Hollywood is a commonly known area where many people’s favorite movies or TV shows take place and were made. Thousands of the most glamorous films are produced there every year. But do Hollywood’s films accurately represent what you believe in?
According to many people’s beliefs, religious morals are incorrectly shown in Hollywood films. A common religion portrayed in these films is Christianity. Many types of movies, including horror, comedy, action and drama, make comments, both negative and positive, about Christianity.
While there are some exceptions that are respectful to people’s faiths, a lot of times if someone is religious in a movie or show, it shows them negatively.
“I think if [movies] are going to portray a Christian, they have to be a buffoon or a big hypocrite,” Batavia Film and English teacher Josh Casburn said.
Christians often times feel misrepresented by Hollywood. Although these films can portray religion positively, they typically show inaccurate theology. Information being shown in a good way doesn’t mean that it’s true. This can be easily overlooked because it’s shown in a way that makes you feel good. It’s important to pay attention to small details to make sure that what you believe in is being portrayed well.
Knight of the Hunter and I Confess are examples of movies that display those of the Christian faith as the antagonists. They create these evil and false examples of Christians to make them appear as huge hypocrites. They teach others about having good morals to hold themselves accountable to, but then they do horrendous things themselves. Who wants to listen to such a hypocritical person like that?
The Christian factor in horror movies can oftentimes be confusing as to whether or not the theology is true in terms of the battle between good and evil. In this setting, it could be shown as a conflict between God and the devil. The fight between these sides often reveals the Christians’ negative traits in the form of a stereotype, such as being extremely judgmental and snobby to other people who don’t share the same faith as them.
“I’m not the biggest fan of Hollywood when it comes to Christian stuff, because I’ve seen a lot of movies where Christians are deemed crazy and insane, almost villainized in a way,” movie fanatic and sophomore Olivia Hatfield said. “I feel that’s the complete opposite of who Christians really are.”
Those of the Christian faith prioritize being good neighbors to others. The main goal is to better themselves while trying their best to be more like God and glorify Him. In the Bible, Jesus is the protagonist who spreads the gospel in a loving and forgiving way. This is what Christians want to try their best to be more like. While in some cases Christians are not like this, it’s important for them to try their best.
Hollywood can take these intentions out of context in their films. It’s obvious in this world that no one is perfect, including Christians. Just because nobody’s perfect doesn’t mean that Christians are crazy and insane.
While some movies show Christianity positively, it’s important to realize that many of these movies distort reality in many ways. Hollywood movies often have a perfect ending, which countless people can testify against. Life is far from perfect to many, but Hollywood likes to make it appear that way. This is where the distortion comes from.
58% of evangelicals believe that Christianity is shown negatively by Hollywood. Over half of evangelicals share the same opinion of feeling that they aren’t being represented well in Hollywood.
“So what’s interesting is I think in Hollywood media, there’s this phenomenon where evangelicals specifically are written more as hypocrites and knaves, but when you see Catholic characters, they often have more nuance,” according to Belgian pastor Thomas Sieberhagen in an article from the Talbot School of Theology.
A common strategy in Hollywood is portraying Christianity in a negative light, but they also show different denominations in different ways. Two different denominations of Christians can each believe in different things but share the common belief that Jesus is the son of God who died for our sins. Having some different beliefs from one another means that they are conveyed differently.
It can be extremely discouraging to see something you so strongly believe in being inaccurately demonstrated in a movie.
