just like a sermon. In fact, I really think of them as high quality documentaries rather than high quality movies.
You might be asking, ‘What’s the difference?’ Themes (some may call it a topic, message, or the idea of a story) that inform make a compelling statement. Themes that entertain ask compelling questions or ideas. Read those sentences again. We even see this difference in the Bible. For example, take Paul’s letters or even the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible). Both are very doctrinal and they don’t have many questions but they make informative, compelling statements.
Now consider books such as Job, Judges, Kings, and the Chronicles. Judges, Kings, and Chronicles deal with a lot of morally gray areas and we’re seeing how leaders, both good and bad, react to certain situations. In the book of Job, he asks big questions about suffering. Do we always get an answer or a reason for suffering? Is there a purpose for suffering? Are we willing to serve God in the midst of suffering? Are we the cause of our suffering? How is God still good if He allows suffering? These are powerful and compelling questions which is why Christians are constantly pulled to reading the real stories of the Old Testament.
In order for Christian entertainment to get to the next level, we have to move from statements to questions in our themes. Why are questions in entertainment better than answers? Because it forces the viewer/reader to think and it has the possibility of different or even conflicting answers. On the other hand, I don’t mean ‘question vs statement’ as a literal dichotomy because even a statement can be compelling like a question. What I’m saying is that it has to be thought provoking enough to make viewers interact with an idea.
This is what made The Dark Knight one of the greatest movies of all time because it fleshed out the idea of Joker’s theme: even the best of men can turn evil if you push them far enough. Batman’s theme was that ‘good people will always be willing to persevere.’ The catalyst for both of them was Harvey Dent. Harvey was poised to be the next Batman because he was a good man who was willing to do the right thing no matter the cost. However, when he was pushed to his limit by Joker, he broke and turned into Two Face. Yes, Batman ‘won the battle’ but he lost the thematic war because a good man still broke and turned evil. That is what I mean by a theme that asks compelling questions/statements.
Right now, Christian films and even the video game industry are being produced as high quality documentaries. I mean if you look at most of Angel Studios’ biggest film productions, they are historical retellings of events. The movie is there to inform you about the argument or statement that they want you to be convinced of, which is why their films still feel like video sermons rather than entertaining movies.
Ironically, there is one Angel Studios production that gets overlooked but it’s arguably their most successful product yet: DryBar Comedy. DryBar Comedy is one of the biggest comedy platforms on social media and its motto is ‘Funny for Everyone. Standup comedy for everyone in the family.’ It has many great comedians on their platform and it is specifically designed to be stand up acts that are free of cursing and sexually inappropriate jokes. This platform exploded to almost 3 million subscribers! Why does this platform work? Simply because it’s actually funny! Let me say that again: it’s actually funny! DryBar Comedy is not there to give you a documentary on a historic figure or a sermon about repentance, it’s there to give you honest and clean laughter that a Christian family can enjoy together. They do talk about Christ and church but they do it in a very subtle and beautiful way that you can be encouraged and squirt milk out your nose at the same time.
DryBar Comedy doesn’t miss the forest for the trees. Yes, they are Christian-based but they understand that people come to a comedy show solely for one reason: to laugh. I’ve never heard of anyone going to a comedy show to hear about the doctrine of justification or the inerrancy of the Bible. They go there to laugh and have a good time. That’s why Lewis and Tolkien’s books are so revered because, yes they are very Christian-based, but the stories, themes, characters, settings, and conflict is so good that you’re encapsulated by the entertaining product while also being influenced by the Christian messaging. In order for Christian entertainment to reach that next step, we have to follow the footsteps of Tolkien, Lewis, and DryBar Comedy and make entertaining productions. If we entertain people with a compelling story, people are willing to listen to our Gospel message. (Again, I’m not saying we take this approach as a church. The church is not here to entertain but to preach and live out the Gospel as a body of believers. I’m saying that we should take this approach in the artistic/creative spheres as Christians.)
However, there is also another missing ingredient that is hindering the Christian entertainment from taking the next level. It’s something that we used to tap into but we’ve unfortunately fallen off this wagon hard. That secret dual ingredient is fiction, specifically sci-fi/fantasy. As stated earlier, Christian films are almost unanimously either historical retellings(House of David, Sound of Freedom, Sound of Hope) or parable-video sermons(The Forge, God’s Not Dead, War Room). It is rare that a Christian production is purely fiction and it’s even rarer to be in the sci-fi/fantasy genre. Even in the two video game examples I stated earlier (Gate Zero and One of 500), both are literally about the main character going back in time to the Bible days and revisiting events. They’re documentary games. This is frustrating because it’s not difficult to write sci-fi/fantasy stories that are biblically grounded but also entertaining. Sorry to reference them again, but Tolkien and Lewis are prominent examples of this.
Furthermore, it allows Christians to let off the manmade chains that we’ve placed on creativity. God is the ultimate Creator and He made us in His image which allows us to be creative. Even Jesus used fictional parables(stories) to tell timeless truths. Also, the sci-fi/fantasy world is practically endless with potential ideas! Take the sci-fi genre with franchises like the old school Star Wars and Star Trek (we do not claim the modern abominations lol). Even though they have all types of creatures, aliens, and planets that they interact with, there are timeless truths of good and evil, unity in diversity, self-control, discipline, love, and sacrifice. Or take the fantasy genre with comic books like Marvel/DC or franchises like Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings. They teach the same timeless truths that the Bible teaches.
This leads to my final point: the pitfall of Christian entertainment is that we focus so much on what we say rather than how we say it. The Bible does this with the books of first and second Kings and Chronicles. Both are telling the same events with the same characters but how they say it is different. Look at the four Gospels which all talk about Christ but with a unique perspective on His life, death, resurrection, and ascension. The 'what' didn’t change but the 'how' did. Now, I’m not saying that what we say or the message we’re giving out isn’t important, because it is, but there’s a difference in how we share the Gospel on Sunday than we do on Monday. On Sunday, we have a sermon preached from the pulpit as a direct exhortation of the Gospel message. On Monday, we’re incarnational as we live out the Gospel at our work, home, or play. The message didn’t change, only its expression. This is how we should view the fiction and high fiction genres as not changing the timeless truths but only changing the expression of how it’s presented. We don’t have to be on the nose with our presentation but seek to create a great story that has the Gospel message intertwined within its creation. It is through this that Christians can take Christian entertainment into new heights!
(No I don’t think I’ll ever let that go. Sorry David lol) Though the Christian entertainment industry had a rough past, it has made an incredible turn around in the past few years, especially in the film industry. One of the leading innovators of the Christian film industry is Angel Studios. They’ve come out with great movies such as Sound of Freedom, Sound of Hope, Cabrini, Bonhoeffer, and The Shift. Angel Studios have also been successful in the TV show industry with programs such as The Chosen, DryBar Comedy, and the Wingfeather Saga. Also, I have to give a shout out to the Kendrick Brothers as well. Though their films are still a little bit cheesy, they are still creating decent Christian films like The Forge, War Room, and Facing the Giants. Even Christian video games are trying to make a comeback with new releases such as Gate Zero and One of 500 coming out in the future.
I’m glad that these studios are making serious advances in the Christian entertainment sphere. However, this begs the question, what is the next step for Christian entertainment? Maybe you’re wondering a different question: how can Christian entertainment get better? Let’s be clear, there are great films and ideas being produced but most of the products still have that ‘Christian film’ feel. Why? It’s because, like what the Kendrick Brothers have said, most of the films are still video sermons even though some may be better than others. By video sermons, they mean that they are designed to be an acted out sermon like one that you hear on Sunday.
Let’s take the Sound of Freedom and Sound of Hope. Both are great movies and Sound of Freedom was a smash hit in the box office whereas Sound of Hope is a relative success. Let me be clear: they are good films. I have no qualms about the quality of the production especially with their minimal budgets. However, even in the trailers, you already knew exactly what the theme and the message of the stories were. Sound of Freedom is talking about the horrors of the child sex trafficking industry and Sound of Hope is talking about the foster care/adoption system. Both were not created to entertain but to inform just like a sermon. In fact, I really think of them as high quality documentaries rather than high quality movies.
You might be asking, ‘What’s the difference?’ Themes (some may call it a topic, message, or the idea of a story) that inform make a compelling statement. Themes that entertain ask compelling questions or ideas. Read those sentences again. We even see this difference in the Bible. For example, take Paul’s letters or even the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible). Both are very doctrinal and they don’t have many questions but they make informative, compelling statements.
Now consider books such as Job, Judges, Kings, and the Chronicles. Judges, Kings, and Chronicles deal with a lot of morally gray areas and we’re seeing how leaders, both good and bad, react to certain situations. In the book of Job, he asks big questions about suffering. Do we always get an answer or a reason for suffering? Is there a purpose for suffering? Are we willing to serve God in the midst of suffering? Are we the cause of our suffering? How is God still good if He allows suffering? These are powerful and compelling questions which is why Christians are constantly pulled to reading the real stories of the Old Testament.
In order for Christian entertainment to get to the next level, we have to move from statements to questions in our themes. Why are questions in entertainment better than answers? Because it forces the viewer/reader to think and it has the possibility of different or even conflicting answers. On the other hand, I don’t mean ‘question vs statement’ as a literal dichotomy because even a statement can be compelling like a question. What I’m saying is that it has to be thought provoking enough to make viewers interact with an idea.
This is what made The Dark Knight one of the greatest movies of all time because it fleshed out the idea of Joker’s theme: even the best of men can turn evil if you push them far enough. Batman’s theme was that ‘good people will always be willing to persevere.’ The catalyst for both of them was Harvey Dent. Harvey was poised to be the next Batman because he was a good man who was willing to do the right thing no matter the cost. However, when he was pushed to his limit by Joker, he broke and turned into Two Face. Yes, Batman ‘won the battle’ but he lost the thematic war because a good man still broke and turned evil. That is what I mean by a theme that asks compelling questions/statements.
Right now, Christian films and even the video game industry are being produced as high quality documentaries. I mean if you look at most of Angel Studios’ biggest film productions, they are historical retellings of events. The movie is there to inform you about the argument or statement that they want you to be convinced of, which is why their films still feel like video sermons rather than entertaining movies.
Ironically, there is one Angel Studios production that gets overlooked but it’s arguably their most successful product yet: DryBar Comedy. DryBar Comedy is one of the biggest comedy platforms on social media and its motto is ‘Funny for Everyone. Standup comedy for everyone in the family.’ It has many great comedians on their platform and it is specifically designed to be stand up acts that are free of cursing and sexually inappropriate jokes. This platform exploded to almost 3 million subscribers! Why does this platform work? Simply because it’s actually funny! Let me say that again: it’s actually funny! DryBar Comedy is not there to give you a documentary on a historic figure or a sermon about repentance, it’s there to give you honest and clean laughter that a Christian family can enjoy together. They do talk about Christ and church but they do it in a very subtle and beautiful way that you can be encouraged and squirt milk out your nose at the same time.
DryBar Comedy doesn’t miss the forest for the trees. Yes, they are Christian-based but they understand that people come to a comedy show solely for one reason: to laugh. I’ve never heard of anyone going to a comedy show to hear about the doctrine of justification or the inerrancy of the Bible. They go there to laugh and have a good time. That’s why Lewis and Tolkien’s books are so revered because, yes they are very Christian-based, but the stories, themes, characters, settings, and conflict is so good that you’re encapsulated by the entertaining product while also being influenced by the Christian messaging. In order for Christian entertainment to reach that next step, we have to follow the footsteps of Tolkien, Lewis, and DryBar Comedy and make entertaining productions. If we entertain people with a compelling story, people are willing to listen to our Gospel message. (Again, I’m not saying we take this approach as a church. The church is not here to entertain but to preach and live out the Gospel as a body of believers. I’m saying that we should take this approach in the artistic/creative spheres as Christians.)
However, there is also another missing ingredient that is hindering the Christian entertainment from taking the next level. It’s something that we used to tap into but we’ve unfortunately fallen off this wagon hard. That secret dual ingredient is fiction, specifically sci-fi/fantasy. As stated earlier, Christian films are almost unanimously either historical retellings(House of David, Sound of Freedom, Sound of Hope) or parable-video sermons(The Forge, God’s Not Dead, War Room). It is rare that a Christian production is purely fiction and it’s even rarer to be in the sci-fi/fantasy genre. Even in the two video game examples I stated earlier (Gate Zero and One of 500), both are literally about the main character going back in time to the Bible days and revisiting events. They’re documentary games. This is frustrating because it’s not difficult to write sci-fi/fantasy stories that are biblically grounded but also entertaining. Sorry to reference them again, but Tolkien and Lewis are prominent examples of this.
Furthermore, it allows Christians to let off the manmade chains that we’ve placed on creativity. God is the ultimate Creator and He made us in His image which allows us to be creative. Even Jesus used fictional parables(stories) to tell timeless truths. Also, the sci-fi/fantasy world is practically endless with potential ideas! Take the sci-fi genre with franchises like the old school Star Wars and Star Trek (we do not claim the modern abominations lol). Even though they have all types of creatures, aliens, and planets that they interact with, there are timeless truths of good and evil, unity in diversity, self-control, discipline, love, and sacrifice. Or take the fantasy genre with comic books like Marvel/DC or franchises like Chronicles of Narnia and Lord of the Rings. They teach the same timeless truths that the Bible teaches.
This leads to my final point: the pitfall of Christian entertainment is that we focus so much on what we say rather than how we say it. The Bible does this with the books of first and second Kings and Chronicles. Both are telling the same events with the same characters but how they say it is different. Look at the four Gospels which all talk about Christ but with a unique perspective on His life, death, resurrection, and ascension. The 'what' didn’t change but the 'how' did. Now, I’m not saying that what we say or the message we’re giving out isn’t important, because it is, but there’s a difference in how we share the Gospel on Sunday than we do on Monday. On Sunday, we have a sermon preached from the pulpit as a direct exhortation of the Gospel message. On Monday, we’re incarnational as we live out the Gospel at our work, home, or play. The message didn’t change, only its expression. This is how we should view the fiction and high fiction genres as not changing the timeless truths but only changing the expression of how it’s presented. We don’t have to be on the nose with our presentation but seek to create a great story that has the Gospel message intertwined within its creation. It is through this that Christians can take Christian entertainment into new heights!
Posted in Fun Friday
Posted in Christian Entertainment, Christian-based Entertainment, Fun, Film, Video Games, Theme, Creativity, Writing
Posted in Christian Entertainment, Christian-based Entertainment, Fun, Film, Video Games, Theme, Creativity, Writing
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