Tim Abbott

Death Star over San Fransisco

I'm away, back home, and away again quite a bit this summer, so blogging is taking a bit of a break.
But I love this!

Jesus Film in anime

The Jesus Film has been dubbed into over 1000 languages and is probably the most watched film in history. But it's starting to look a bit dated. So the people behind it have started a project to create an anime version, reusing the many existing soundtracks in all the languages it's been translated into.

The Visual Translation Project is the homepage to the whole project.

They've uploaded some concept videos to YouTube. These are just visuals, not finished animation, but are designed to give a feel for the idea. The film is likely to take about 2 years to complete and in the meantime The Visual Translation Project is actively seeking feedback here. There's also a survey which includes five different sample styles to choose from.

This looks like a great way to update what is honestly a rather dated production - we've avoided using it in schools out of embarrassment. So we'll be watching developments here with interest.

Philip Pullman interview

Peter Chattaway has an extended e-mail interview with Philip Pullman.

Pullman is always quite clear about his atheism. But Christians who seek either to paint him as some kind of Satanist (which I've seen suggested) or to re-interpret his writings from some kind of mystic Christian perspective are not helping the level of debate.

The Golden Compass

Jeffrey Overstreet posts a helpful overview “The Golden Compass” - Questions I’ve been asked, answers I’ve given covering the main issues surrounding the impending release of the film this Christmas. Among other things he asks...

Should Christians be afraid of The Golden Compass?
Should anybody?
Do Pullman’s stories pose a threat to children?
What does Pullman say about his own beliefs?
Christians always point back to Lewis and Tolkien as exemplary storytellers. Why hasn’t anyone come along to step into their shoes?
Okay, so we shouldn’t start boycotts and complain. But what should Christians do?

Will Christians be able to engage constructively with the real issues raised by Pullman's epic, or will it all turn into another shouting match, a bit like what happened over 'Harry Potter'. I'm not optimistic.

For further thoughtful discussion, Tom Gilson has a series of posts over at Thinking Christian.

And for an insight into Philip Pullman, the person, try this interview in Third Way magazine from Feb 2002.

Me in The Simpsons?

Today's coffee break entertainment - create your own Simpsons character.
This is something of an approximation to me - it's the best I could do anyway. Back to work now...

Film - bring your own meaning...?

"God is so all over this film!"

I received this text message from my son as he and his friends left the cinema having watched Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Of course, him being a convinced Christian I would have been surprised if he hadn't seen the film this way. Most people, whether Christian or not, are at least vaguely aware that CS Lewis was a Christian and that Narnia has some allegorical connection with the story of Jesus. But I doubt that many left the cinema that same evening having seen God so clearly in the story. Which is a shame. Especially because sometimes we hope that talking with people about a film will open up a conversation about God.

People connect with films because they connect with the issues, ideas, characters or ideals expressed. But my suggestion is that, no matter how much we hope they'll see God, or an aspect of the gospel in a film, in general people miss any Christian perspective we might perceive because they bring their own meaning and worldview to the film and interpret it purely from that perspective.

Research into the impact that films (and a range of other media) have on the spirituality of young people found that films and TV soaps form a rich symbolic resource for young people to interpret, understand and create meaning from their actual and idealised lives. But this was limited to what is termed formative spirituality, the broad spirituality inherent in the human condition. Much as we might long that (young) people watching a film might experience a spirituality or spiritual moment that is transformative, leading them into an awareness or understanding of God ("God is so all over this film"), the reality is entirely different.

We did not find, however, that this engagement [with soap operas and films] led the young people to pursue further questions of a spiritual nature, to ask whether the ideal they periodically glimpsed or imagined through these popular arts could be indicative of a reality beyond their world, rather than being firmly limited to the worlds created by imaginative writers and technologically sophisticated special effects. In other words, we did not find our young people engaged in transformative spirituality through soap operas and films. The world view of Generation Y in this respect remains largely secular.
[Making sense of Generation Y - Savage, Collins-Mayo, Mayo, Cray]

Our experience is that young people are very happy to talk about films, the characters, issues and ideals. We love films and these kinds of discussion are a brilliant way of connecting quickly with young people. But any attempt, no matter how gently, to move the discussion into the area of transformative spirituality, the possibility of God or to draw parallels with elements of the gospel narrative, produces what may best be described as mild bewilderment. It's as if they can't quite understand what any of this has to do with the film, and especially with their understanding of the film. They bring their own meaning.

By way of encouragement, we've found that when we tell our own story of God at work in our lives, or share some part of the gospel narrative, young people are more than happy to discuss it. And, surprise surprise, many apply aspects of these stories to their own lives, often telling us that they are in some way seeking God or Christianity because they like it (their words!) The clue seems to be that people interpret any story from the perspective of their own lives, whether a film, a testimony or some part of the gospel. It's just that the gospel, sensitively told within a trusted relationship, tells them more about the transformative spirituality of a relationship with God than any conversation about a film.

You may have come to the same conclusion or your experiences may be totally different - I'd love to hear your stories.

Synchroblog - film

It's synchroblog time again, this time looking at the subject, "Film".

Here is the cast list, in no apparent order...

Steve Hayes ponders The Image of Christianity in Films
Adam Gonnerman pokes at The Spider's Pardon
David Fisher thinks that Jesus Loves Sci-Fi
John Morehead considers Christians and Horror Redux: From Knee-Jerk Revulsion to Critical Engagement
Marieke Schwartz lights it up with Counter-hegemony: Jesus loves Borat
Mike Bursell muses about Christianity at the Movies
Jenelle D'Alessandro tells us Why Bjork Will Never Act Again
Cobus van Wyngaard contemplates Theology and Film (as art)
Tim Abbott tells us to Bring your own meaning...?
Sonja Andrews visits The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: Christ in Spaghetti Westerns
Steve Hollinghurst takes a stab at The Gospel According to Buffy
Les Chatwin insists We Don't Need Another Hero
Lance Cummings says The Wooden Wheel Keeps Turning
John Smulo weaves a tale about Spiderman 3 and the Shadow
Phil Wyman throws out the Frisbee: Time to Toss it Back
Sally Coleman is Making Connections- films as a part of a mythological tradition
Josh Rivera spells well with Christian Witchcraft
Dr. Kim Paffenroth investigates Nihilism Lite

The Lost Tomb of Jesus

If you haven't already heard, James Cameron today held a press launch for his new documentary, The Lost Tomb of Jesus, to be aired on the Discovery Channel. The film is based on the discovery, in a suburb of Jerusalem, of a tomb containing the graves of Jesua, son of Joseph, Mary, Mary, Mathew, Jofa and Judah, son of Jesua. He's apparently confirmed from DNA evidence that Jesus and Mary were married and the some of those buried were their children.
If you're interested, the film web site is at jesusfamilytomb.com [I'm denying it the benefit of a hyperlink] There's quite a lot of purportedly historical, cultural and theological detail and it's got an interesting page called 'provisos' which notes that Jesus might still be resurrected, but from this tomb, not the one in Jerusalem.
There's a BBC item on it here which very humbly fails to mention that the BBC produced a programme about this grave in 1996.

As usual with these sorts of things, the 'experts' who worked with Cameron turn out to be, how shall we say, less than renowned for their world-wide reputation in such matters. "Archeologist" Simcha Jacobovici turns out to be a film maker and writer with an interest in religious history and Charles Pelligrino has a Ph.D. in paleobiology but is best known for being a writer for Star Trek: Next Generation, author of several science fiction novels and has produced a number of books about the lost city of Atlantis. To make comparisons with Dan Brown's 'The DaVinci Code' is too easy, people!
Among the various responses, is this from the London Evening Standard and there's a good write up here with helpful cross-referencing.

Expect much interviewing of raving atheist pseudo-historians and raving fundamentalist Christians. Also a certain amount of anxiety and confusion by some Christians and a mild case of bemused disinterest by most of the general public.
After an initial flurry of interest I suspect everyone will be bored of this by about a month after broadcast.

UPDATES:
Tuesday 27th Feb
There's an excellent analysis by Ben Witherington here, particularly from the perspective of Biblical and Church history.

Thursday 1st Mar
Reaction from the Washington Post. Top quote is surely this:

"I'm not a Christian. I'm not a believer. I don't have a dog in this fight," said William G. Dever, who has been excavating ancient sites in Israel for 50 years and is widely considered the dean of biblical archaeology among U.S. scholars. "I just think it's a shame the way this story is being hyped and manipulated."

United 93

I wasn't quite sure why I wanted to see this film, but I somehow felt that it was important. I was not wrong.
From the first moment I felt that awful, pulse raising tension that comes from knowing the end from the beginning and knowing that these people will die. There is no happy ending. We share a little time with a group of people, though we never really meet them. We don't know their back story, we don't even know most of their names, but isn't that what it's like whenever you fly? They are just people on a plane, and Paul Greengrass drops us into their world like one extra passenger.
Enough fine words have been written by wise reviewers so I don't need to add to them. Here are my personal impressions.
... How very quickly it all happened (the film plays out events at real time). How difficult it was to know exactly what was really going on as events unfolded and how little anyone could have done once the planes were in the air.
... Immense respect for those in air traffic control and the military who were prepared to relive that terrible day by playing themselves in the film.
... That nagging and virtually unanswerable question - 'What would I have done?' and particularly, 'Would I have been prepared to kill one of the hijackers?'
... Where was God? I believe he was there, but wholly there, working with, in and through people made in his image to avert a greater evil, not there like the Superman god of our imagining, swooping down and carrying the plane to safety. More than that, I don't think we can know - eternity will tell.
The silence at the end of the film seems to go on forever. Suddenly we're back in the cinema with dozens of other people, no longer an audience but witnesses. This is, in the broad sense of the word, a profoundly spiritual moment. It's the first time I've experienced people leaving a cinema hushed and with heads a little bowed as they would leave a funeral or a memorial service - perhaps, in a way, we were.

Da Vinci Code, United 93, and seeking truth

Yes, yes, I know - everyone's talking (talked) about DVC and it's already old news! I'd almost resolved not to mention it here but I'm reading it as I'm part of a Christian Impact Study Group and I thought I'd share my pain. Actually it's very readable and I can understand why it's so popular - an energetic fast paced story that's definitely fun fiction - it's just that as truth it's complete tosh. But it got me thinking...

Dan Brown makes great claims regarding the factual basis for his story on the page before the prologue. Some of the information in DVC is indeed true, some facts and descriptions, though less of it than Dan Brown would wish us to believe. I suppose all conspiracy theories derive their power from some roots in the world of reality. In a sense, Brown is using a few facts to give validity to a work of fiction - which is what fiction writers often do. But it's his implication that this work reveals some hidden truth that grates with many people.

By contrast I've also been thinking about 'United 93' - the film about the fourth plane in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. As a form of 'docudrama' this film will, in effect, become the received historical account of what actually happened - truth embodied in film. The Director, Paul Greengrass, has gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure that he's researched all that can be known about events during those terrible 90 minutes or so. We know a lot about what happened outside the plane, but we know virtually nothing about what really happened inside the plane. However, what we end up with is a story that is essentially true, even though we're missing important details.

DVC uses (or abuses) facts, implies truth and is actually pure fiction.
United 93 lacks many facts, tries hard to avoid 'over fictionalising' and yet somehow I feel it's probably not far from the truth.
Perhaps, in our occasional tendency to rush for a proof text, the truth is bigger than a few facts.