It's the End of the World as She Knows It, and She Feels Fine

Last updated on: July 19, 2012 at 6:14 pm By Richard Lindsay

Every generation, by virtue of being born into a historical continuum is burdened by the sins of the fathers as it is blessed by the deeds of the ancestors. – Hannah Arendt Sometimes a film acts as a benediction. You feel blessed for having seen it, and somehow more ready to face the reality life presents outside the theater. My personal circumstances make me especially susceptible to Beasts of the Southern Wild, a flight of magic realism set in Southern... Read more

Faulty Beginnings and Feeling Love(d)

Last updated on: July 18, 2012 at 5:36 pm By J. Ryan Parker

I had seen much of the publicity for Mike Mills‘ Beginners and was aware of Christopher Plummer’s Oscar nomination and win for Best Supporting Actor earlier this year. I also had some preconceived notions of what the film would be like…based on the press and clips that circulated around the film. Neither I…nor they…got it right. (more…) Read more

Pop Goes the Temple

Last updated on: July 14, 2012 at 6:22 am By J. Ryan Parker

About 13 km south of Chiang Rai in northern Thailand, you can visit Wat Rong Khun, aka the White Temple. It is one of the most striking religious sites in the country and possibly the world. Here the sacred and the secular meet in mind-boggling fashion. (more…) Read more

Traumatic Grace

Last updated on: July 4, 2012 at 6:21 am By J. Ryan Parker

In all my reading and research into film history, I came across a critique, can’t remember where exactly, that said we had all the means to visualize unthinkable devastation, death, and destruction but hadn’t the accompanying ability to depict the effects of such events and the feelings of brokenness and violation that follow. Precious few films adequately portray grief, anger, loss, confusion…in a word, trauma. Even fewer portray adequate responses, theological or not, to suffering. This theological inadequacy prompted Serene... Read more

A Reasonable Reboot

Last updated on: July 3, 2012 at 6:34 am By J. Ryan Parker

I don’t really know why we had a reboot of the Spider-Man franchise…oh wait, I do…money. But actually, I think it’s more than that. The previous run had lost vision and derailed into one of the worst films of all time, Spider-Man 3. In fact, there could have been a generational moratorium on the franchise, but credit director Marc Webb for going there with the reboot, The Amazing Spider-Man, and re-hashing much of the thematic material that Sam Raimi covered... Read more

Somebody's Got To Review Prometheus!

Last updated on: June 26, 2012 at 5:48 pm By Richard Lindsay

Ryan and Amy are finishing up a week in a Southeast Asian paradise with little or no contact with the outside world. This past week, I made the decision to leave Berkeley and join Fred in Southern Louisiana. Apparently, after 6 years in the middle of things in the Bay Area, Ryan and I are fleeing the centers of pop culture civilization. This does not bode well for the project of PopTheology. (more…) Read more

A Broader Atonement

Last updated on: June 26, 2012 at 7:41 am By J. Ryan Parker

In ongoing research for a book on violence, forgiveness, and reconciliation in film, I’m looking at texts that explore Christian reflections on the the latter. I came across Andrew Sung Park‘s Triune Atonement: Christ’s Healing for Sinners, Victims, and the Whole Creation, which provides both an informative look at a host of atonement theories and an invigorating glimpse into a refreshing theory of triune atonement, which relies heavily on the work of the Holy Spirit and God’s concern for victims,... Read more

On Sin, Trauma, and Forgiveness

Last updated on: June 25, 2012 at 9:56 am By J. Ryan Parker

Catching up on a bit of film-watching and research, I recently watched Oliver Hirschbiegel‘s Five Minutes of Heaven, a 2009 film inspired by the Protestant/Catholic wars in Northern Ireland during the 1970s and based on a script by Guy Hibbert. Not only is it a stirring image of the effects of individual and collective violence, it is a strong cinematic example of trauma and PTSD, about which Serene Jones writes in Trauma and Grace: Theology in a Ruptured World, a... Read more

Dude, You Are Totally Into Religion

Last updated on: June 18, 2012 at 10:17 pm By Richard Lindsay

Maybe you’ve heard about it in the traditional media or stumbled on it on YouTube, but one of the hottest viral videos on the ‘Net today is a sermon, delivered in hip-hop/spoken word style by 22 year-old Jefferson Bethke. (more…) Read more

Dying Multiple Deaths

Last updated on: June 7, 2012 at 1:53 am By J. Ryan Parker

I’ve been reading quite a bit lately about sin, violence, forgiveness and reconciliation for a book I’m starting to write on the portrayal of these themes in film. I’m also beginning a search for films to use in the book (suggestions are always welcome!). I just watched a 2005 Iranian film, Day Break, which has much to offer discussions of these topics as well as a host of other issues as well. (more…) Read more