As I write this, there is a big (somewhat) Christian film coming out. It’s part of an ongoing series, although, like most, I assumed it wasn’t. I haven’t brought myself to watch the trailer yet because I want to like it; however, the title gives me pause. There were three others before this, and for the most part, I enjoyed those. I supposed I couldn’t get away with not saying the title. As you may have already guessed, I’m referring to God’s Not Dead we the people.
Now I supposed I’m weird because, as I said, I enjoyed the first one, went to the theater and everything. Now, of course, it wasn’t a surprise that it would receive critique. But I assumed it would come from those outside the church, only to my dismay would also be received as my title says cringe. Because I guess I still have some innocence left to lose. Before we move on, we all know what it means but let’s get the google definition out of the way, shall we?
Cringe-:to feel disgusted or embarrassed and often show this feeling by a movement of your face or body. to make a sudden movement from fear of being hit or hurt.
You know that feeling; think about that episode of the office, “Scott’s Tots.” Hurts, Don’t it? Well, while it’s nothing new that Christian film or media, for that matter, has a negative association to it, it does bring me to question why? And not necessarily why a particular movie is bad because we can talk about that, but no, I’m curious if the cringe is natural.
We can talk about the bad plot, the acting, and especially how something is made. And for the most part, I’m not expecting much. For a lot of these productions, I know that they are working on a small budget and use all the help they can get. My church puts on a Christmas play every year, and I co-write and act in it. Last year due to covid, we filmed and made a movie out of it, but I don’t think I would hurt anybody’s feelings when I say ant nobody is getting an Oscar for that. We worked hard on it, but the people I see enjoy the most were the people who knew us (Don’t worry if you’re curious, I’ll link it below). But if someone else came across it, I think they might also give it the medal of cringe-worthy gold.
And yeah, we filmed that whole thing on a bunch of iPhones, and to date, the most prominent critic is my mother. But even if you were to get past that, and say we did have quality production as well as A-list actors, would the simple fact that we are attempting to show the love of Christ be considered cringe already? That is to say, if you find yourself in a non-stop loving relationship with Jesus Christ, won’t someone who doesn’t share that relationship finds that weird? Even as I wrote that sentence, did it seem cringe-worthy or straight-up cheesy? Think of all the love stories we have today, from books to tv shows and love songs; no matter how much people criticize them (and I’m one of them), they will never go out of style. And perhaps because we all know how important love is, and outside looking in, it can look embarrassing and foolish, but sometimes it’s best when it’s not put together right and has that non-photoshop feel to it.
And while yes, there is something to be said about creating in excellence, and we should strive to bring our best and let God’s gift be put to the best use. However, at the core of it, there’s a part of it that just is going to sound weird, it’s going to look foolish, and yeah, it might even be cringe, but if it’s genuine and sincere, then perhaps someone can be persuaded into a love that’s bigger than all of us.
Yes, I’m aware of how cheesy that last sentence is; deal with it.
