Look up \u201cmission\u201d in a dictionary and it\u2019s clear why the word makes Hollywood nervous.<\/p>\n\n
A \u201cmission\u201d can be \u201can aim in life, arising from a conviction or sense of calling.\u201d That\u2019s nice and secular. But what if \u201cmission\u201d means a group set apart \u201cby a church or other religious organization to make conversions\u201d?<\/p>\n\n
So film insiders flinch when a studio\u2019s mission statement proclaims: \u201cWalden Media believes that quality entertainment is inherently educational. We believe that by providing children, parents and educators with a wide range of great entertainment \u2026 we can recapture young imaginations, rekindle curiosity and demonstrate the rewards of knowledge and virtue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Say what? When a studio starts combining words such as \u201cparents\u201d and \u201cvirtue,\u201d Hollywood folks assume all its movies will start with a roar from Dr. James Dobson, instead of a lion. Wait, isn\u2019t that William \u201cBook of Virtues\u201d Bennett atop the Walden advisory committee?<\/p>\n\n
\u201cOur goal is wholesome, uplifting, family-friendly entertainment that is still competitive in the marketplace,\u201d said the Rev. Bob Beltz, director of special media projects for billionaire investor Philip Anschutz. \u201cI\u2019m not going to say that all of our films will be faith-based. But I can say that we hope they will all be faith-friendly. \u2026<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWe want to be a positive influence in Hollywood. But we have to sell tickets to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Take \u201cHoles,\u201d for example, which features Louis Sachar\u2019s screenplay based on his Newbery-medal winning novel. The movie opened on 2,331 screens last weekend and soared towards $20 million at the box office. <\/p>\n\n
\u201cIn a time when mainstream action is rigidly contained within formulas,\u201d noted critic Roger Ebert, \u201cmaybe there\u2019s more freedom to be found in a young people\u2019s adventure. \u2018Holes\u2019 jumps the rails, leaves all expectations behind and tells a story that\u2019s not funny ha-ha but funny peculiar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Amen, said Beltz. This story does have a strange, edgy \u201cparable-like feel to it,\u201d he said. But it is the movie\u2019s serious themes of good and evil, hope and despair, grace and judgment that are catching viewers off guard. Still, while \u201cHoles\u201d contains many religious themes and symbols, it never resorts to preaching. That made it perfect for this new studio. <\/p>\n\n
\u201cWhen you have a story like that, you don\u2019t want to add anything to it or take anything away,\u201d he said. \u201cYou just want the story to speak for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
Millions of American students already know about Stanley Yelnats IV, a good kid who ends up in the wrong place at the right time and is sentenced to dig holes at the hellish Camp Green Lake in West Texas. The lake is dry and the lovely town on the shore is long dead. But there are serpents, scorpions, killer lizards, bitter memories, buried secrets and enough shame to cover everybody. The sins of the fathers are literally being visited upon the sons.<\/p>\n\n
On one level, \u201cHoles\u201d revolves around a gypsy fortuneteller\u2019s curse on Stanley\u2019s \u201cno-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather.\u201d But the emotional heart of this multi-generational tale is the divine judgment that hangs over Green Lake. The town\u2019s elite once killed an innocent black onion-picker for the crime of falling in love with a white schoolteacher.<\/p>\n\n
The book spells out what the movie acts out: \u201cThat all happened 110 years ago. Since then, not one drop of rain has fallen on Green Lake. You make the decision: Whom did God punish?\u201d<\/p>\n\n
In the end the guilty are brought to justice, the innocent go free and the curses are lifted. Stanley and his friends dance as life-giving water pours from the sky onto the parched earth. The big question: Who can make it rain?<\/p>\n\n
Viewers can make up their own minds about that, said educator Michael Flaherty, the president of Walden Media. But if movies are good enough, many will want to dig deeper.<\/p>\n\n
\u201cMany companies that set out to produce family entertainment make the mistake of defining themselves in terms of what they are not going to do,\u201d he said. \u201cThey say, \u2018Don\u2019t worry. We\u2019re not going to have any bad language in our movies.\u2019 Or they say, \u2018Don\u2019t worry. Our stories won\u2019t have all those bad parts.\u2019<\/p>\n\n
\u201cWe think we can do better than that. We think we can make high-quality films and still be true to our mission.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Look up \u201cmission\u201d in a dictionary and it\u2019s clear why the word makes Hollywood nervous. A \u201cmission\u201d can be \u201can aim in life, arising from a conviction or sense of calling.\u201d That\u2019s nice and secular. But what if \u201cmission\u201d means a group set apart \u201cby a church or other religious organization to make conversions\u201d? So […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[80,359,431,1542],"class_list":["post-1227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-arts","tag-fiction","tag-hollywood","tag-movies"],"yoast_head":"\n