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.

The True Meaning of Success

At the 2012 London Olympics in the men’s 1600 meter relay race, Manteo Mitchell ran the first 400 meters, slowly.  The internet erupted in criticism with angry Twitter tweets at his poor performance.  Here is what really happened.  As Mitchell started to run, he heard a loud pop and felt a sudden pain as his left fibula snapped.  He finished his portion of the relay race to make sure that the United States would qualify for the next round.  The event rivals the historical importance of what Kerri Strug did at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in her Gold Medal winning vault.

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What Mitchell had to say: “I felt I upheld the Olympic standard to the highest degree.  It’s not finishing first or second, it’s doing your best.”  He explained that he felt that he had to “do what I was called in to do.”

Christians are called to be witnesses (the Greek word is  μάρτυρας "martyrs."), even if sometimes doing so is uncomfortable or even dangerous, even if no one seems to be listening. 

In his book, Share Jesus Without Fear, William Fay points out that, for Christians, "success is sharing your faith and living your life for Jesus Christ.  It has nothing whatsoever to do with bringing anyone to the Lord.  It has everything to do with obedience."  Obedience , not results, is success for a Christian.  Results come from the work of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit indwells every believer.  "... we have the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, living in us ..."  

Film Comment: Island of Despair

Godard, Rohmer, Truffaut, Chabrol, Almodovar, Oshima, Fellini, Rossellini, Bergman, Curtiz, Hitchcock, Frankenheimer, Chaplin, Ozu, Welles, Mizoguchi, Zefirelli, Polanski, Ford, Capra, Scorsese, Penn, Malle, Wilder, Allen, Burton, Cameron, Bertolucci, Spielberg, Naruse, Bunuel, Melies, Zhang, Kurosawa, Woo, Besson, Brooks.  Jesus Franco is not one of them.

Jesus Franco Manera, with over 190 films to his credit, is one of those unstoppable film directors (like the immortal Ed Wood) who don't let a lack of money and no real directorial talent stand in their way.  They love making movies and churn them out year after year, sometimes making as many as twenty in one year.

Most of Franco's films exist in multiple versions, with varying lengths, varying content, released with different scenes included for different countries, and most also exist in badly edited pornographic versions with inserts (yes, that is the technical term) of material totally unrelated to the rest of the film.  The producers heavily cut up the films, doing whatever was necessary to get people into the theater. 

The film I viewed for this post is possibly Franco's most accomplished effort, with big name actors (Mercedes McCambridge, Herbert Lom, Maria Schell, Luciana Paluzzi, and Rosalba Neri) and what seems to have been at least an adequate budget.  The film, just as do most other Franco films, exists in a pornographic version; I'm sure this was to the later horror of the legitimate actors who appeared in the non-pornographic version which I viewed.

Island of Despair (1969), originally titled Der heisse Tod (The Hot Death), is best known as 99 Women.  It is a WIP (Women in Prison) film, one of the first.  A group of 99 female prisoners are held in a castle prison on an island where they are stripped of their identities, known only by their prisoner numbers.  The main prisoner is 99.

The brutal superintendent (McCambridge) is an Iron Maiden who rules with a sadistic hand.  Under her administration, prisoners frequently have lethal "accidents."  She also has an arrangement with the corrupt governor (Lom) of the men's prison on the other side of the island.  He visits the women's prison to make use of it as his own personal harem. 

The government has become aware of the horrible conditions in the women's prison and sends an earnest prison reformer (Maria Schell) to correct the situation.  Of course, everything goes horribly wrong, and, at the end of the film, the reformer sadly leaves the prison which she knows has not changed at all.  The hopeless situation remains hopeless.  The reformer leaves with the female prisoners standing in the prison yard, staring at her back as she goes through the gate.

Christians often come across hopeless situations which seem to be beyond redemption.   People many times do not wish to hear what we have to say.  We may be tempted by their rejection to simply turn and walk away, to exit the gate.  And, realistically, we may not effect any change no matter what we do.  So, what is "success"?

In his book, Share Jesus Without Fear, William Fay points out that "success is sharing your faith and living your life for Jesus Christ.  It has nothing whatsoever to do with bringing anyone to the Lord.  It has everything to do with obedience."  Obedience, not results, is success for a Christian.  Results come from the work of the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit indwells every believer.  "... we have the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, living in us ..." 

Book Comment: Share Jesus Without Fear

Share Jesus Without Fear by William Fay takes away all your excuses for not witnessing to others. The book talks about common reasons people don't share their faith, from fear of rejection, fear of friend's reactions, fear that they really don't know enough, fear that they will look stupid, etc. Fay points out a promise from God to a man who was afraid to step up: "...I will be with thee..."Exodus 3:12.

Fay gives step by step instructions for those with no idea where to start. He gives a list of Share Jesus Questions to ask those to whom you talk and clear answers to many of the objections and dodges which they will almost surely throw back at you. And then ... he tells you the secret: It is not your job to convert anyone to Christianity. It is your job to be obedient and step forward when called.

When you share the Gospel you have obeyed, you have succeeded. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts and converts the unbeliever.

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." Romans 1:16

Sports Competition

     In yesterday's post I spoke against the Get Out of My Way or I'm Gonna Run Over You mentality.  I knew as I wrote it that it could be taken as a swipe against sports competition.  That's not what I meant at all.  In fact, in football, you're supposed to run over your opponent.  I support that.  The difference is in the underlying attitude.  One attitude is demeaning and belittling, the other shows respect for your opponent.

     It has become common for football players to want to gloat and to perform elaborate celebration rituals after scoring a touchdown or making a good play.  Some even want to stand over a knocked down  opponent and to glare menacingly at him to produce intimidation.  

     Football leagues have rightly established penalties for such behavior and the punishments are  appropriate not just because the behaviors delay the game.  The actions are demeaning and insulting to the team and/or players against whom they are directed.

     The legendary football coach Paul "Bear" Bryant was certainly no stranger to rough, physical football and he was not, to my knowledge, particularly religious.  There were rumors about his personal failings, but, as a coach, he knew how to train young men in the proper attitudes for sports competition.  He taught them how to be proper men and most of his players came to remember him as almost a second father.

     When a player scored a touchdown, Bryant told him to act like he had done it before and as if he planned to do it again.  Players who would not comply lost playing time.

     Players who gloated over a successful quarterback sack, or a great block, or a brilliant interception, lost playing time.

     Coach Bryant was no stranger to the tactic of intimidation, but it was an intimidation which paradoxically showed a respect for the opponent.  He told his players to knock their opponent down and then to offer him a hand up.  Then to turn around and knock him down again.  After a few rounds of this process, the opponent would begin to expect to be knocked down.

     There are people who would like to ban competitive sport altogether because they say it crushes the spirits of the less talented.  The reality is that properly administered sports can teach teamwork, self-confidence, how to deal with failure without loss of self-esteem, how to deal with success, and how to engage in equitable and honorable competition without malice toward one's opponent.  The lessons which can be learned in competitive sports can be applied to one's work career and interpersonal relations.

     The Apostle Paul saw nothing wrong with competitive sports and even used a sports analogy to make a point.

"Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize?  So run, that ye may obtain."  1 Corinthians 9:24.