Random Thoughts

my problem with christian movies

I'm a Christian, I was born to a Christian family and a lot of Christian movies, series etc. formed a great part of my childhood.

Now, that said, as a person who has grown up watching these movies, I have noticed a lot about many Christian movies and it is just heartbreaking.

I understand the reason why a lot of Christians produce movies: we want good representation, not the one Hollywood makes of us. You know, the 'crazy fundamentalist fanatical intolerant bigot' trope that Hollywood has tried to paint us as (to be fair, Hollywood has not done religious people any justice).

However, there are some things that I have noticed about Christian movies in general which make me avoid watching a lot of them because they are just too bad. They are:

1. Bad Editing: It turns me off a lot of time so watch a movie and I find out that the lighting is bad or the colour grade is plain annoying. I don't expect Christian movies to be Hollywood grade but at least, get good editors, for the love of God😤.

2. Mary Sue and Gary Stu: in many Christian movies I've watched, I noticed the trend of the main character, often a girl (let's call her Ashley) being too good to be true.

Ashley is the perfect Christian girl whose eyes 'reflect Jesus'. She has a perfect family, her grades are good, her friends are all Christians, her fiance (let's call him Hunter) is so perfect. She is planning to save her first kiss for her wedding(not that it is bad, that is a good thing). In other words, Ashley has a perfect life and that is the problem-she has a perfect life and no one can relate to her, not even me.

3. The stereotypes: Now, this is one part that makes me laugh a lot of times. The purpose of Christian movies, aside from sharing the Gospel of Christ, is to break the stereotype of the 'intolerant bigot' trope that Hollywood loves to show.

Now, some Christian movies perpetuate this trope of a 'bitter atheist who hates God and religion'. A prime example of this is 'God's Not Dead' where all the Christians are good and the non-Christians are bad. I would have watched it but God spared me from watching the movie, let's say that I'm thankful he did.

Just the same way we Christians are normal people who just want to go our own daily lives, so are atheists. Now, every religion has crazy people in it but we shouldn't paint everyone in a bad light because of a few bad eggs. Just saying.

4. The plotline: the plotline for most Christian movies are just sappy and cringeworthy. It does not treat certain topics seriously and there is a lack of research.

Many Christian movies are what I would call the 'Jesus walking through a flower garden' type. They don't talk about issues like mental illnesses, abortion, war, human trafficking and terminal diseases. And if they do, they treat these topics with kids gloves; like they are not serious issues.

The Christian life is not a 'Jesus walking through a flower garden' life. It is full of challenges and battles about the reality of our society today!

5. The dialogue: I don't need to explain it. It is just plain awkward, to me.

6. The preachiness: I have noticed this as of late but it has come to my notice that a lot of Christian movies are just this kind of way. You know, the screenwriter writes a story, then realizes that (s)he didn't mention God or Jesus, and starts to place the names in so that it can pass off as 'Christian'. It is also the same way with some Christian music, all you hear is nothing but "I'm a Christian! I'm a Christian and did I mention that I'm a Christian?!".

While I do agree that the center of every good Christian movie is Christ, reduce the preachiness and focus on the message of the plot. Does it reflect the Christian way of living without screaming "Jesus" every 3 seconds? Does it show the attributes of God to His people without being too preachy?