Art is a Lie.

I was raised in a Christian home with Christian ideals and a Christian viewpoint on what is right and wrong, which, I have to say, I am incredibly thankful for. My parents did an incredible job of raising me and I am eternally grateful to them for helping me turn into the man I should be and the man I will become. I went to Ecola Bible School last year, which was wonderful, and only reenforced those ideals that I had been raised in and even built more upon them, which was perfect timing in my life because during the previous year, I had started the typical "playing with the line of morality" that most teenagers go through. After last year, seeing that my whole world lined up with what right and wrong are, I had no problem holding onto those ideals.Then I spent a summer on the road, being a mentor and friend to various younglings at 8 different camps, only reenforcing everything I had learned that year.

But then I came to film school. I went from an environment where everyone I knew believed the exact same thing I did. (Now, that probably sounds like a cultish environment or whatever, but I assure you, it's not. When people come together to learn more about why they believe the way they believe, especially when that way is the truth in life, it's mind boggling how much God works.) First of all, Christianity feels different here in the mid-west than it does back west. I can't put my finger on what exactly it is (trust me, I've been trying to figure it out for 6 months now), but it just is different. Of course, it also may be that I have no ties to this place previously, and that I've going to a school where pretty much everyone around me believes something different. Anyways, as I dove into the world of film, I discovered that life isn't as black and white as I had previously thought.

First off, the very idea of art is a lie. Art is taking something, anything, and using it to invoke a particular emotion, thus manipulating the audience. And I would say that film is an extreme of that. In my opinion, film is at least one of the most powerful of the arts, if only because it is the furthest reaching and causes the most impact on people's lives. So if art is a lie, does that make it right? Well I would say that it's a different type of lie. After all, God is perfect AND an artist. I believe it's what you do with that art that determines whether the lie that you are telling through your art is wrong or not.

Which opens up a whole other discussion: What should we be ok with watching? We accept seeing so much violence in movies, yet threaten death at the thought of seeing sexual content or homosexual content in movies. God says that whether it's a small lie, committing adultery, or killing someone, it's all bad. It's all sin and all separates us from God. For example, one of my favorite movies is "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World". Many Christian people condemn the movie because of the homosexual content it contains, yet, we are ok watching something like "James Bond" or "Firefly" because it's "not as bad". I disagree. Frankly, "James Bond" and "Firefly" are WAY worse, content wise.

Going beyond that, here's another question: As an artist, what is ok and not ok to do in art, specifically film? Where is the line between artistic choice and immorality? For example, if I put swearing into my film, will it lessen of intensify the impact? A film example of this is the contrast between "Ides of March" and "The Grey". "Ides of March" had quite a bit of swearing in it, which really put me off because it didn't seem to fit the movie. I felt like they were putting it in there just to put it in. Meanwhile, in "The Grey", there was twice as much swearing in it as "Ides", but it fit the movie, and thus made the movie feel more accurate, powerful, and meaningful.

These are all things I'm grappling with this year. If art is a lie, where is the line? Should I be even be paying attention to the line? Or should I be trying to stay away from the line completely? If I do that, will my art's impact on the world suffer because of it? What should be my goal? And how am I supposed to ultimately use it for God's glory?

My entire goal in life is to praise and reflect God in my craft, without shoving what I believe in people's faces. I believe that God has put a passion in me for using film to reach people where they are. And I desire that so incredibly much.
But life isn't black and white. As much as I want it to be, it won't be until Christ comes back. So until then, I will keep seeking the answers I desire, and pray that God will show me them, so that I may apply them to the craft I am shaping, so that I may be used to create the most impact in people's lives.