Customer Reviews

Hollywood Worldviews: Watching Films with Wisdom and Discernment

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Brian Godawa tackles the issue of how to watch movies and be a discerning Christian at the same time. He believes extremes are wrong, whether it's the belief of being able to watch any and every movie that comes out (and not have it affect you) or being a Christian prude and declare that all movies are evil. He does an admirable job disecting movies--many of which were released in the past decade--and explaining the message that the producers are trying to convey. I esepcially appreciated the different charts that he laid out, including p. 37 and a comparison of The Matrix, Christianity, and Greek religion. Very helpful.

I found myself agreeing with Godawa in many places, including his analysis of various films. At other places, I found myself disagreeing out loud. Besides disagreeing with his analysis of certain films, let me give one example where I did not click with Godawa. In the appendix, much space was used to show how the Bible has sex, violence, and profanity, thus almost making it seem that watching practically any movie would be A-OK. He tempers this, especially in the last few pages, but I still think it's apples and oranges if we were to say that we can watch whatever we want because such issues are dealt with in the Bible. In a way Godawa acknowledges this and says that "a sense of balance is what a Christian needs...Christians tend to be either cultural gluttons or cultural anorexics. It seems we either avoid all movies or watch too many of them." I agree with him that, if we pick our movies wisely, there is much to gain. I found it interesting, though, that many of the movies talked about in the book are probably those movies I myself would avoid, either because they were lame (as many movie critics would attest) or are so morally objectionable that I would have to ask, Can you really get anything good out of a dumpster full of garbage?

Two other criticisms are the inclusion of "director's cut" notes throughout the book, which in reality was multiple promotions of his web site. Several times I wished that Godawa would have further expanded on a particular topic in his book rather than ask us to go to his site. Isn't this why we buy a particular book? Couldn't he have expanded it to include the issues his sites had, including unpublished chapters? I appreciate the fact that he had other information available, but I didn't look up one reference. Finally, how could a book like this not include an index, especially one that would have incorporated the different movies talked about in the book. Since he talked about a movie more than once, I found myself thumbing backward to see what else he had said about that particular film. Not being able to look in an index was extremely frustrating. It might have also been a benefit for the reader if Godawa provided his personal ratings of the books he reviewed, perhaps giving us an idea of movies that he feels we should or should not see. These ideas would have given Hollywood Worldviews a more complete feel.

My criticisms aside, I still feel that this is worthy of a look by the discerning Christian moviegoer.

Brian Godawa suggests that movies are to contemporary culture what the Areopagus was to Ancient Greece -- a significant arena of ideas and communication. Indeed, through well-crafted storytelling, movie makers communicate powerfully to influence the way we think and behave. We must, then, think rationally and reflectively about the films we watch, especially since each of us should understand and impact culture for the good rather than thoughtlessly imbibe whatever culture brings to us. But learning such a discipline requires training and effort. Godawa's unique book offers just the insightful teaching we need to practice meaningful, effective reflection on what for many of us has been simply passive entertainment.

He exhorts and equips us to move beyond our justified worries over Hollywood's exploitation of sex and violence to recognize and properly evaluate the more powerful and frequently destructive influences of worldview in film. For instance, an erroneous and devastating assumption of the movie AI: Artificial Intelligence -- that consciousness, and ultimately humanity, "naturally emerges out of the inherent properties of matter" -- may well seem not only more plausible but desirable to many viewers through experiencing this film.

Under Godawa's clear teaching, we enjoy far richer movie watching experiences in learning to engage a film with valid questions and to apply sound principles of discernment and evaluation. (For example, in The Matrix people are deceived about reality -- how could they have known otherwise? Are they knowingly deceived? What tests for truth might we employ to discern whether our own understanding of reality is worth maintaining?) Best of all, throughout his intelligent discussion he shows us how to employ those principles through myriad incisive and often provocative film analyses (some of which have ignited much thoughtful debate in our family over story, art, and interpretation).

Hollywood Worldviews is a book that is as needed as it is almost singularly notable: a Biblically informed analysis of contemporary film that chooses to light a candle rather than curse the darkness. The author, Brian Godawa, is actively involved in the business of motion pictures as a screenwriter (a check of IMDB shows that he has a film, To End All Wars, due out soon). Godawa has clearly been influenced by one of the most influential Christian philosophers of the 20th Century - Francis Schaeffer - to whom in part he dedicates the book. He knows well Schaeffer's "Line of Despair" and does a brilliant job of demarcating it to a new generation to which film is the single most important cultural determiner.

Godawa begins by stressing the overarching importance of stories and mythology to film. Here he does an admirable job of explaining how influential mythologist Joseph Campbell's idea of the "Monomyth" has strongly informed modern filmmakers. He goes on to show where Campbell went astray in not seeing that the Monomyth is actually the suppressed image of the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. In this, Godawa reflects the thinking of the Apostle Paul who saw in the Pagan idols of his age the unrealized yearnings for true redemption. And this yearning for redemption brings forth what I think is one of the most powerful chapters in Hollywood Worldviews, in which Godawa makes the case that all motion pictures are mostly, if not always, about redemption of one type or another. I must admit that I was floored by this idea, as it seems so elemental once you have read Godawa's thesis. The ultimate Desire of life expresses itself in our stories.

Godawa then outlines nine structural elements of film storytelling. He shows how an understanding of these elements can be used as a scheme of film analysis that helps the viewer understand any particular motion picture in a deeper way. He applies these same structural elements to the Christian testimony in a delightful way that you must read.

Godawa spends the remainder of the book outlining how modern film reflects various worldviews (a worldview being something like the "story" we tell concerning where we come from, where we are headed, and how we ought to act in that journey - here I am borrowing some of Godawa's vocabulary). Here perhaps is where Godawa most earns his chops. He introduces the several worldviews and points out contemporary films that have reflected them. While his critiques are not coldly analytical (his point is not to be the Linnaeus of film), neither are they belligerent. At just the point where a Christian writer could turn against the medium, Godawa writes in a refreshingly conciliatory manner. As I read this section I thought that this most reminded me of the style and manner with which Schaeffer analyzed art and culture. Though not exactly the same, the tone is quite similar. I was very happy for it.

Hollywood Worldviews may well turn out to be a very durable book. The scheme of analysis and the essential message are timeless while the specific films may not be. Schaeffer's books on art and culture are still widely read and influential on Christian thought, even while some of the particular artistic movements he detailed have fallen out of favor. The grid of analysis that Schaeffer used, Biblically informed as it necessarily was, is what will forever stand. It is in this that Godawa's book may also stand for several generations, even after we no longer call it "film" - perhaps we'll call it "digi's" after digital formats take over, who knows.

I must also mention that the book contains very do-able chapter exercises called, Watch and Learn. These help to internalize the ideas in the book. They make the book even more reader-friendly for group use. On that thought, I would HIGHLY recommend this book to church youth groups. We cannot exaggerate the importance of film as an influence on culture - especially for younger viewers. This book can give young people the ability to think critically about what they are viewing. I wish I had had this book when I was a young man. I was a huge film fan who watched relatively uncritically all types of movies. I still retain my favorite film book from my youth, Hitchcock/Truffaut, because it so well spoke to "story" in film. Hollywood Worldviews ought to be a keeper for lots of younger film fans because it so well outlines the importance of "story" and how the Greatest Story influences and judges them all.

This well crafted book peers behind the special effects and compelling settings to disclose how movies can deeply effect a viewer's perceptions of reality, so often steering the beliefs and worldviews of the viewer. In a time of shallow movie reviews that do not want to tackle sacred cows, Brian Godawa, a Hollywood screenwriter himself, is unafraid to look deeper into what films are telling us. This books is a broadband education, a lesson on how to watch films with our eyes wide open. It is especially necessary in today's world and films progress with competing views of Reality.

This book provides an excellent introduction to film as myth and story, and to different worldviews that show up in film. Story structure is nicely summarized in one chapter - including its nine elements. All films, we're reminded, are about story, and all stories are about redemption. Knowing this, and seeing the nine ingredients, we become better film-viewers and film-analyzers. The chapter on the nine ingredients is worth the price of the book alone, summarizing story structure in one brief chapter. The author is himself an excellent screenwriter and so this chapter is very insightful.
After this brief introduction to story, the remainder of the book is spent analyzing different worldviews as they've shown themselves in movies. This is all explained from a Christian perspective, and includes an analysis of existentialism, postmodernism, fate, monism, evolution and neo-paganism, with examples given of each from several movies. This analysis is done so that the reader can detect the worldview being presented in the film.
The new emerging spirituality in movies is then discussed. Christianity is compared with paganism, and presentations are made of angels and demons, heaven and hell, karma, reincarnation and faith.
The book closes with summaries, conclusions, and general remarks about watching films as Christians, and then an insightful appendix is added on sex, violence, and profanity in the Bible (to deal with those subjects in film). Each chapter throughout the book has exercises that really help the reader learn the contents of that chapter as it relates to film. This is an excellent addition to books on the arts from a Christian perspective, and is one of the best ever offered on film in that regard.
- Jack Hafer, Film Producer

Publishers Weekly's review is pure Relativism. Apparently they don't believe in correctness or accuracy. They fault Godawa for believing that there is correct interpretation of art and an accurate view of Heaven. Strangely they don't believe there is such a thing as a correct interpretation of a screenplay and yet they assume their interpretation of Godawa's writing is correct. Their review is Relativism at it's most simplistic. Which leads to another of their contradictions - they site Godawa as being "simplistic" for ending his definition of Worldview with "it is our view of the world" yet, if you look at the full sentence on page 15, which they did not quote, you find it is not so simplistic after all: "a comprehensive web of beliefs through which we interpret our experiences - it is our view of the world." Godawa takes complex philosophical ideas and makes them simple, not simplistic. That is what great teachers do.
I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in cinema who also believes that there is true-Truth.

Brian Godawa loves movies and has the gift of helping others enjoy movies more than ever. With a screen-writer's sensibility, Brian approaches his subject with an eye for the story, the foundation of any great movie.And every story has an implicit or explicit worldview which the author helps the reader learn how to discover. Brian helps the reader articulate what the movie was about, not just what happened in it.
Parents of pre-teens and teenagers will find good material in the appendix: "sex, violence and profanity". The book is clearly written, knowledgable and brief. Sidebars on many of the pages creatively lead serious readers to additional sources of background and collateral information on the many subjects covered in the book.
The only thing bad about this volume is that it wouldn't make a very good movie itself...so you'll have to read the book.Godawa delivers what he promises: he shows you how to watch movies with your eyes wide open!

For those people who are interested in applying the Word and Will of God to all aspects of their lives, this book truly identifies ways in which we can accomplish such a task as it pertains to our "movie watching". The emphasis the author maintains on Christian WORLDVIEW provides a guiding theme throughout the book, and provides illuminating lessons to those of us not wanting to be fooled, deceived, influenced, or manipulated at the hands of those who despise our own worldview. The book provides broad and historical applications, and represents quite a fascinating take on how we can watch movies from a Christian perspective - something I am sure most readers didn't even know was possible. Beyond a thin, fundamentalist take on Hollywood that simply "warns" us of the "bad" things in Rated "R" movies, the author provides a much more helpful analysis of the "bad" elements in most movie-maker's worldview, and explains the way in which art can be used to make claims for or against an entire particular way of thinking. Bottom line: a GREAT read for culturally minded Christians!!

Most of us just watch movies to be entertained, not necessarily to "learn". Do we realize that when we watch a movie we are seeing the world through the eyes of the writer/director/producer? This book challenges us to open our eyes to the bigger picture and unveils the worldview being taught to us in several movies. I know that I now watch movies differently than before I read this book! Brian Godawa's clear, thought-provoking writing reveals the importance of looking beyond what we see on the screen to analyzing what worldview is being programmed into our subconscious minds. Being aware is the first step. You will want to rewatch the movies mentioned newly enlightened!

This book is a "must read" for a parent (and anyone else) who is concerned about the effects of sex and violence in movies. The author does not write from his own personal prejudices; he writes with an open mind and a balanced analysis of the opposite results that can be produced from portrayals of violence in different contexts.

The book outlines practical helps for establishing sensible boundaries that reflect your personal world view. The author gives a critical analysis of current films and proves conclusively that film portrayals of violence can be either destructive or redemptive. In other words, all violence in films is not necessarily harmful. The strength of the book is that it will never be outdated; the principles can be applied to every future film. I highly recommend this book for everyone who watches movies on film or TV.