Film Comment: The Twilight Series

The Twilight series of films is based on a highly successful five book young adult romance fantasy series by American author Stephenie Meyer.  The films are:

Twilight (2008)

Twilight: New Moon (2009)

Twilight: Eclipse (2010)

Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 1 (2011)

Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 (2012)

To date (25 November 2012) the series has grossed over $2,500,000,000 worldwide.  The basic plot is this: Bella, a lonely teenager, displaced by divorce to a boring small town on the United States northwest coast, becomes attracted to a strange but handsome boy at her high school.  She eventually comes to realize just how strange he is.

Edward is a member of a vampire family which lives in one location until it becomes difficult to disguise the fact that they are not aging.  The “family” members are not biologically related but were collected together by the patriarch, whom they recognize as their father.  The family long ago stopped hunting humans for food and lives off the blood of forest animals.

Edward proves to be a sensitive and protective boyfriend for Bella and he strongly holds to his Nineteenth Century values of sexual abstinence and chaste love until marriage.  That presents the problem: a vampire cannot marry a human.  Because he loves her, Edward is reluctant to “turn” Bella though she begs him to.  He realizes that he would be damning her to become a monster like himself.

Stephenie Meyer, the writer of the Twilight novels, is a Mormon and some believe this is the origin of the series’ emphasis on family and chastity.  Feminists have complained that the novels and films present Bella as a helpless female, with her life revolving around her man.  Edward must continually protect Bella from other vampires (and werewolves!) who disapprove of their relationship.  Feminists also object to the relationship’s violence, as Bella is seriously injured when she and Edward eventually do consummate their relationship.

Bella eventually becomes a powerful vampire with a beautiful half-human half-vampire child.

I see all these things, but what I really see is perhaps a message which Meyer did not originally intend.  The message is this:  to succeed, to really get what you want in this world, you must submit.  Adapt to the world.  Adjust what you believe.  Buy into the system, and you may find love, success, wealth, and maybe even power.  The darkness is very seductive.

Film Comment: The Art of Getting By

I first saw Freddie Highmore in Five Children and It, a children’s fantasy film.  Basically he portrayed a cute little boy.  Probably, Highmore’s most well-known role is that of Charlie Bucket in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).

As a twenty year old, Highmore still has the cute innocent look but the character he portrays in the comedy, The Art of Getting By (2011), is a decidedly different person.

George Zinavoy (Highmore) is a sweet natured, gentle, and very talented artist.  He is an obviously intellectual and capable high school senior.  He has decided to do nothing, not even in art class.  When he meets a girl (Emma Roberts) who likes him, he cannot bring himself to admit that he also likes her.

George’s problem is his philosophy, which is one version of the worldview known as Postmodernism.  We are born alone.  We die alone.  Everything else is basically nothing.  Life has no meaning because, in the end, we will all die, alone.

A great many people today, possibly nearing a majority, have a postmodern view of reality.  This is why you hear so many people saying that “you have your truth, I have my truth.”  How they choose to respond to the philosophy can lead to apathy, rage, cynicism, hedonism, manipulativeness, withdrawal, and any number of other pathological lifestyles.

The challenge for Christians is to show these people that life does have meaning and to help them see what that meaning is.  We cannot “save” them but we can present the Gospel and let the Holy Spirit do His work.

Request For Prayers and Get-Well Cards

Vince Sutton was not a star on the University of Alabama football team during the years 1984 to 1988.  He was the back-up quarterback, a substitute, the player who goes into the game if the primary player is injured or if the game has long-ago been won (or lost).  He played sparingly in 21 of the 56 games played during his time at the university.  His shining moment was when he was put into a game in 1988 and led his team to a come-from-behind win against the University of Kentucky.

Sutton has said that he loved every moment of his time at the university and, like most college athletes, he declares that his experience was positive, teaching him the values of hard work, discipline, personal responsibility, and how to deal with adversity.

Sutton, now the head football coach at Dawson Street Christian School in LaGrange, Georgia (USA), is now facing adversity of a sort he never encountered in college.  His kidneys have failed and he is on a waiting list to receive a kidney transplant.

Former teammates and coaches have pitched in to help Sutton.  What he is asking for from the public are prayers and get-well cards.  This blog has readers from eighty-seven countries.  If many of the readers would pray for Vince Sutton and/or send him get well wishes it might really boost his spirits as he waits.

Vince Sutton
110 Old Airport Rd., Apt. 713
LaGrange, Georgia, USA 30240

Practice Your Religion

On 26 February 2010, Northwest Yeshivam, an Orthodox Jewish high school in Yakima, Washington, chose to forfeit a game in the Washington State high school basketball tournament rather than have its students violate a religious fast (the Fast of Esther) by rehydrating themselves during the game. They could have played the game without rehydrating liquids such as Gatorade but felt that that would be dangerous for their student's health. Good for them on several levels.

1. They put their student's health above winning a game.
2. They didn't ask for special treatment by insisting that the date of the game be changed to fit their agenda.
3. They showed their students, and those at the other schools, that principle overrules personal wishes.
4. They were faithful to their religious beliefs.

It is easy to compromise one's beliefs and principles "just this one time." One time can become many. People of faith should remain faithful to their beliefs. If you are a Roman Catholic, be the best Roman Catholic you can be. If you are a Baptist, be the best Baptist you can be. If you are a Jew, be the best Jew you can be. If you are a Bahai, be the best Bahai you can be. Otherwise, don't waste your time pretending.