Rating:  Summary: Opening Our Eyes Review: Most of us just watch movies to be entertained, not necessarily to "learn". Do we realize that when we watch a movie we are seeing the world through the eyes of the writer/director/producer? This book challenges us to open our eyes to the bigger picture and unveils the worldview being taught to us in several movies. I know that I now watch movies differently than before I read this book! Brian Godawa's clear, thought-provoking writing reveals the importance of looking beyond what we see on the screen to analyzing what worldview is being programmed into our subconscious minds. Being aware is the first step. You will want to rewatch the movies mentioned newly enlightened!
Rating:  Summary: Interesting... Review: Movies have a deep impact on our society, from fashion to catch phrases, and most importantly attitudes. Even the most trivial movie is shaped by some underlying theme or message that is subtly delivered to millions of minds on a subconscious level at least. By utilizing the steps outlined in this book and on the corresponding website, readers are encouraged to view their entertainment choices seriously to avoid being molded into someone they don't want to be. Some of the films that the author suggests as good choices are startling; and lest anyone think a book on Christian films will only contain fluffy, feel good movies put out by white bread companies, let me assure you that there are quite a few R rated movies, gross out comedies, and even a Christian themed vampire movie described as worthwhile films. This book would make an excellent adult Sunday school curriculum, or serve well as a simple guide for how to use one's free time viewing purposefully.
Rating:  Summary: Publishers Weekly Relativism Review: Publishers Weekly's review is pure Relativism. Apparently they don't believe in correctness or accuracy. They fault Godawa for believing that there is correct interpretation of art and an accurate view of Heaven. Strangely they don't believe there is such a thing as a correct interpretation of a screenplay and yet they assume their interpretation of Godawa's writing is correct. Their review is Relativism at it's most simplistic. Which leads to another of their contradictions - they site Godawa as being "simplistic" for ending his definition of Worldview with "it is our view of the world" yet, if you look at the full sentence on page 15, which they did not quote, you find it is not so simplistic after all: "a comprehensive web of beliefs through which we interpret our experiences - it is our view of the world." Godawa takes complex philosophical ideas and makes them simple, not simplistic. That is what great teachers do. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in cinema who also believes that there is true-Truth.
Rating:  Summary: A refreshing Christian take on Hollywood Review: The question "What is the point?" immediately presupposes that all things, including film, assert something. Obviously, when an assertion is posited, there is also an opposing point of view. Here is the starting ground of Brian Godawa's thesis in his book "Hollywood Worldviews". What is Hollywood's point of view and how much in harmony, or in how much discord is it to the worldview espoused by most mainline Christians?To the fundamentalist/evangelical camp it is all too clear that Hollywood is overtly antagonistic towards Christianity. Hollywood culture, and anything produced from it is dismissed outright as an antithesis to Christianity. Hopefully, the mature Christian has the sense to realize that our calling is to seek God wherever we can find him. I think one of the most positive aspects of this book is that Godawa initiates his approach by first addressing the propensity of many Christians to cringe away from the culture, a behavior that he aptly calls cultural anorexia. I appreciate the fact that Godawa is keen enough to realize that this stance with respect to culture is counterproductive to Christian aims, and the only way that Christians will be effective is if they seek to root out this behavior from Christendom, while at the same time keeping vigilant not to descend into the state, so common in our culture, of not thinking critically of what we are seeing, and merely enjoying and reveling in the violent, lewd, obscene, and puerile. Godawa warns that such behavior, what he calls cultural gluttony, is no more a desirable condition than cultural anorexia. An interesting notion that Godawa is insistent on when examining movies is that the medium of film, just as much as the Gospel, fundamentally has to do with redemption. Most movies, if closely watched shows a character in someway falling from grace or an idyllic state, or at the very least already alienated from that state. The entire plot of a movie deals with the character's struggle to find redemption so that he can recapture the paradise he lost, or find the paradise he or she never knew of. The process by which a character finds redemption reveals not only the philosophical and ideological leanings of the movie makers, but it also uncovers to what extent the story illuminates and edifies the Christian depiction of salvation, or to what degree it runs counter to Christian thought. Godawa uses movies that depict an overtly unchristian manner of attaining salvation as a vehicle to introduce to the reader the various philosophical movements that have shaped western culture within the 20th century, and how for the most part, such ideas are in diametric opposition to Christianity. By using movies as springboard for explaining these ideas, Godawa provides an environment of familiarity and interest to help remove the stigma of boredom that plagues philosophical inquiry. The range of philosophical ideas that under gird many modern films was something I wasn't aware of before I read "Hollywood Worldviews." Sure, I understood some films briefly touched on the ideas of Nietzsche, Sartre, Camus, and others but I never knew how many films actually had their ideas play such a central role in the plot and character development. Notions such as naturalism and postmodernism, seem to be interwoven in much of the fabric of cinematic storytelling in ways that I was never aware of before. And yes, even Christian notions such as salvation by atonement and divine grace do reverberate in many movies, more than most moviegoers are aware of, and definitely more than most fundamentalist/evangelical Christian preachers are willing to admit to their flock. Another aspect of Godawa's book that I find quite appealing is the broad range of movies that he covers. Hence, his ideas reach a larger audience. With all the praise that I can bestow upon this book, there are a few negative aspects of the book as well. The space allotted by Amazon.com for a book review does not allow me to go into a detailed description of all of them. One criticism that I do have with this book, that I feel needs to be mentioned is the way it was setup. As I said earlier, I find it commendable that Godawa insists on dispelling the preconceived notions, that many Christians have, that all secular cinema is spiritually bankrupt; and that elements such as violence, sexuality, and profanity in movies should automatically dissuade Christians from seeing a film. Now a great way for Godawa to buttress his admonishment that such things should not be deterrents for people to see films of redeeming value would be to show how the Bible is also inundated with such depravity. In fact he does this, but he relegates all of these scriptural citations to a chapter in the appendix of his book and not right after he makes his point concerning being open minded to such films. His exhortation, that watching such films, as long as they were not gratuitously violent, sexual, or vulgar would have been better served had he supported his position with Biblical citations within the same chapter. All things considered my perception of Brian Godawa's "Hollywood Worldviews" is definitely positive, barring a few minor criticisms. His open and even handed analyses of film is refreshing in comparison to many within the Christian fold who seek to repudiate anything that is not stamped with seal of approval by TBN, the 700 club, Pat Robertson, and Jerry Falwell, because they are too cowardly or mentally lazy to interact with the society that is around them; thus effectively acting in direct contradiction to Christ, the Gospel, and Apostolic tradition. Christianity might as well not exist if we as followers retreat into the enclaves of our churches. We should take heed of the author's plead not be cultural anorexics or cultural gluttons, but instead to be culturally and spiritually healthy. I hope this book will help Christians realize that the health of one is in many ways dependent on the health of the other.
Rating:  Summary: A Must Read if You Watch Movies Review: This book is a "must read" for a parent (and anyone else) who is concerned about the effects of sex and violence in movies. The author does not write from his own personal prejudices; he writes with an open mind and a balanced analysis of the opposite results that can be produced from portrayals of violence in different contexts. The book outlines practical helps for establishing sensible boundaries that reflect your personal world view. The author gives a critical analysis of current films and proves conclusively that film portrayals of violence can be either destructive or redemptive. In other words, all violence in films is not necessarily harmful. The strength of the book is that it will never be outdated; the principles can be applied to every future film. I highly recommend this book for everyone who watches movies on film or TV.
Rating:  Summary: A Must Read if You Watch Movies Review: This book is a "must read" for a parent (and anyone else) who is concerned about the effects of sex and violence in movies. The author does not write from his own personal prejudices; he writes with an open mind and a balanced analysis of the opposite results that can be produced from portrayals of violence in different contexts. The book outlines practical helps for establishing sensible boundaries that reflect your personal world view. The author gives a critical analysis of current films and proves conclusively that film portrayals of violence can be either destructive or redemptive. In other words, all violence in films is not necessarily harmful. The strength of the book is that it will never be outdated; the principles can be applied to every future film. I highly recommend this book for everyone who watches movies on film or TV.
Rating:  Summary: Worthy of your time Review: This book provides an excellent introduction to film as myth and story, and to different worldviews that show up in film. Story structure is nicely summarized in one chapter - including its nine elements. All films, we're reminded, are about story, and all stories are about redemption. Knowing this, and seeing the nine ingredients, we become better film-viewers and film-analyzers. The chapter on the nine ingredients is worth the price of the book alone, summarizing story structure in one brief chapter. The author is himself an excellent screenwriter and so this chapter is very insightful. After this brief introduction to story, the remainder of the book is spent analyzing different worldviews as they've shown themselves in movies. This is all explained from a Christian perspective, and includes an analysis of existentialism, postmodernism, fate, monism, evolution and neo-paganism, with examples given of each from several movies. This analysis is done so that the reader can detect the worldview being presented in the film. The new emerging spirituality in movies is then discussed. Christianity is compared with paganism, and presentations are made of angels and demons, heaven and hell, karma, reincarnation and faith. The book closes with summaries, conclusions, and general remarks about watching films as Christians, and then an insightful appendix is added on sex, violence, and profanity in the Bible (to deal with those subjects in film). Each chapter throughout the book has exercises that really help the reader learn the contents of that chapter as it relates to film. This is an excellent addition to books on the arts from a Christian perspective, and is one of the best ever offered on film in that regard. - Jack Hafer, Film Producer
Rating:  Summary: This Book Will Challenge the Way You Watch Movies Review: This is a wonderful book examining the way we watch movies. Godawa argues that we can't totally neglect movies (Two-Kingdom concept) and that we cant immerse ourselves in them, either. Godawa is a Kuyperian, so he believes that Christ is LORD over all of life, not just the sacred. Godawa does an excellent job on pointing out the various worldviews which movies express. I used to watch movies blindely just for the sheer entertainment value in and of the movie itself. However, this can be very dangerous as he shows. Movies go off of popular worldviews to get the masses to go and see them. I was very interested by his analysis of the particular movies. Most of the things he pointed out I had no clue were even there (i.e. Cast Away with Fate, etc.). This was quiet a shock to me. He tackles the questions of many philosophies and worldviews, and cogently points out the strengths and weaknesses therein. I really liked his director take promotions for his website. You can find some excellent reviews there for the engagement of the culture and movies. This book is a tremendous introduction to the various worldviews behind movies.
Rating:  Summary: This Book Will Challenge the Way You Watch Movies Review: This is a wonderful book examining the way we watch movies. Godawa argues that we can't totally neglect movies (Two-Kingdom concept) and that we cant immerse ourselves in them, either. Godawa is a Kuyperian, so he believes that Christ is LORD over all of life, not just the sacred. Godawa does an excellent job on pointing out the various worldviews which movies express. I used to watch movies blindely just for the sheer entertainment value in and of the movie itself. However, this can be very dangerous as he shows. Movies go off of popular worldviews to get the masses to go and see them. I was very interested by his analysis of the particular movies. Most of the things he pointed out I had no clue were even there (i.e. Cast Away with Fate, etc.). This was quiet a shock to me. He tackles the questions of many philosophies and worldviews, and cogently points out the strengths and weaknesses therein. I really liked his director take promotions for his website. You can find some excellent reviews there for the engagement of the culture and movies. This book is a tremendous introduction to the various worldviews behind movies.
Rating:  Summary: Seeing beyond the images Review: This well crafted book peers behind the special effects and compelling settings to disclose how movies can deeply effect a viewer's perceptions of reality, so often steering the beliefs and worldviews of the viewer. In a time of shallow movie reviews that do not want to tackle sacred cows, Brian Godawa, a Hollywood screenwriter himself, is unafraid to look deeper into what films are telling us. This books is a broadband education, a lesson on how to watch films with our eyes wide open. It is especially necessary in today's world and films progress with competing views of Reality.
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