Thursday, October 20, 2005

Blogging Narnia

So, this morning I went to a sneak-preview of the upcoming Disney production of The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, held at an Episcopal church in the suburban northeastern reaches of the city. A postcard had arrived in the mail a few weeks back promoting the preview, sponsored by the folks at Narniaresources.com. It was slick, the website was slick, and it was free, so I signed myself up, for a meeting to share resources for outreach or teaching, for leaders of “schools, churches, groups and organizations.”

All Souls Episcopal turned out to be on one of those temporary tent-like prefab structures, often used as revival tents around these parts, you know, the ones that look like a giant Hershey’s kiss, surrounded by a newly paved parking lot, with some 30-40 vehicles. The crowd was almost entirely white (except for yours truly), across the age spectrum, with more men than women (you won’t see that at a Catholic event!). Turns out there were two other Catholic parishes represented, one local, and another from some 90 miles away to the north in the Diocese. I spotted one collar, most likely an Episcopal priest.

The preview itself was fine: a slightly longer version of the theatrical trailer, a few behind-the-scenes interviews with the director and production crew. Richard Taylor and the folks at WETA (who designed stuff for LOTR) are behind this movie too, as is New Zealand, and some of the Narnian monsters are quite reminiscent of Middle Earthly orcs (a lot of what was shown is available on the movie’s website). The cinematography will definitely be terrific. It certainly looks like it’s going to be a treat.

There followed a brief presentation on the various materials that were being given to us, gratis, by the folks at Narniaresources. A slew of promotional stuff – posters, postcards (um, apparently they’re called “buckslips” – “the perfect small piece to tell your friends about the movie and/or your event, door-hangers; a slick “event box” with a sample kit of all the above; a resource DVD and educator’s guide to follow; suggestions on how to incorporate the release of the movie into the life of your congregation and mission – book discussions, events exploring the Biblical connections in the movie, a Turkish delight party, showing the preview in your service (!), designing a Christmas service around the movie (!!), creating sermons on the movie (and if you submit your sermon, you might win a trip for two to England), neighborhood promotional drives, etc. etc. etc. An overwhelming torrent of slickly designed STUFF.

I have to confess that this was my first real encounter, from the inside, so to speak, of the mass-marketing muscle of American evangelical Christianity. The cynical tapes started at once. Gosh, how much money is being spent on this? Where’s it coming from? (Narniaresources is a division of Motive Marketing: Marketing Movies to Niche Markets. Well they’re doing well (And Disney might get a chance to redeem its image as the demon-spawn of the evangelical world). Besides, it’s so darned American. All this paper, this flashy stuff, these resource guides and manuals and DVDs and planning timetables. All designed to … what … get someone into church? Bring them to Jesus? This naïve belief that we can facilitate and plan and task and organizationalize (oh I love the verbing that occurs in these contexts!) an encounter with the living God? Don’t provide a neat little road map from Narnia to the Bible to eternal life! Don’t package this whole darn thing, please! Connect the dots, you know, and get those nice Sunday School answers – God, Jesus, Bible (and, if you’re Catholic, Church). Salvation by committee, redemption through Power Point. It’s slick. It’s oily. It’s phony. It’s like a used-car salesman. Gah! Just let the story speak, with its own power!

And yet.

Well, first of all, as Catholics, we can learn a huge whole lot. I was reminded of Fr. Bob’s talk from Fire at the Beach, “From maintenance to mission.” How mission means not just focusing our energies on our members, on those who’re already “in,” so to speak (one of our parishioners, a relatively recent convert from Protestantism, said after that talk, “This is new?”). If we really believe what we say, that through the Church (warts, sinfulness, institutional arrogance, hypocrisy, internecine wrangling, and all), one does, indeed encounter the living Lord; that, in the words of the Second Vatican Council, the Church is, truly the sacrament of the Lord, then, sure – anything and everything can be an evangelical opportunity, an opportunity to share the Good News of life in Christ (Of course, a huge part of the problem for Catholics is this large slew of uncatechized members, who are definitely “mission territory” so to speak). And everything in the culture can become an opportunity for this. Especially the release of the celluloid version of those beloved books of Lewis.

If this leads to a genuine encounter with the Lord, with lives changed and transformed, well, then, that’s why we’re here, right? (Those darned prejudices of mine, this residual cynicism about evangelicals.)

So, I carted back the mound of marketing, buckslips and all. Back at the office, I skimmed through, admittedly with some trepidation, one of the little booklets (“Getting to know Aslan,”) that is basically, a little tract on why one needs Jesus, and how much God loves us. It wasn’t at all as bad as I’d feared. A little incomplete perhaps (The Word of God is mentioned as a way in which “Jesus’ presence continues to endure.” No mention of the Eucharist, of course), and maybe a bit too focused on just the individual. Not quite just self-help. Very suburban (No mention of the intimate connection between following Jesus and concern for the poor and injustice in the world, for instance). And, of course, one doesn’t expect a mention of the Mother of God in any of this (well, Lewis avoids that in Mere Christianity as well). Still, pretty decent.

Ok. Chalk this up to an ecumenical lesson learned. Maybe planning something around the movie isn’t so horrible.

Of course, it won’t be phony. Suggestions welcome.

[And, for those who care, Barb Nicolosi at Church of the Masses share her impressions after seeing a preview of more-or-less the final cut of the Narnia movie. Oh, and this sad, but true, comment in a slightly later post on the same preview event: “Note that I was the only Catholic invitee in the room...evidence that Catholic leaders are pretty much worthless at rallying their troops....oh for the healing of the Reformation!”]

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your observations and comments on film marketing, promotion and its view of evangelization is no surprise. The first goal of a finished production is to sell tickets. If you can sell tickets through evangelization (similar to Mel Gibson's Lenten movie) then even the better.

My personal experience with the film industry is similar to most businesses – the ultimate goal is to make a profit. By taking advantage of the evangelical protestant churches to help market the film and bring record ticket sales, then even the better for the film maker. If it was not for Gibson’s marketing efforts and success, then this approach would not be considered.

What upsets me is the focus on the individual and new converts. Maybe the movie industry can relate greatly to one finding their spiritual journey. This could be through Christianity, Buddhism or New Age karma moon rocks. It doesn’t involve a community or a group of individuals, but a process of one discovering one’s self.

Celebrating the individual is American as mom and apple pie. Look at the history of America – we celebrate individual heroes from presidents, business men and other “rugged individuals” how overcame adversity via luck and/or hard work. Rarely do you hear or see stories about the work of many achieving a common goal. Life, liberty and the pursuit of individual happiness is the mantra for some. Maybe it’s too hard to tell a story about a group of people because an individual has trouble understanding/relating to a role within the group. But I digress.

Many of the mega Christian churches growing in the US focus solely on growing their numbers with new members. They anticipate attrition and consider that a result of their evangelization efforts. Instead of celebrating two new members who grasp the faith and understand what they believe, they may accept baptizing 50 members who have a weak understanding of Christianity. If they leave the church, the mega church may be disappointing, but at least they are baptized members of Christ and have the ability to be “saved” in the future. Of course, I may be wrong with these observations. Regardless, there are other issues that Christian mega churches have as well, but I won’t digress in that direction either.

If a church’s goal is to acquire new members, they need a marketing tool to gather the faithful to the door. If they can provide marketing materials with their church information at the movie theater or mailings to their home inviting them to the movie, then they may acquire interest. These churches are on Mission-mode.

Though being on Mission-mode, some church groups grab immediately what’s being spoon fed because other independent Christian Churches are doing it or they don’t have the time and energy to develop their own mission focus (something is better than nothing mentality). Why risk another small fundamentalist church gather you new members. Thus, no thought or pray is done on what is being offered by the marketing group.

I personally find it offensive for ministers to provide sermons based upon the Movie (marketing ploy) and enter it into a contest. Then one adds the slick marketing that’s professional and jazzy, it entices people for the wrong reason. They may join because the perceived “professionalism” of something bigger than themselves instead of the calling of the Spirit. But, like most Americans, we like the slick, impressive marketing ploy. Just add the word “sale”, “new and improve”, “latest and greatest”, “hot” or “fashionable” to the materials. It will then be similar to other ad campaigns one finds in the newspapers and television.

Think of it! A mailer can say the following (note sarcasms):

Join our Church to the new and improved rendition of CS Lewis’ story at the local theater. It’s the latest and greatest family movie and bound to be a big sale for an Oscar nomination. After the showing, join the discussions on our fashionable Christian faith and learn why many more are personally discovering Christ. If you’re already a Christian, learn the hot discussion topics to share this film with others.

Unfortunately you may see the marketing efforts to be palatable to the protestant groups without any marketing efforts for Catholic organizations. This is additional proof that the Catholic Church is not strong in Mission-mode. Maintenance-mode is what we are currently focusing upon. I quite surprised at your invitation to the event. But if, by chance, all the Catholic Churches in the region received an invite and only saw a select handful attend, it further testifies to the lack of mission focus activity within the Catholic Church.

Any way…I may be incorrect with a lot of my observations and welcome to receive comments.

Sincerely,

Dogwood

Anonymous said...

I don't really know what you expected. Like everything else the protestant's subvert catholic tradition and hollywood is now realising what an untapped market christians are. I am alitte more upset with hollywood direct marketing of Narnia to christians. Chronicles of Narnia is popular with every group of people. The story stands on it's own merits and would never be a reason for conversion. It was just a story C.S lewis told his grandkids and became one of the most cherished childrens storys' of all time. Judge the movie on it's entertainment value and not much else.

Fr. Gaurav Shroff said...

Mike: I don't know how you can be so confident that Lewis story "would never be a reason for conversion." For all one knows, God can use Mein Kampf to inspire conversion. The ways of the Lord are mysterious. Narnia is not Mein Kampf, and no, Lewis did not write it primarily as an apologetic tract. Yet, Lewis' work is quite apologetic, Mere Christianity the most self-consciously so. He is rightly regarded as one of the modern greatest apologists of the Chriistian faith. So, can the reliease of this movie, Disney's motives notwithstanding, not be an invitation to all of us for deeper conversion?

But yes, I agree, I am more comfortable with story being story than being packaged.


Dogwood: I agree overall. Disney has clued into the potential market (I don't think Gibson intended for The Passion to become this big evangelical draw. It turned out that way for sure. And yes, Hollywood took note. But that's an aside.) The question is: can one use some of this hype, motivated by the lure of lucre no doubt, and not the salvation of souls, legitimately, as an evangelical tool? If so, what shape does that take?

My thoughts betrayed a discomfort with the direct "you believe this in order to be saved" approach of evangelical Christianity. I remain suspicious and cynical, for all the reasons that you allude to (and more). I would guess (digressing again), that many of those present at yesterday's gathering would be quite uncomfortable with the turn to the dialogical, for instance, of the Catholic Church, witn Nostra Aetate and the whole question of the meaning of mission and evangelization since the Council.

I tend to be more in the "dialogical" camp. Yet, the point that the Popes make again and again, that dialogue and evangelization are not opposed. I don't think I've completely understood that, or understood how to articulate that. I see a tension, for sure. And I readily confess that if one doesn't believe that there is something unique, different and indeed (and I use this term guardedly) better about following Christ, then, well, one shouldn't.

All that said, back to Narnia (TM). The two responses that I noted yesterday -- cynicism, and an admiration for evangelical zeal, probably combine to something on the lines of: here's an opportunity. Let's use it. Wisely. Not to be megachurch. But to be, well, us.

The question still remains: what does that look like?

assiniboine said...

He didn't write it for his grandchildren either. He didn't have any. Douglas and David Gresham were still teenagers when their stepfather C.S. Lewis died and David very much went his own way both before and after. However, Douglas's memoirs, "Lenten Lands: My Childhood with Joy Davidman and C.S. Lewis" is a wonderful account of what it was like to have such a stepfather, and how his life has been shaped by the experience.