Over the next week I will be talking about "Christian" media and art. You will probably notice that each reference to "Christian" will be marked by parenthesis. As an amateur writer and musician who is a follower of Jesus it has been difficult to define what "Christian" art is. Derek Webb said that the term "Christian" used in reference to anything other than a person is a marketing technique. I think I agree. When I set up a tour to Oregon for my band last summer, I had to navigate this strange world of questions like, "what will you do spiritually for my youth? Are you a Christian band?" These are fair questions, but what percentage of something has to be a direct reference to the Father, Son, or Spirit (or all three) in order to be "Christian"? Are songs on a "Christian" album individually "Christian" songs simply because they are placed nexted to other more obviously "Christian" songs?
Honestly I think this sort of talk is a bit ridiculous. I think we should care about what sort of art and media we ingest, but I'd rather we do away with making artistic genres entirely out of lyrical content. To communicate, however, I'm going to perpetuate the use of such categories but bring them into question with parenthesis. I recognize the genres, but I think they are altogether silly.
Now let's get this awkward ball rolling...
This Friday something very exciting is happening, there is a movie coming out that will either stand as an anomaly in history, or change the face of "Christian" media for years to come. Blue Like Jazz. If you have been hiding under a rock for the past few months you might have missed this. Take heart, it's not too late. This Friday Blue Like Jazz will be opening in select theaters across the country, which is really a rather large miracle.
The movie had some problems getting off the ground. As Donald Miller (the author of Blue Like Jazz the book) and Steve Taylor (the producer of the movie) went around the country giving the sales pitch to investors they ran into a problem that more and more artists are finding themselves in, it was either too Jesus or not Jesus enough. In the end they had a big Christian investor (does not need parenthesis because it refers to an actual person) who backed out because he was afraid to have his name attached to the film (we'll get to why later on). So for a while it seemed that three years of vision and creativity were about to be abandoned, then something fantastic happened.
Two fans of both Taylor and Miller pulled their brains together and started a Kickstarter campaign. Kickstarter is an online financial fundraising site for artistic projects. A goal is set for each project that must be reached if the project would like to receive any money from contributions. The response was overwhelming. In 40 days (allow me to be cliché and draw some sort of biblical number reference) the movie emerged from the wilderness, empowered by $345,000 of entirely fan based funding, making it the largest movie budget of it's kind.... ever. Needless to say, there were a lot of BLJ fans who wanted to see this thing happen. A later Kickstarter campaign raised another $40,000 or so to help pay for distribution costs.
There is some controversy swirling around this movie. For some it's because it was a half syllable away from reaching an R rating. The movie is after all about a Christian (again person) kid going to college at Reed in Portland, Oregon; loosely based on Miller's own experiences. Reed College is self-claimed as the most godless college in North America. The movie is trying to at least reasonably portray what life there is like. Christian's don't typically admit that they like swearing. So this upsets people.
The second item is a more recent fatwa (as Steve Taylor called it) against BLJ by Sherwood Baptist Church. They said that they would not work with anyone who chooses to work with BLJ. Taylor pointed out that the distribution company they work with is the same one that distributed The DaVinci code. Sherwood Baptist also requested that BLJ trailers would not be played beside trailers for the upcoming movie "October Baby." Steve Taylor's responses to these things were both gracious and sarcastic. Just Google, "Steve Taylor response to Sherwood Baptist" and you can find his comments. Basically, some Christians as well as "Christian" movie makers are not to happy about what Miller and Taylor are trying to do.
I think this movie is important, very important and this is why. I think that good art communicates something in a way that makes you tilt your head and say, "huh, that's neat." I think great art makes people react to it strongly in both positive and negative ways. If I read a poem that said that married men should be loving fathers and husbands to a group of elderly people in a nursing home, they would nod and tell me stories. If I played Cat Steven's "Cat's in the Cradle" (Go listen to it) to the same room of old men whose children had grown and left them in a nursing home they would weep. Blue Like Jazz is "Cat's in the Cradle" for $345,000 worth of my generation. I fully expect there will be well aimed arrows of truth, communicated in profound ways, that sink deep into hearts and let them know they aren't alone. I think, if you want to understand something about me (scary thought) you should go see this movie.
I have been ranting about "Christian" art for some time now. I don't regret this, but Donald Miller once said that if you see a problem you shouldn't simply complain, but offer solutions. I think this is week is a small way that I can do that. So this week I'll be attempting to talk about and promote my personal definition of GREAT CHRISTIAN ART! I realize a lot of this is subjective, but I'm not necessarily just going with what I like, I'm going with what tries to communicate depth in profound, not cliché ways.
So here is my sales pitch for today. Go see Blue Like Jazz this Friday. The better it does on opening day, the more theaters will pick it up nationwide. Consider this Friday an opportunity to vote for great "Christian" art.
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