On Thursday night, Emmanuel Seminary hosted Dr. Craig Detweiler, professor of communication at Pepperdine University. He led the event titled Into the Dark: Finding God in Contemporary Film.
The event was named after Detweiler’s book, “Into the dark: seeing the sacred in the top films of the 21st century,” in which he explored the link between the most popular films of the last decade according to the Internet Movie Database and their connections to God and the Bible.
To begin the night, Detweiler asked the question, “Has God ever spoken to you through pop culture?”
Detweiler shared how as a senior in high school the film Raging Bull starring Robert De Niro spoke to him because he felt he was on a similar path as the main character. Even though the film is full of violence and crude language, it ends with the New English Bible’s version of John 9:24-26, “All I know is this: once I was blind, and now I can see.”
Detweiler then organized the films from the list into three categories: identity, community and history/fantasy. As a group, the room discussed how most of the movies depicted violence, revenge, wealth and bettering oneself.
Detweiler joked, “We love a good love story, but we don’t seem to believe it.”
The identity category included films by directors such as Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan. Films in the community category showed how people exist among chaos and include ensemble dramas like Little Miss Sunshine.
Historical films can replicate true events, such as “Hacksaw Ridge” and “12 Years a Slave.” Or they can rewrite history, fixing it to show a different point of view, such as Tarantino’s films “Django” and “Inglorious Bastards” as well as the German film “Der Untergang,” which depicts Adolf Hitler’s last days, making Hitler out to be “human.”
Detweiler pointed out, “If you don’t believe that (Hitler) was capable of that, you don’t understand that you’re capable of that.”
The most popular category is fantasy, which houses the Pixar collection, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Pan’s Labyrinth and the Harry Potter series. As Detweiler introduced each of the movies in this category, he joked about how none of them relate to the Bible. He alluded to how WALL-E bares similarity to Noah’s story, how Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and Pan’s Labyrinth require a blood sacrifice to save the dead or lost and how Harry Potter sacrifices himself and then is told to return to vanquish evil.
“Filmmakers have been asking the same questions, I think, as God asks us,” Detweiler said.
In Genesis, God asks Adam where he is and why he is hiding–questions on identity. In Genesis 4:9, Cain answers God saying, “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
Detweiler paraphrased God’s answer with, “Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!” and said God’s answer shows the desire he has for community among people.
When the audience said fantasy could be found in Revelation, Detweiler said, “What can be found in Revelation? Everything.”
Ben Lee, Emmanuel student and associate minister at Hopwood, explained how Detweiler’s lecture, as well as the classes he taught at Emmanuel throughout the week, had been thought-provoking. Lee believes the relationship between film and theology is like an art; “if it’s good, it’s going to find its way into my conversation.”