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 “With great power comes great responsibility.” That’s a quote from Spiderman for you non-movie types, and it carries a great deal of truth. A similar statement can be found in the Bible, in Luke 12:48: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked” (NIV). It’s clear that those who have immense influence have an immense duty to use that influence in a correct way. But who, do you think, possesses this power? Who has the ability to change people’s minds and alter their opinions? In America, at least, this power lies with the media.

Our experiences and beliefs shape our opinions on issues. If one has encountered a particular situation before and has seen its consequences, then one automatically assumes that the same situation will always carry the same results, at least to a certain extent. Yet, there are many things that our mind has knowledge of that we have yet to experience. Our imagination, then, fills in what we have yet to feel and intimately know. Yet, in the modern age, our imagination has much less of a duty to accomplish. Movies and books have already filled the gap; and while one may not consciously associate what is seen in a movie or read in a book to what will happen in real life, these images can subconsciously sneak into one’s brain.

 

A simple example would be the mysterious world of spies and the CIA. Very few have had real-life ordeals with such people or organizations, but movies deal with them all the time. Whenever someone mentions “secret agent,” our minds automatically gravitate towards images of James Bond and Jason Bourne - not necessarily because these are valid representations of the truth, but because this is what we’ve been shown and imagined. Bond and Bourne are the only ties we have to the undercover world; and while we may realize that they are fantasy, we may never be able to easily break the connection between what is fiction and what is real simply because we do not have any idea of what “real” is. In situations like this, little harm will come as few of us will ever end up dealing with the real thing. But in more consequential areas (such as marriage relationships), an imagination and perception of false opinions can drastically affect our expectations and our subsequent reactions.

Filmmakers and writers are part of a larger group called artists. The dictionary defines art as “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination.” This definition alone proves the idiocy of believing such material. Art is itself a product of the imagination -  a single person’s imagination, in fact. So belief in this limits our ability to interpret things for ourselves.

 

But how do these people go about influencing our ideas? Well, they utilize simple emotional appeals. By creating likable characters that the audience sympathizes with, the creators of a piece of entertainment automatically generate an acceptance of these characters’ motives and desires. An example would be a film like Shooter. The buildup of injustice and the strengthening of the main character’s seeming integrity by the writers make the audience consent to his revengeful slaughter at the conclusion of the film. If this had been the first scene in the movie, one would have automatically been turned off by the character, no matter how his actions are justified in the remainder.

 

Artists have this power. They have to work around commonly accepted ideas of right and wrong, but they can change people’s opinions in smaller matters, and these changes can lead to larger transformations. Much of the world is in sin. Therefore, it can be assumed that most artists are unredeemed sinners. These are the people shaping the ideas of tomorrow, and that is a frightening reality.

The theme for this month’s issue is changing the world. We’re supposed to encourage you readers to make an impact on society. So, I implore you, become artists. People argue that art should be an objective observation of life, and that one should put personal opinions aside. But those who make art today are clearly not putting their attitudes aside, and theirs are the only ones heard.

Art needs Christians, but this does not mean that Christian art should be a sermon. Secular artists understand this concept with their own beliefs. They silently slip under our defenses and plant seeds of doubt there. Today’s Christian “artists” don’t seem to understand this truth. While the majority go around chiseling away at people’s ideas, we Christians come in with a sledge hammer and expect to bang our opinions into their heads. Audiences may not see the pebble, but they clearly perceive the boulder. People, generally speaking, don’t want to be changed. They don’t want their minds to be meddled with. Thus, they see the onslaught coming and prepare a defense. It is a common misconception that Christian movies must contain mentions of God in every other paragraph or sappy conversion scenes. But films like this only preach to the choir.

 

If we truly desire to affect our world using art, then we must adopt the strategies of the world and plant seeds of doubt in their beliefs rather than trying to force our way in and take complete, immediate control. The world needs God, and the world listens to artists. All we have to do is bridge the gap.

 

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