{"id":5858,"date":"2012-04-19T09:57:26","date_gmt":"2012-04-19T14:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/?p=5858"},"modified":"2015-03-13T16:51:37","modified_gmt":"2015-03-13T21:51:37","slug":"one-more-thought-on-blue-like-jazz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tonyjones\/2012\/04\/19\/one-more-thought-on-blue-like-jazz\/","title":{"rendered":"One More Thought on Blue Like Jazz"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>


\nSo, now I\u2019m getting emails from people, asking why I\u2019m so negative toward Blue Like Jazz: The Movie<\/em>. Let me state unequivocally, I\u2019m not against the movie. I haven\u2019t seen it!<\/strong> (One person has offered to buy me a ticket.)<\/p>\n

As background, I\u2019m picky about my movies. While I did recently see Hot Tub Time Machine<\/em> on Netflix, I tend to only watch movies that have scores above 70 on Rotten Tomatoes. I care what critics think. I don\u2019t care much what the American movie-going public thinks. I will never see the Twilight<\/em> movies. I will see The Hunger Games.<\/em><\/p>\n

The critics don\u2019t like BLJ<\/em>. That means that I probably won\u2019t like it, either. My tastes in movies tends to follow the critics\u2019.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not what\u2019s bothered me about BLJ.<\/em> What bugs me is all of the people who suggest that I have an obligation to see the movie because it\u2019s Christian \u2014 and not just Christian, but slightly progressive<\/em> Christian<\/strong>. \u201cWe need more movies like BLJ<\/em>,\u201d shout my friends on Facebook, \u201cSo let\u2019s all go see it and keep it afloat!\u201d Some even want me to buy extra tickets, just to increase the film\u2019s revenue.<\/p>\n

Neither Don Miller nor Steve Taylor are suggesting these tactics, as far as I know. But even Don\u2019s latest post on the movie\u2019s opening weekend is rife with the Christian lingo that gives me the heeby-jeebies.<\/strong>* (Like calling Reed College the \u201cmost Godless campus in America\u201d** and talking about \u201csharing the gospel.\u201d) The post is just the slightest bit defensive, which is understandable. Here\u2019s hoping no one ever turns one of my books into a movie. (I can see it now: Postmodern Youth Ministry: The Movie<\/em>!)<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the deal: I endorse products all the time. I get a couple books and manuscripts in the mail every week. Authors, publishers, and marketers want me to write a blurb for the back cover or say something nice on my blog. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

But never once has someone implied that I am obligated to endorse a book because it is a Christian book<\/strong>. I\u2019m asked to endorse a book on its merits alone \u2014 the lucidity of its argument, the craft of its prose \u2014 not because I owe it to my religion to back the book. As a result, I endorse about half the books I\u2019m sent.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a test case for you: I\u2019ve been asked by his publicists to read and blog about Brian McLaren\u2019s new ebook\u00a0trilogy. I plan to read them in coming weeks. If I like them, I\u2019ll blog about them. If I don\u2019t, I won\u2019t. And Brian wouldn\u2019t want me to.<\/p>\n

At the risk of sounding like Stephen Colbert, the market has spoken<\/strong>. Actually, the market spoke earlier when studios refused to pay for this movie to be made. It\u2019s not because they didn\u2019t agree with the faith portrayed in the script \u2014 studios are agnostically Machiavellian about what movies they make. They didn\u2019t make it because they didn\u2019t think it was good enough<\/strong>. A group of earnest and zealous fans disagreed, and they financed the movie through Kickstarter.***<\/p>\n

Bo Eberle<\/a> has been commenting on my previous<\/a> posts<\/a> about BLJ<\/em>. I think this comment<\/a> in particular says what I\u2019m getting at:<\/p>\n

I think this was a \u201cGo Christian team\u201d kind of movie at its core<\/strong>. The central dichotomy is between God-believers and God-disavowers. Don\u2019s struggle is between Christianity and atheism. I may be asking too much of this movie in particular, it\u2019s a decade old story that I hardly find relevant AFTER everything Brian McLaren, Tony, Pete Rollins, Pagitt, Rob Bell, etc. have written at the same popular level Don Miller writes to. That\u2019s why I think the project should have stayed dead. I have to ask more of this movie than I should be I expect more from the Christian community. The movie asks superficial questions, gives superficial answers, and pats itself on the back while the evangelical audience (I was with one at a prescreening) applauds the film but also itself for playing for the right team, inspired to go out and get people back to church, darn it!<\/strong> It\u2019s like how Congress has abysmal approval ratings, yet 90 something percent of citizens approve of THEIR representative. Likewise, I think the audience of this film is blind to the Church\u2019s deep ideological and structural problems because they think that whatever they\u2019re doing in their church is ok.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, what do you think? Am I being unfair to <\/strong><\/em>BLJ<\/strong>?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

*Contrary to popular opinion,\u00a0Heeby Jeebys<\/a> is not an anti-Semitic phrase.<\/em><\/p>\n

**The Reed College blog<\/a> says \u201cMeh\u201d about the film: \u201cthe screenwriters rely a bit too heavily on a rather generic \u2018young man coming of age\u2019 trope, skimming over the nuances of an existential crisis that this trailer seems to promise.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

***I\u2019m actually envious that Don Miller has fans this rabid. And he deserves them. Let me reiterate what I\u2019ve written in earlier posts: I have not met Don Miller, but I admire him and his writing. This post isn\u2019t about him. It\u2019s about a culture within Christianity that we need to \u201cstick together\u201d no matter what. It\u2019s why people put fish stickers on their cars. And it\u2019s stupid. But I get that Don Miller and I are on the same team.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, now I\u2019m getting emails from people, asking why I\u2019m so negative toward Blue Like Jazz: The Movie. Let me state unequivocally, I\u2019m not against the movie. I haven\u2019t seen it! (One person has offered to buy me a ticket.) As background, I\u2019m picky about my movies. While I did recently see Hot Tub Time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,23],"tags":[922,928],"class_list":["post-5858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity-in-america","category-movies","tag-blue-like-jazz","tag-donald-miller"],"yoast_head":"\nOne More Thought on Blue Like Jazz<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So, now I'm getting emails from people, asking why I'm so negative toward Blue Like Jazz: The Movie. 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