“Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables, and He would not speak anything to them without a parable, so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled: ‘I will open My mouth in parables; I will declare things kept secret from the foundation of the world'” (Mt 13:34-35).
A Storied Meeting
One day more than 70 years ago, two literary giants in England stood talking about language, stories and religion. In the middle of the conversation, the taller gentleman blurted to his slightly balding companion, “Here's my point: Just as a word is an invention about an object or an idea, so a story can be an invention about Truth.”
“I've loved stories since I was a boy,” the other man admitted. “Especially stories about heroism and sacrifice, death and resurrection.… But, when it comes to Christianity… well, that's another matter. I simply don't understand how the life and death of Someone Else (whoever he was) 2000 years ago can help me here and now.”
The first man earnestly replied, “But don't you see, Jack? The Christian story is the greatest story of them all. Because it's the Real Story. The historical event that fulfills the tales and shows us what they mean.” About a week later, Jack — also known as C.S. Lewis, the author of the classic books Mere Christianity and the Chronicles of Narnia (among many other works) — announced his conversion to Christianity to a friend. Lewis attributed much of his decision to his conversation with J.R.R. Tolkien.
Of course, Tolkien is the author of one of the greatest books of the 20th century, The Lord of the Rings, which has been transformed into a magnificent movie trilogy by director Peter Jackson. Although Tolkien, a Roman Catholic, didn't always see eye-to-eye with Lewis, who was more inclined toward Protestantism, they both understood the truth of the Ultimate Story.
Storytelling and Mythmaking
As Tolkien and Lewis said so long ago, stories matter deeply. They connect us to our personal history and to the history of all time and culture. Human beings are meaning-seekers and meaning-makers. We strive to connect ourselves to our experiences and the experiences of others. We are addicted to those “Aha!” moments in our lives when we see meaning, purpose, and significance.
Stories help us do this. They bring us laughter, tears and joy. They stimulate our minds and stir our imaginations. Stories help us escape our daily lives for a while and visit different times, places and people. They can arouse our compassion and empathy, spur us toward truth and love, or sometimes even incite us toward hatred or violence.
Different kinds of stories satisfy different needs. For example, a comedy evokes a different response from us than a tragedy. A hard news story on page one affects us differently than a human interest story in the magazine section or a celebrity profile next to the movie or television listings. While different kinds of stories satisfy different needs, many stories share common themes, settings, character types, situations, and other recurrent archetypal patterns. They may even possess a timeless universal quality.
Many stories focus on one individual, a heroic figure who overcomes many trials and tribulations to defeat evil or to attain a valuable goal. We identify with such heroes because we recognize that we are each on our own journey or quest. How a hero's journey informs and illuminates our own journey is significant. We look for answers in stories.
However, every story has a worldview, a way of viewing reality, truth, the universe, the human condition, and the supernatural world. Looking carefully at a story, we can examine the motifs, meanings, values, and principles that it suggests. For example, a story can have a redemptive Christian worldview that shows people their need for salvation through a personal faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ; or it can have a secular humanist worldview that explicitly or implicitly attacks Christianity. By examining a story's worldview, we can determine the cultural ideals and the moral, philosophical, social, psychological, spiritual, and aesthetic messages that the story conveys, as well as determine the emotions the story evokes.
Movies and television programs are the storytelling media of our age!
Whether or not you want to be in pictures, or just watch them, or even just complain about them, it seems that almost everyone is interested in the mass media of entertainment. Two new books, So You Want to be in Pictures Volumes I and II, will tell you what you need to know about telling stories through the mass media of entertainment, how to use your faith to change the culture of Hollywood and the mass media of entertainment and how to make a creative contribution to the whole world. These books will show you how to develop your screenwriting, acting, directing, producing, and behind-the-scenes interests, as well as hone your critical skills to make Hollywood and the world better places for our children and grandchildren.
In most of the chapters in both books there are articles by some of the best and the brightest in the entertainment industry who share their secrets of how to make a great blockbuster movie or hit television program. The contributors' list is extremely impressive, covering stellar people who are highly successful: series creators, writers, directors, producers, animators, studio executives, actors, and the owner of a television network. Each contributor addresses an important part of the entertainment industry from development to agency, to writing, to finance, to production, to distribution. Each contributor shares his or her keys and secrets to success. When appropriate the contributor shares his or her faith and spiritual insights from a Christian perspective. Moreover, every chapter also includes valuable information about the key principles of communicating through movies and television programs from a Christian perspective.
[Editor's Note: We at Catholic Exchange are pleased and honored to be allowed to excerpt and share with our viewers parts of these forthcoming books in the coming weeks. Our hope and prayer is that this significant effort encourages Christians to work for the redemption of our culture within the film industry.]
Dr. Ted Baehr, founder and Publisher of MOVIEGUIDE® and Chairman of The Christian Film & Television Commission, is a well-known movie critic, educator, lecturer, and media pundit. He has written numerous books, including The Media-Wise Family (Chariot Victor) and Getting the Word Out (Harper &Row). He has financed five feature films, produced many television and radio programs, designed several games, and is working on producing several new movies.
