random thoughts, I could be wrong… but that’s ok.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately. There are a lot of things I can update on when it comes to this post. I have thoughts about missing home which i wish to write down, but at this moment they don’t seem very significant. I have been having a debate in my head though, in the recent uproars about the political policies in which Obama is gallantly enacting on our country there has been some major debate on ethics amongst the Christian community. I guess I’m lifting this a bit from Collisive’s blog as she raises this question up first, about abortion, and whether or not it makes us less of a Christian if we aren’t there picketing the nations! I guess this just spurred me onto thinking about a lot of things for me being a Christian, coming to film school out here on my own has really opened my world up to a lot of different things. I mean what am i supposed to think when this world is supposedly all about sex, drugs, and violence? or so I’ve been told countless times by people when asked to describe film school and the entertainment industry. But even if that is outrageously conservative and skewed, I look at those three things and thing… are they all really that bad? With all things there can be hope can’t there? Sex is an obvious one, while yes… a lot of films have sex, but I think we forget there’s so much beauty behind this act. It was originally meant for a wonderfully shared moment of love and intimacy, and while yes some people have taken advantage of this, you can’t deny that if done right, the sex scene can be a really good symbol for love and intimacy. (even without nudity!) And drugs? well… this is a whole other debate… I mean should marijuana be legalized? should alcohol be illegal? I personally never have smoked marijuana, but i’ve been around enough people who have, and with any substance it’s the same: you abuse it, it’s going to destroy you. So If i display drugs in my film and drug abuse… does that automatically make my film  ABOUT drugs and using drugs? no. Take Trainspotting for an example… its a film with heroin addicts in it, is the film ABOUT heroin usage? no, it’s a film about… well just watch it. And finally violence, well I could go on and on about this one, but I won’t, I’ll just say as a filmmaker I vow to make films that reflect life. And we live in a screwed up world and sometimes we need to show it, but always for a reason. My reason? is that there is always hope amidst the chaos.

So what was my point… my point… ah yes! So now this comes back to the question of me being a Christian. I’m growing to realize in a more active way, that while on the surface everything can seem sinful and I guess in a way it is. We are sinful people. People who are non-christian sometimes take offense to this term, so I apologize. What i mean I guess is that we’re people who are apart from God. We’re going to mess up when we’re compared to something as perfect as God. Even yes me, a Christian. But even with things that are apart from God… It’s all redeemable. If we as Christians go around judging things on the surface level like we do with films… then no one is redeemable. But let’s take an example from the Big guy upstairs… If he can take me, who was so far, and often times still far, sinner, and bring me back to redemption, because now it’s not my heart but God’s heart in me… then films which were made by people who were made by God can often have something redeemable in it as well, and never in the most obvious ways. Like us people… the best films are just about people.

~ by myusings on March 4, 2009.