Recently, I received a communication from a film student who was trying to persuade her Protestant Pastor to go see the movie Bruce Almighty. The pastor hesitated because he felt that the portrayal of sin on the screen, although “committed” by fictitious characters, was still, nonetheless, sin.
True and False Dichotomies
Editor's note: This article is a follow-up to The Good of Conflict and Immorality in Movies.
The pastor was also having a hard time justifying a Christian working in the film industry. He believed that creating a film with immoral characters was forcing actors to sin on screen. He said, “we must not create a false dichotomy between life and film.”
There are many things in life that we may identify as being separate from one another, when in fact they are not — like our physical versus spiritual lives, or the moral values held by politicians in their public versus private lives. Those are false dichotomies. But the difference between real life actors and the fictitious characters they portray are, in fact, true dichotomies.
First, sin occurs in the heart, not just in the body. When a movie character looks lustfully at another character, there is no lust in the character's heart, because there is no heart and no soul involved. They are not real persons. Second, if an actor (a real person) looks with lust on another actor (another real person) then sin does occur. Thus, between the real actor and the fictitious character there is a very real dichotomy.
The pastor also posited this argument: “You seem to propose that immorality and vulgarity are sinful in life but not in film. I find nothing in the scripture that supports this proposition. … We are not free to redefine sin.”
Unfortunately, without a Church with Apostolic authority, this pastor was unwittingly faced with having to redefine sin on his own. Scripture makes no statements about a lot of things. One is the portrayal of sin on stage. But Scripture and the Church do make statements about what sin is and is not.
What Sin Is and Is Not
Although the pastor and student were Protestant, I cited the Catechism of the Catholic Church for a good definition of mortal sin: “For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met: “Mortal sin is sin whose object is (1) grave matter and which is also committed with (2) full knowledge and (3) deliberate consent” (1857).
In a movie, the gravity just does not exist. What appears to be murder, is not. What appears to be stealing, is not. What appears to be adultery, is not. Etc. In terms of vulgarity or taking God's name in vain — as offensive as these things may be to the hearing audience — the same test applies. Sin does not occur in an audience's ears, or even in an actor's mouth, but rather in a person's heart — whether that be an actor or a spectator. There is no sin without the intent of the heart.
To put it another way, the body alone, without the soulful intent, does not sin. Thus, an actor who calls another actor a foul name does not defame, if the name calling occurs in the body alone and not with malicious intent. The same is true of using God's name in vain. Even a Method actor's vengeance is between characters — and not persons.
Our laws regarding murder are of the very same construction. Murder has three degrees. First Degree Murder means the killing occurred with full knowledge and deliberate intent, i.e. premeditation. Second Degree Murder means the killing occurred with full knowledge, but it was not deliberated or pre-mediated. And Third Degree Murder means the killing was an accident, and although the matter is grave, there was no knowledge or deliberation. Our society does not typically jail someone guilty of manslaughter (third degree) — but always does in cases involving all three criteria of a mortal sin.
Finally, this pastor quoted Ephesians 5:3-4, “But do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse joking, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.”
Unfortunately, movies do go a long ways toward prompting and modeling behavior. To that end, this verse has a lot to say to us about what movies we watch. It has even more to say to filmmakers about what they direct actors to portray on the screen. To me, as a filmmaker, it's important that such negative behavior always be portrayed with true negative consequences and that it is never glamorized. But that is another discussion of sin on the screen.
Ephesians 5 is not referring to the portrayal of sin in drama. Since the portrayal of sin is not sin, sin cannot be named among us. When Hugh Jackman's X-Men character kills another character, we do not say that Jackman is a killer.
Very Real Temptations
Now, this discussion was in the context of this Christian's preparation for a career in the motion picture industry. The pastor had two fears. The first one, sin on the screen, I've just dealt with. But the second one, sin in the filmmaker's life, is very real.
There are thousands of Christians who work in the motion picture industry who are daily confronted with the temptation to sin. If you glance at newsstand tabloids it may appear that those temptations involve sex, power and greed. More often, however, a Christian in Hollywood is tempted to stop trusting God. To a successful person the temptation is to trust in your talent, your friends and contacts, and even, improbably, your agent. But the greater temptation, for most Christians in Hollywood, is the temptation of self-pity, disillusionment, and depression.
So, as you think about movies, don't forget to pray for the Christians and others involved in Hollywood. The problem isn't so much the sin on the movie screen, but the sin and lack of faith in the hearts and minds of moviemakers.
© Copyright 2003 Stan Williams
Dr. Stan Williams is Executive Producer and Managing Director for SWC Films, an independent feature film development company seeking investment partners. His website is www.StanWilliams.com and he can be reached at Stan@StanWilliams.com.
