Hollywood Worldviews Watching Films with Wisdom Discernment (Audible Audio Edition) Brian Godawa Embedded Pictures Publishing Books
Download As PDF : Hollywood Worldviews Watching Films with Wisdom Discernment (Audible Audio Edition) Brian Godawa Embedded Pictures Publishing Books
The Book that Started an Audience Revolution
Hollywood Worldviews was the first book to come out that taught Christians how worldviews are integrated into movies and television.
It has guided a generation of believers in how to appreciate movies and interpret them with wisdom and discernment.
It has helped Christians avoid the two extremes of rejecting movies with blanket condemnation or embracing movies in the name of "mere entertainment."
Now, in this updated expanded edition of the classic, award-winning Hollywood screenwriter Brian Godawa gives you the tools for being an active participant in culture without being seduced into compromise.
You'll learn
- The basics of worldviews and how they affect us.
- How worldviews are embodied in storytelling.
- How to deal with sex, violence, and profanity in movies.
- Tools for distinguishing the difference between exploitation of sins and moral exhortation.
- The basics of redemption in storytelling.
- The tricks screenwriters use to communicate their messages.
- Hundreds of examples of movies that illustrate the various worldviews.
- How Jesus, Christianity, and the Bible have been handled in movies over the years.
- "Watch and Learn" recommendations and guidance questions.
Hollywood Worldviews helps you enter a dialogue with Hollywood that leads to a happier ending, one that keeps you aware of your culture and awake to your faith.
Hollywood Worldviews Watching Films with Wisdom Discernment (Audible Audio Edition) Brian Godawa Embedded Pictures Publishing Books
The author Brian Godawa is a prolific Christian movie maker, reviewer, screen writer and author. If one would expect someone to have the situational background to write on a Christian worldview analysis of films, then Godawa would be it. Making this even better is the fact that Godawa has good theology driving his worldview. He's also influenced by Van Til's Presuppositional apologetics (another major plus!). I've been wanting to read this book for a long time and was glad that I was finally able to order it and sit down and read it. The book defends the idea that film in of itself is not sinful--and that is just the preface. Conscious of the fact that film consists of visual imagery, the dramatic and a story, the author demonstrates that Scripture uses or record people using imagery, the dramatic and stories properly. The rest of the book is divided into three parts, or more appropriately as Godawa calls it, "act." In Act 1, Godawa focuses on story telling, which consists of three chapters. The first chapter is about the issue of sex, violence and profanity. This chapter is one that a Christian might want to read carefully and perhaps revisit even after a first reading of the book. It is something to chew on even if not every Christian will find themselves in agreement with the author. Chapter three focuses on movies with redemption which obviously is a big theological Christian motif since God has established the greatest act of redemption. I've thoroughly enjoyed Act 2 of the book, which focuses on three worldviews that's the undercurrent of many contemporary movies: existentialism, postmodernism and other worldviews, including Eastern mysticism. Act 3 focuses on movies protrayal of the spiritual with a chapter each on Jesus, Christianity, faith and spiritual warfare. What I like alot about this book is that many movies are brought up as examples of the worldviews subtle message in films. There are many insights, analysis and observations from various movies throughout the book. You will find yourself seeing movies you seen before in new light and also be curious about the story lines of other movies you have not seen before (and of course, some movies which I will not see as a result of this book's analysis). All in all, these example should stir a Christian to be careful with discerning and watching movies with Godly wisdom--and while watching out for swearing, needless violence and sexual sins are important, we as believers must also watch out for the IDEAS that film impart to us. I highly recommend this book as a great introduction.Product details
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Hollywood Worldviews Watching Films with Wisdom Discernment (Audible Audio Edition) Brian Godawa Embedded Pictures Publishing Books Reviews
I am in the midst on reading several books on the topic of faith, theology and film and thus far, this is probably the most thorough books out there that I have read. I would say that if you are watching to exploring this subject and are looking for a place to start this is probably the best book to begin with. It does delve into a lot of philosophy which is necessary to understanding for this subject but I think it does so in a mostly understandable way. This is really a great book. I'm sure I will be referencing it a great deal in the future. Highly recommended!
Fantastic insight into the worldview messages of Hollywood films. Godawa very lucidly captures these messages and how they oppose the Christian message, but is also quick to point out where films exhibit traits that are conducive to it. He manages to do truth telling without being preachy. His sections on how Jesus has been presented in films over the years and how the Christian faith has been presented are excellent. The book is overall an eye opener and stimulate a desire to watch some films you haven't seen before so as to engage in this sort of worldview analysis. Very enjoyable read!
Brian Godawa tackles the issue of how to watch movies and be a discerning Christian at the same time. He believes extremes are wrong, whether it's the belief of being able to watch any and every movie that comes out (and not have it affect you) or being a Christian prude and declare that all movies are evil. He does an admirable job disecting movies--many of which were released in the past decade--and explaining the message that the producers are trying to convey. I esepcially appreciated the different charts that he laid out, including p. 37 and a comparison of The Matrix, Christianity, and Greek religion. Very helpful.
I found myself agreeing with Godawa in many places, including his analysis of various films. At other places, I found myself disagreeing out loud. Besides disagreeing with his analysis of certain films, let me give one example where I did not click with Godawa. In the appendix, much space was used to show how the Bible has sex, violence, and profanity, thus almost making it seem that watching practically any movie would be A-OK. He tempers this, especially in the last few pages, but I still think it's apples and oranges if we were to say that we can watch whatever we want because such issues are dealt with in the Bible. In a way Godawa acknowledges this and says that "a sense of balance is what a Christian needs...Christians tend to be either cultural gluttons or cultural anorexics. It seems we either avoid all movies or watch too many of them." I agree with him that, if we pick our movies wisely, there is much to gain. I found it interesting, though, that many of the movies talked about in the book are probably those movies I myself would avoid, either because they were lame (as many movie critics would attest) or are so morally objectionable that I would have to ask, Can you really get anything good out of a dumpster full of garbage?
Two other criticisms are the inclusion of "director's cut" notes throughout the book, which in reality was multiple promotions of his web site. Several times I wished that Godawa would have further expanded on a particular topic in his book rather than ask us to go to his site. Isn't this why we buy a particular book? Couldn't he have expanded it to include the issues his sites had, including unpublished chapters? I appreciate the fact that he had other information available, but I didn't look up one reference. Finally, how could a book like this not include an index, especially one that would have incorporated the different movies talked about in the book. Since he talked about a movie more than once, I found myself thumbing backward to see what else he had said about that particular film. Not being able to look in an index was extremely frustrating. It might have also been a benefit for the reader if Godawa provided his personal ratings of the books he reviewed, perhaps giving us an idea of movies that he feels we should or should not see. These ideas would have given Hollywood Worldviews a more complete feel.
My criticisms aside, I still feel that this is worthy of a look by the discerning Christian moviegoer.
Godawa offers a way of looking at the worldviews that underlie the movies, with specific examples. He explains the various worldviews represented in different movies, clearly enough that you can apply what you learn to other movies as well. He does this with depth and yet an engaging clarity that is really helpful to the reader. Almost anyone will be a better, more involved movie watcher after reading Godawa's book. It is good enough to bear reading again in a few years, and I plan to do so.
The author Brian Godawa is a prolific Christian movie maker, reviewer, screen writer and author. If one would expect someone to have the situational background to write on a Christian worldview analysis of films, then Godawa would be it. Making this even better is the fact that Godawa has good theology driving his worldview. He's also influenced by Van Til's Presuppositional apologetics (another major plus!). I've been wanting to read this book for a long time and was glad that I was finally able to order it and sit down and read it. The book defends the idea that film in of itself is not sinful--and that is just the preface. Conscious of the fact that film consists of visual imagery, the dramatic and a story, the author demonstrates that Scripture uses or record people using imagery, the dramatic and stories properly. The rest of the book is divided into three parts, or more appropriately as Godawa calls it, "act." In Act 1, Godawa focuses on story telling, which consists of three chapters. The first chapter is about the issue of sex, violence and profanity. This chapter is one that a Christian might want to read carefully and perhaps revisit even after a first reading of the book. It is something to chew on even if not every Christian will find themselves in agreement with the author. Chapter three focuses on movies with redemption which obviously is a big theological Christian motif since God has established the greatest act of redemption. I've thoroughly enjoyed Act 2 of the book, which focuses on three worldviews that's the undercurrent of many contemporary movies existentialism, postmodernism and other worldviews, including Eastern mysticism. Act 3 focuses on movies protrayal of the spiritual with a chapter each on Jesus, Christianity, faith and spiritual warfare. What I like alot about this book is that many movies are brought up as examples of the worldviews subtle message in films. There are many insights, analysis and observations from various movies throughout the book. You will find yourself seeing movies you seen before in new light and also be curious about the story lines of other movies you have not seen before (and of course, some movies which I will not see as a result of this book's analysis). All in all, these example should stir a Christian to be careful with discerning and watching movies with Godly wisdom--and while watching out for swearing, needless violence and sexual sins are important, we as believers must also watch out for the IDEAS that film impart to us. I highly recommend this book as a great introduction.
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