Monthly Archives: January 2008

“I’m not interested in this movie. It’s old.”

As a part time high school substitute, I’ve heard many students express this sentiment when I’ve played them a video left by their teacher. One popular variant goes, “But it’s in black and white!” For many of these kids, films are viewed more like newspapers than drama, music, or literature: the movie is only good when it is fresh off the presses.

The summer films of 2008 are shaping up to be some of the most exciting in years. While a handful look like they will be fodder for good theological/cultural discussion, most will be visually electrifying escapist fare. While there aren’t as many sequels as 2007, there are quite a few movies that look absolutely incredible. To start some early buzz for the summer, I thought I’d round up information on the big releases so you can be better informed about what’s coming down the pipe.

One problem with much of the Christian commentary on the arts is that it treats every medium essentially the same. Television, music, film, stage, the internet, literature, and illustrated novels are all treated vaguely as one giant neutral monolith by which culture influences weak Christians. The truth is that these mediums are drastically different in what their primary uses are, how they are received, the amount of influence they can have, and their conditioning effects on our culture.

Technology is moving us all faster and faster into a new world. We can now get our job done quicker, more efficiently, and with greater ease. But according to Mark Saltzman, it doesn’t have to work in only that direction.

The world of tomorrow often looks, in our minds, like a time that is far more exciting, pleasurable, and fulfilling. We look at our present struggles, our contemporary dilemmas, and we hope that tomorrow will be better.