Books on Culture: Gray Matters, week four

I attended a Christian college that requires students to abstain from social dancing, alcohol, and— believe it or not—R-rated movies. I had no desire to dance and I understood the prohibition against alcohol, but no R-rated movies? As a savvy and sophisticated eighteen year-old who was quite fond of his freedoms, this prohibition was too much.

I signed the required form, but I had no intention of honoring it. I wasn’t about to go away to college and find myself with fewer freedoms than I had experienced at home. I packed up my collection of R-rated movies and brought them to campus with me.

One of my suitemates also brought his movie collection. Apparently, he had failed to read the aforementioned form, and naively presented his contraband for our RA to peruse—many of which bore the prohibited “R” rating. I wanted to intervene, but it all happened too quickly.

“You know I have to confiscate these, right?” Our RA seemed almost as shocked as I.

“What do you mean?” My friend was stunned.

“You’re not allowed to have R-rated movies.”

“What? You have to be kidding me!”

“It’s a rule. You signed the form. Didn’t you read it?”

My friend looked at me for confirmation and I just shook my head sadly.

Minutes later, the RA left with most of his movies. We watched in shock as he carried away some of our favorite stories—The Matrix, Fight Club, Braveheart, among others.

“Don’t worry,” I assured my friend. “I have a lot of those same movies in my room. You can watch mine.”

****

The third section of Brett McCracken’s Gray Matters: Navigating the Space betwen Legalism and Liberty focuses on “Watching,” and it is clearly a topic McCracken, a film critic with an M.A. from UCLA in cinema and media studies—knows well. He readily admits that his faith has been deeply enriched by this area of culture.

McCracken also acknowledges that “... of all the areas of culture that have elicited passionate and wide-ranging responses from Christians, cinema is perhaps the most contentious.”

Despite the contentious history that exists between Christians and Hollywood, McCracken’s book not only strives to identify a balance between legalism and liberty, but it also offers a plea for readers to engage with this crucial area of culture.

“Film is a medium too powerful to be approached flippantly or simplistically, from one direction or another. It deserves to be reckoned with in a deeper and more thoughtful way, and with a conscience.”

I suspect McCracken wouldn’t approve of my alma mater’s blanket prohibition of R-rated films. But, on the other hand, he does admit there is value in leaving some things unwatched, insisting that our focus should be on being “more thoughtful, discerning consumers, willing to go deeper in our engagement and appreciation of the gray areas of culture, while also knowing our limits and keeping our compass pointed in the direction of holiness.”

McCracken says it’s essential for Christians to recognize two things:

1. That a line of “too far” does exist.
2. That line is different for everyone.

If the goal is to never see anything that could be harmful for us, then I suppose it makes sense to avoid all R-rated movies. But is that the goal?

This quote from McCracken sums up my feelings better than anything else I could add:

“There is truth to be found—sometimes most clearly—in the midst of, or on account of, darkness. Should we wallow in it? No. Should we seek it out? Surely not. But should we bear with it to some extent, toward the end of experiencing art? Probably.”

On Monday mornings in December, we are dipping into the gray. We’ve been working our way through Brett McCracken’s book, discussing the four gray areas he covers in Gray Matters: eating, pop music, movies, and alcohol. I hope you’ll join us for some good discussion. Next week, writer John Blase finishes us up with a discussion on "Drinking." Just in time for New Year's celebrations.

Image by Cheryl Coward. Used with permission. Sourced via Flickr. Post by Tyler Charles, Campus Minister at Ohio Wesleyan University.