Christ and Pop Culture

Alan Noble wonders where all the good women are in ABC’s hit drama, Heroes.

Alan Noble sets us straight, especially those of us who enjoy setting people straight.

Alan Noble has had enough.

Rich and Alan discuss the merits and problems with the incredibly violent new Wii game from Sega, MadWorld.

Alan Noble kicks off Christ and Pop Culture’s ongoing E3 coverage with a consideration about the good and bad implications of watching Netflix with your XBox buddies.

This last week I saw two CGI movies which came highly recommended, Kung Fu Panda and WALL-E. While both films received relatively good reviews, only one told a compelling story, the other was filled with tired cliches and jokes interrupted with marketing moments. One was a genuinely well-made film, worthy of praise and the other could only be explained with the phrase, “it’s just a movie.”

Though Christians have spent a lot of time discussing sex and language in movies and books, we’ve generally devoted less effort to analyzing the effect of reading about or viewing violence. Here, two of our CAPC writers, Alan Noble and Carissa Smith, discuss these issues in relation to Blood Meridian.

Alan Noble on why it’s not best to just grin and bear it.

In the second half of his series, Alan Noble explores how “voting with our dollars” gives Christians a louder voice in the world.

As with many phrases, “vote with your dollars” appears to be a compelling statement, but its exact meaning is not entirely clear. And more importantly, the logic of this statement is obscured behind its rhetoric. Just what does it mean to “vote with your dollars” and is it really something we ought to be doing?

Alan Noble takes a look at the new Indy movie. When I first heard that Lucas and Spielberg were making a new Indiana Jones film, I wanted to track Lucas down and give him my $6.25 so I wouldn’t have to watch another classic franchise become lost to bad dialog and not-really-believable digital effects. I left our local movie theater 20 minutes ago and I am pleased to say that my fears were misplaced–sort of.

Alan Noble kicks off Narnia-Week with a lament of the portrayal of Aslan in film.

Alan Noble gives Grand Theft Auto a chance.

Alan Noble shares some practical ways for Christians everywhere to help improve the state of Christian music.

Alan Noble concludes a two-part series on how we can keep from getting carried away by this whole Pop Culture thing.

Alan Noble begins a two-part series on how we can keep from getting carried away by this whole Pop Culture thing.

Could an economic collapse be just what our nation needs?

Editor of Movieguide, Tom Snyder writes,”Just because the secular movie critics and secular elites in Hollywood don’t like some of the movies we pick does not mean that they are really bad movies within the categories in which we pick them. In that sense, ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS was a very entertaining, uplifting family movie that kids would enjoy. The mainstream critics trashed it, but the American audience, many of whom still have strong vestiges of their Christian heritage, even though not all of them may understand essential Christian doctrines like the sinlessness of Christ and the biblical doctrine of salvation by grace through faith, not by works, seemed to like the movie very much.”

Last week, Ted Baehr and the folks over at Movieguide.org held their 16th annual Faith and Values Awards Gala. The show is dedicated to awarding the best family-friendly films of the year and the best films for mature audiences. In addition, every year Baehr, chairman of The Christian Film and Television Commission, presents his statistical analysis of the Box Office profitability of films with Christian worldviews compared to those with non-Christian worldviews.

One of the remarkable aspects of our culture is that although we are inundated with advertisements all day long, we are often willing to pay for a tee-shirt or bumper sticker which advertises for someone. As Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes) once said, “A good shirt turns the wearer into a walking corporate billboard.” When we aren’t wearing an advertisement or sticking one to our bumper, we are often promoting an idea or belief which serves to identify us with a group: “I learned these 10 things from playing video games,” “war is wrong,” “gun control is unjust,” or even “Jesus saves!”