NAIMA LETT – BLOG – HOLLYWOOD CHRISTIAN
Oh, Noah! Controversial New Film
© NaimaLett.com/blog
VIDEO © Paramount’s NOAH starring Academy Award® winner Russell Crowe
NOTHING LIKE A HOLLYWOOD film based a Bible story to get Christians all riled up!
Have we seen this much controversy since Mel Gibson produced The Passion of the Christ a decade ago? We’re divided like the Red Sea! And I am grateful to be invited back to alma mater Dallas Theological Seminary to discuss this and other current films with Dr. Darrell Bock next week on The Table Podcast.
Oh, Noah!
What’s so controversial about Noah? Isn’t he the gentle, aged dude with the long white beard calling all animals into an ark two-by-two? Not so much in Paramount’s $125 million re-telling of the story by Academy Award® nominated directed Darren Aronofsky (Black Swan), starring Academy Award® winning actor Russell Crowe (Gladiator, Les Misérables). Gentle, elderly dude not included.
Christian Britches in a Twitch
But that’s not what’s polarizing. What’s got Christian britches all in a twitch is the movie based on a Bible story, at first glance, doesn’t seem very biblical.
In fact, Paramount recently graciously added the following disclaimer on its website and promotions: “The film is inspired by the story of Noah. While artistic license has been taken, we believe that this film is true to the essence, values and integrity of a story that is a cornerstone of faith for millions of people worldwide. The biblical story of Noah can be found in the book of Genesis.”
Biblical story in the Bible
In case you missed that, the filmmakers are very clear: the BIBLICAL story of Noah can be found… drum roll please… in the BIBLE.
As I wrote in my post last year, Hollywood’s Flood of Bible Films, I’m not sure why our expectation of Hollywood (which is my family:-) is to produce 100% jot-and-tittle biblically accurate Bible films. When has that ever happened?
Our own Christian filmmakers didn’t keep the jot-and-tittle biblical accounts in the recent Son of God film, which was re-cut from the History Channel’s The Bible Series, that our faith-filled community pushed to the highest TV mini-series ratings for 2013. Congratulations Mark Burnett (Survivor) and Roma Downey (Touched by an Angel), who is being honored at the national Christian Women in Media conference next week, of which I’ve been invited to share a second year. We are supportive of their success. However, if our own faith family produces derivatives, why are we livid at “Hollywood”?
I’m seeing Noah in IMAX
My husband and I are going to see Noah this weekend… in IMAX. Why? The same reason we saw The Avengers, Avatar, Transformers, Dark Knight, Superman, XMen, Wolverine and Spider Man in IMAX: they are all grand scale, artistically-engaging, well-made films.
Before You Trash Me
Before you throw me under the bus, as so many of my Hollywood peers have experienced, please know that I take very seriously my relationship with God and His Word, which is alive and active in my life. I have devoted my entire life to the communication of God’s Word and Love made manifest through the sacrifice Jesus made on that cross. I am neither double-minded nor simple-minded.
I have had the privilege of serving in vocational ministry and studying and teaching God’s Word consistently for over 15 years. That’s why I know immediately the deviations in Son of God, Prince of Egypt, Passion of the Christ, and Evan Almighty, which nobody boycotted, by the way. I’ve been fortunate and blessed by God to study at top seminaries while pursuing a professional career in Hollywood. This is not some flippant post from the right wing or left wing or any wing, for that matter.
Hollywood Christian, Not Easily Offended
I am both Hollywood and Christian, and I am just not easily offended. I am wise as a serpent and gentle as a dove. Our industry (not our faith) is propelled forward by the same motivation that the rest of America’s Fortune 500 companies are. There are executives right now trying to figure out how to capitalize off our Christian dollar. Hello, we are seen as a financial base to be wooed and marketed. We’ve made independent Christian filmmakers with hardly any experience and not-the-greatest products wealthy. I’ve seen firsthand studios vying for a piece of that pie.
Nobody ever said that piece would be biblically accurate. It would be great if it were, but I don’t expect it. Do you have a right to express your outrage against Noah and vote at the box office? Absolutely! But I have a better idea. Take your friends, hopefully both believers and non-believers, and sit down afterwards over dinner and talk about the movie, what’s accurate, what’s not. Have a ball!
Or better yet, send us some excellent screenwriters who know how to write a blockbuster film that is of great quality and keeps the integrity of God’s Word. Pray for us. Send us the best and brightest to compete. And support those of us who are trying to create material that speaks more Truth. Anybody that wants to invest $125 million into Lett’s Rise! for the production of our Confessions of a Hollywood Christian series, please let us know! It’s easy to sit around and complain. Let’s do something!
Light of the World
The reason I’m not boycotting Noah is because I want to be a part of the discussion and you cannot discuss a film you have not seen. I also know who I am. Jesus didn’t say “Hey Hollywood, you’re the light of the world.” He said His followers are. I am. We are!
I do not expect Noah to be any more biblically accurate than Gravity or 12 Years A Slave. Paramount has already told us what to expect. But will it be an astounding film? Yes! And if we can spend money and go see Son of God in all of its creative license, we can go see Noah too. And we can agree to disagree. I am entitled to my opinion, as you are yours.
Bible in a Year
And if you’re really stirred up by all this Bible talk, join our Hope in the Hills and extended internet family as we go through the Bible in a year, reading or listening 15 minutes daily using the Chronological Reading Plan on Bible.com. We are in Book #7, Joshua, and will make it to Book #8, Judges, by the end of the month.
Are you going to see Noah?
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Lots of love from the LaLa,
Naima
Rev. Naima Lett, D.MIN, ABD
The Hollywood Christian®
Author of coming release Confessions of a Hollywood Christian®
Yes I do plan on seeing this movie. I like to know what Christian and non christian think about the movie.
Wonderful, Mr. Jackson.
Let us know what you think after you see it.
Blessings!
Ok, so I know I am really late in responding to this blog, however, I just got an chance to see “Noah” yesterday and boy I was AMAZED.
Why?
First, I totally agree with Min. Lett, instead of us complaining about Hollywood’s accounts of OUR STORES, the WORD, we need to do it OURSELVES. Or support those who are and can make a difference. The bible command US to go” into the world”, not the other way around.
Secondly, if you are able to see the “bigger picture” ( no pun intended) , to me , there was so much God in the movie. I was truly amazed to see the creativity of not only the producers but the AWESOMENESS of our God. When you think about it how in the world did Noah get ALL THOSE ANIMALS of every kind, i mean every kind of animals in that ark, Wait, how did he and his sons even build the ark? Yes, the rock / angels thing was way off but how often has God tried to speak to us and we didn’t listen. How often has he tried to send us help and we turned the other way. Yes, would angels ever leave the heavenly, i don’t know but if they did and could would they be able to with stand all the evilness in their angelic body? Whose to say?
For me, I found it pretty thought provoking and a little prophetic to say the least. Yup, I truly enjoyed it and made me more conscious of how INCREDIBLE OUR GOD REALLY IS.
Side bar, the harshness of Noah was a little disturbing but I understood the producer/writers reasoning. Good vs. Evil got to have it to make a good story
Hi Naima,
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Let me explain why I don’t exactly agree with you.
While I think it is great that Hollywood is recognizing a market for Christian films, I don’t think it helps when the Church supports films which stray too far from the text. The most seen film in history is The Jesus Film and it portrayed the exact text of the Gospel of Luke. Not a single line was uttered that was not in the Luke’s gospel. It was picked up by a major ministry and is still being shown all around the world in many different languages.
If we support a movie like Noah which, as I understand it, not only strays from the text but does so in ways that are offensive to Christians, then we are no longer an audience to be wooed but a group of people to be exploited. We are not obligated to see movies about Bible characters if the movie is not honoring to God or makes faith seem unreasonable.
I’m pleased you have a ministry to Hollywood. It is greatly needed. But please don’t allow yourself to be conformed to their mold. Stand up for God and mold Hollywood to the truth.
Hi Ron,
Nice to meet you. Thanks for dropping by and sharing your thoughts. Dialogue is good as we agree to disagree. You are entitled to your opinion, as I am mine. I don’t require you to think as I do in order to treat you with respect and love.
Love is not easily offended. Therefore, I choose to not be easily offended by your last statement which presupposes that because I am going to see NOAH, I am somehow compromising my faith and not standing up for God.
Truthfully, I am not sure how we as a family of Christ get to that conclusion, but I do pray for us and and look forward to the day when we can have healthy, vibrant discussions without attacking one another’s faith walk.
My husband and I stand for Christ every day on film sets, street corners, in churches. We take our call seriously to speak God’s Word, show God’s love and make disciples of all nations.
That’s our responsibility: to speak the truth in love. How can we speak the truth in love about a movie that we have not seen? We aren’t going to see NOAH because we “support” it or because we believe it has to be biblically accurate. We are going to see NOAH like we see every other film (Superman, Batman, X-Men, Spider Man, 12 Years A Slave, Gravity, Philomena, God is Not Dead, Heaven is For Real, Son of God) to experience art, engage culture, and be a part of the conversation. I review films all the time. See Making Sense Of 2014 Awards Season.
Kevin and I do not have the luxury of opting out of engaging our culture. That’s not how ministry works here in our region.
I do not expect Hollywood films coming out of our studio system to be biblically accurate. Would it be nice? Yes! Do I expect it? No. But I also do not require a film to be bible-based for me to see it and/or glean truth from it or talk about it.
I believe the Jesus film, 1979, was produced by a ministry. Actually, the copyright reads Inspirational Films, Inc. That would be considered an independent film, outside of the studio system, which means it was independently financed and did not depend upon being green-lit for production by folks who may not agree with its content. Let’s pray for more independent films and/or more folks within our studio system to hunger and thirst for Truth.
I am neither exploited nor offended by NOAH because I never expected this film to accurately portray God’s Word or my faith. My faith is not rocked one iota because a filmmaker who does not believe as I believe makes a movie about a Bible character that I may not agree with. We pray for filmmakers and do life with them and love them as God loves them because that’s what we are called to do and because we too are filmmakers and we understand the journey.
We are not obligated to see any film, period. But if we want to earn a place at the table of discussion with the millions of people who will see these films and help guide those conversations towards Truth, we must see the film.
I’ll be able to discuss this further after I see the film, and I hope that others reading this post will go see it as well and join the conversation.
Naima,
I think you will find this discussion of the film between Jeffrey Zweerink, Hugh Ross and Ken Samples. Ezekiel calls Noah one of the three greatest and most righteous men who ever lived. Hugh Ross commented that one of the reasons is because Noah maintained his righteousness in a very unrighteous culture.
http://www.reasons.org/podcasts/i-didnt-know-that/special-scholars-thoughts-on-the-movie-noah
Ron,
Again, thanks for taking the time. I am grateful that all 3 scholars saw the film before commenting on it, and they are in many ways saying the very same thing that I wrote in my blog post.
Within the first couple of minutes of the clip, Hugh says: “As Christians watching the movie, we need to see this as an opportunity to engage people in the productive conversation, ‘What is the story of Noah?’, ‘What is the story of the flood?’…”
Jeffrey responds “You make a really good point there, Hugh. Yeah, we could probably spend a lot of time sitting around talking about what we thought was inaccurate and where they could have portrayed better, but at the end of the day, it’s a great opportunity for Christians if we understand what the biblical text has to say, to engage in that conversation and to point out or to have a dialogue about the movie said this, but Scripture says this. To just have that dialogue with people…”
Later, Ken says, “When I think about movies that depict the Bible or depict the life of Christ, I think our listeners should appreciate that Hollywood is always going to fill in the gaps. It’s difficult to tell a story as a movie without adding certain details. And I think anybody who goes to a movie and thinks ‘this is going to give me the straight scoop about what the Old Testament is’ is almost always going to be disappointed…”
That’s what I asserted in my blog. We all agree that this Paramount film is not biblically accurate, but as Christians watching the film, this is an opportunity for us to be a part of the productive conversation and tell the truth about the biblical account. The scholars who are on this link all saw the film so that they could dialogue about it. I will see it as well so that I can talk about it with authority based on what I actually saw, not based on what other people said.
“The reason I’m not boycotting Noah is because I want to be a part of the discussion and you cannot discuss a film you have not seen”
Naima – I agree 100%! I was sent a blog post a few days ago cirticizing the new Movie “God’s Not Dead”.
It was written by a Christian and (apparently) seminary student.
He critiques the film, explained what he didn’ like about it -and then stated he had not seen the movie! And was not planning to see it based on the three or four reviews he read!
One of the things I wrote to my friend, who posted the blog article o Facebook was this was problematic.
How can you critique something you have not seen?
Proverbs 18:13 tells us “He who answers a matter before he hears it, It is folly and shame to him.”
I am with you Naima…i too plan on seeing it also so that when I am asked about it I can respond honestly and intelligently – and so that any critique I have will have crediablitly.
Thanks Mike!
So, so true.
I firmly believe we are most effective when we engage our peers and culture and jump into the dialogue.
As followers of Christ, we know the Truth. Why would we jump out of the conversation?
If we who know the Truth do not see the film, how can we reveal Truth about it?
Look forward to chatting after we see it.
Noah offers a great opportunity to engage others in this conversation about the truth of Christianity, but we need to see the movie in order to intelligently enter the conversation. Unfortunately, we will have to decide between the importance of being prepared for those conversations, or “voting” with our money. Since engaging people in discussions about Christ is more important, I am joining you by going to see the movie. Thanks for your blog and the work you do in Hollywood.
Rick Schenker, President
Ratio Christi