Yesterday was my future in-laws anniversary. In the spirit of celebration, we spent the day together shopping down at the Plaza, eating at the Cheesecake Factory and traipsing around in the surprisingly not-so-spacious four story Barnes and Noble. After all of that, and a brief stop by Quik Trip for Dwight's second favorite coffee, we decided to go and see a movie. Since we hadn't checked the time, our decision was based on what was playing next. Our options were Steven King's The Mist, or Jerry Seinfeld's Bee Movie. Now, normally a decision between Steven King and Jerry Seinfeld is a no-brainer, but The Mist started sooner and my future mother-in-law is a sucker for a crappy horror movie. And so it was.
This is by no means an attempt to review this movie, as it was everything I am sure you might think. Instead, I just wanted to point out a few little somethings I found interesting.
The premise of this movie, in a nutshell, is that the scientists at a particular army base opened a portal to an alternate dimension releasing an evil horde of giant, ugly bugs to wreak havoc in the midst of the accompanying mist. A small group of individuals from a rural community get trapped together in a grocery store and struggle to survive this invasion.
Inside this grocery store are about 30 boring people and 10 actual characters. There is a small group of individuals who appear sane and rational (though this myth is busted before its all said and done). And there are also the eccentric ones. Of course, as in all Steven King works, there is one crazy Christian with no basis in reality.
Through this particular character, it seems that King has a harsh view of faith to present. This supposedly Christian prophetess convinces the masses that these creatures are the judgment of God, and that he will only be satisfied with expiation. Because of this, the people begin to offer certain individuals as sacrifices to the beasts. The woman is so evil that I actually clapped when Ollie the cashier shot her (not a fact I'm particularly proud of). Her attitude and actions are a harsh critique of Christianity as a sensible system of beliefs.
But even more broadly, King seems to have something to say about religion as an expression of humanity. While discussing what to do about their psychotic spiritual leader, Ollie points out that whenever two or more people are put in one place they immediately choose sides and try to kill each other. This is why, Ollie observes, "we invented religion and politics."
Now, I'm not necessarily concerned with Steven King's theology or personal philosophy. Nor do I believe that his not-so-subtle commentaries are endangering the Christian community at large. I just find it odd that such explicit rejections of faith were entirely ignored while Pullman's Compass was the talk of the town. I suppose the reason for such distinction is the demographic at which these movies are aimed. And knowing this is precisely what concerned me.
It seems to me that some amongst us hold two basic beliefs. The first is that children are too impressionable to be exposed to faith systems varying from our own. There are some in the Christian community who cling to indoctrinating the children as long as what is being forced upon them is "Christian."
The second presupposition is that the "grown-ups" are impervious to all sorts of propaganda. Those over the age of 21 cannot be swayed by a clever presentation of some "truth" that is anti-religious, apparently.
What this says to me is that we either under-estimate a child's ability to think, or we greatly over-estimate an adult's. We fear that the children will believe almost anything that they ever hear, particularly if it's not the gospel. But we, as adults, have become either so arrogant or so stubborn that we have nothing to fear from the media's pathetic attempts to change us.
But I'll tell you what I do know, whether its Steven King or Philip Pullman, the anti-religious in the literary world, for all their agendas and maybe because of them, just cannot seem to make a decent transition to the silver screen.
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I think we both underestimate a child's ability to think and overestimate an adult's. Think about it, thirty seconds during the Super Bowl of frogs burping at each other and everybody wants a Budweiser. Sounds like our core convictions are about at stable as rubber stilts. Kids are notorious for siding with the truth. Otherwise, Christ would have told us to have faith like a grandfather, not a child. And I wholeheartedly agree with your comment on how we're fine with the indoctrination of children as long as we're okay with the doctrine. People should think more. No one ever got anywhere by being told what was right at wrong. The choice to do right over wrong, however, moves the wheels of change.
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