The Nominees Revealed and the Question for the Church

The announcement of this year's Academy Awards nominations always brings with it the usual debates.  Who surprised?  (Bardem!)  Who got snubbed?  (Nolan!)

Momentum.  Controversy.  Favourite.  Underdog.  Every year, all of these words are used to grapple with the Academy's picks.  In fact, I'm even sure that I'll address these issues as time draws nearer to the eventual opening of the envelopes.

Though really, the question for the Church today is something different...

"Should we care?"

Most people give a resounding 'No!' to this issue.  After all, the Oscars is really nothing more than an opportunity for Johnny Depp, Scarlett Johansson and Angelina Jolie to gear up in Versace and Prada and walk the red carpet.  It's frivolous fluff.  Besides, they haven't seen the movies anyways.

As a church, however, I don't think we should be so quick to tune out.

It will come as no surprise to you that, yes, I believe there is relevance hidden under the Gucci and gold for the church today.  Although the Academy has always been accused of being 'out of touch', the films that win (and are even nominated) demonstrate themselves to be cultural touch points.  Because everything is always a product of the time at which it is created, we learn a lot about the worldview and values of the dominant culture of our own time from its films.  Films like The Social Network, Inception, and The King's Speech are films which speak our moment in time (even if they're not set in it).  For the Church at large to ignore this fact is to miss an opportunity to engage Hollywood on their turf.

Art is a doorway to a culture.  The Apostle Paul knew that and would study the poetry and art of a city upon his arrival.  (Lest we forget the statue to the 'Unknown god'...)  As Christians, we have been called into our world with relevance and humble hearts.  We don't always like the messages we hear from the cinema--but that doesn't make them less relevant.  How can we truly speak the Kingdom of God into a culture if we aren't willing to listen to them first?

Yet, at the same time, I would also suggest that the answer to our question can also be 'No' as well.  (Though maybe not for the reason you'd expect.)  The truth is that, as essential as it is to grapple with the texts of the dominant culture, it doesn't hold a candle to the truth of the stories of those in our nearest proximity and community.  In other words, although understanding the theological values inherent within True Grit is a healthy exercise of the mind, it decreases in importance in light of our own ability to hear the voices of the people in our neighbourhood.  These are the stories that matter most.  To contemporize the Gospel, we must first engage our own culture.  The values in our area may be entirely different than those exemplified in this year's Oscar race.

As such, to wrestle with the texts of those worthy of even being mentioned with the phrase "Best Picture Nominee" needs to be vital exercise within the church if it is to stay relevant.  However, one must also not assume they understand the needs of their community simply because they are aware of those of the dominant culture.

And seriously, what does Christopher Nolan have to do to get a nomination for directing?  Throw him a bone, guys...