Defiance

I went to the movie Defiance today. It was directed by Edward Zwick and was released yesterday into theatures. It was about two brothers, Tuvia (Daniel Craig) and Zus (Liev Schreiber), who escaped from the Nazi-occupied Poland and help a community of Jews remain free human beings. They join a Russain Red Army resistance group and fight to remain alive while being hunted by the Germans.

Defiance expresses the importances of human freedom. These people who were fighting to remain alive would rather be free and hunted than enslaved and "safe" in ghettos. Their purpose was to remain human beings and not become animals even though they were being hunted like animals. Tuvia says, "If we die, at least we will die as human beings." All of these Jews believed in the creation as told in the Bible, and there were references made towards the Old Testemant stories of Moses and the Red Sea, David and Goliath, and God's covenants with his promised people. The teacher that was among them was the religious leader for them and he actually prayed saying that they were tired of being his people and going through this mess.

The community of Jews in the movie were crying out for the Kingdom. They were being oppressed by Germans with their anti-sematic tactics. The Jews wanted freedom and they were the poor and weak that the Kingdom of God says will be first. They definatly are fighting against empire and are living their lives wandering through the forest fighting for life in search for Kingdom. This artifact shows moments of pacifying to the empire as well. The Jews in the forest cannot remain peaceful and give in to the violence that is oppressing them and use it against themselves at times and as revenge. The empire has affected them as oppressed people and caused them to fall into a trap of anger and rage. The empire is powerful but the striving towards Kingdom and true freedom is stronger.

This movie makes you hope for the community to achive their goal of freedom and escape the oppression. It shows you how to value your life because you could be gone in one pull of a trigger. By putting yourself in the place of those who are oppressed, it gives you a better look at how to view the Kingdom and how much you should try to achieve it. You can see the fall in the movie by looking at the attitudes of the Germans. They love their families and do not know that they ard doing anything wrong. The soldiers are "doing their jobs" and are following orders. Sin is so twisted within us that we allow ourselves to become entangled in false ideas and it becomes a true part of what we believe and soon after we are killing Jews without thinking anything is wrong. Sin is deep in the system and isn't something that can be seen. The german soldiers weren't really "bad" people. They fell victim to the empire they were in just like we can do. We just see the devastating effects of their sins and not the sin itself.

The Jews believe that they can get through this. It didn't make any direct references to redemption or to Jesus for obvious reasons that they don't believe in Jesus as God. It does however show that there is hope for those who are being oppressed by the empire. There is something more than living in a world of sin and it is worth fighting for. They were striving for Kingdom and were willing to die for it, just as Jesus did for us.

This movie affirms many qualites of the Kingdom where everything is turned upside down. The weak and the oppressed are the ones that shall be first. They value nature and use their imaginations to make houses and shelters and even chess boards from wood and other materials. It no longer mattered who was cool and who wasn't becuase life was a bigger issue. The Jews didn't center their lives on Jesus which is a criticism of the Kingdom but they did show that the empire does effect everyone and the stiving for the Kingdom involves a sacrifice that puts yourself last and you look out for others. If the community were only looking out for their indivudal selves, they wouldn't have been able to survive.

Overall, I think Defiance was a great movie as entertainment and as a artifact to exemplify the Empire and Kingdom.

Anberlin

I attended both the Anberlin discussion and concert, held yesterday. I thoroughly enjoy the concept of having a time of discussion with the band to discuss their music as an art. Not being used as a time for autographs or pictures, we were able to come together as students and ask them about their music without the typical hype of the press. The first question was raised by Ken Heffener, an inquiry he always asks at these discussion sessions: what are you members of the band reading? Answers ranged from Christian Classics to Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts. From there, a number of questions were asked. They talked about how their music "control" hasn't changed since they switched to a major record label and what influences the songs they choose to play for a set at concerts. One question I thought particularly pertained to Pop Culture in the Empire was a question about why they made the decision to be a “secular” Christian band. First of all, Steven Christian answered that he didn’t like to use the word “secular” but instead refer to it as a “general market.” He clarified he did not want to be in the Christian music industry (which is the fastest growing music industry—17% a year) for the money but rather play for the general market just to get the word out there. In this way, Anberlin has had the opportunity to tread the same stage as hit bands such as Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance. By doing this, their lyrics which are filled with personal stories, emotion, and heartache can make in impact on a typically unreachable crowd.

Using their concert as a “Cultural Artifact” I felt that their music, though seemingly non-Christian, cries out for the Kingdom by proclaiming hope. Sinfulness and falleness are portrayed lyrically in brokenness, loss, and pain that accompanies out human lives. Further, amidst the troubles of this world, salvation exists. I’m not entirely familiar with all their work but from what I’ve heard, they don’t blatantly preach the gospel from their music. On this observation I raise a question: If the band is considered to be a witness amidst the empire, what part of their music “draws” the un-churched toward Christian circles if the gospel of grace/salvation is not more clearly presented?

All in all, I highly respect the talent present in Anberlin and look forward to what music will be released in the future.

24

Recently a favorite television show of mine, 24, began airing its new season. Each season of the show takes place over a twenty-four hour period and each hour-long episode takes place in real time, hence the name 24. The basic plot is based around the main character Jack Bauer a CTU (counter terrorist unit) agent who is forced to go to great lengths to prevent bombs, viruses, assassination attempts, and usually save someone he cares about at the same time in one extremely stressful day.

This show has become extremely popular over the years (It is in its seventh season) for a number of reasons. For one as a viewer puts it “This is the most creative, intelligent, well-written, unpredictable, and suspenseful program that I have ever seen”. Which after watching the show I would have a difficult time disagreeing with. It ends every episode with unbearable cliffhangers, which force you to watch the next episode and is filled with plot twist after plot twist.

On a deeper level than just being entertaining, however, I believe that 24 appeals to the American viewer’s sense of national pride. In many Hollywood and the television and movie corporations have used horrific events of September 11th to their advantage in creating countless movies and shows that are based on the United States in some form or another overcoming various terrorist situations. At its roots 24 is yet another example of this type of propaganda to the American people that in many ways are even used to encourage and comfort them, as I have never seen a movie or show in which the United States fails to put the evil that is terrorism in its place. 24 was created in November of 2001, just two months after these terrible attacks, which is testimony to the truly amazing abilities of the television corporations to see an opportunity seize it.

This characteristic of the empire is not necessarily bad; I for one have enjoyed and endorsed most all of these Hollywood creations. We, as creatures of the empire, long for entertainment and the impressive abilities of our film industry simply supply us with what we crave. We must, however, if we are to break free from the empire and live for God's Kingdom we must be active in the empire and stand by making choices and doing things we would normally be unwilling to do. We must be aware of the the evil that surrounds us in our society and use our discernment to make decisions to support what glorifies God's Kingdom and not the empire.

Mall Pilgrimage

After reading a chapter from Jon Pahl's Shopping Malls & Other Sacred Spaces and viewing The Persuaders, Rob and I encouraged all of our students to "make a pilgrimage" to a local mall and see what they noticed.  So, folks...what did you see?