Download or read book God Man and Hollywood written by Mark Royden Winchell and published by Intercollegiate Studies Institute. This book was released on 2008 with total page 504 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It takes no great powers of observation to see that Hollywood has long been far to the left of the general American public. Even in stories that have no overt political content, the social and moral assumptions in films rated from GP to R are often at odds with the deeply held values of most of the viewing audience. But that's not the whole story, argues the literary and cultural critic Mark Royden Winchell in God, Man, and Hollywood. A surprising number of films articulate culturally unfashionable attitudes--and it is from these movies that we learn the most about our society and ourselves. Beginning with D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation and ending with Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, Winchell reveals the politically incorrect notions at the heart of eighteen classic films, including Ben-Hur, Intruder in the Dust, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, Patton, The Deer Hunter, A Clockwork Orange, Gangs of New York, and Gettsyburg. Along the way, he shows how a number of filmmakers, sometimes unwittingly, have produced unconventionally honest explorations of the nature and meaning of race relations, love, family, community, worship, and other aspects of our shared human experience. Winchell ends with synoptic assessments of an additional one hundred politically incorrect films, from About Schmidt to Zulu. The result is an indispensable film guide showing that sometimes even Hollywood has done better than we typically give it credit for.
Download or read book Between Heaven Hollywood written by David A.R. White and published by HarperChristian + ORM. This book was released on 2016-10-25 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Between Heaven & Hollywood is David’s inspirational journey from the wheat fields of his Mennonite home outside of Dodge City Kansas, to the bright lights of Los Angeles. This story of perseverance will assure you that your dreams aren’t frivolous. They might be the most important part of your life. White has starred in more than twenty-five movies and produced forty films, including the blockbuster God’s Not Dead. He serves as a Managing Partner of Pure Flix, the largest faith-based movie studio in the world. With his signature wit and sidesplitting hilarity, David’s story of faithfulness, grounded in the biblical truth that no dream is too big for God, will inspire you to relentlessly pursue your dreams, and in the process, bring the reality of God’s kingdom a little closer to the here and now. God has planted a dream in your heart that is both unique to you and essential to the world. White reminds us that there is no one too common, too uneducated, too poor, too inexperienced, or too broken that he or she cannot be used by God.
Download or read book Hollywood God written by Robert Polito and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-08-01 with total page 87 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hollywood & God is a virtuosic performance, filled with crossings back and forth from cinematic chiaroscuro to a kind of unsettling desperation and disturbing—even lurid—hallucination. From the Baltimore Catechism to the great noir films of the last century to today’s Elvis impersonators and Paris Hilton (an impersonator of a different sort), Robert Polito tracks the snares, abrasions, and hijinks of personal identities in our society of the spectacle, a place where who we say we are, and who (we think) we think we are fade in and out of consciousness, like flickers of light dancing tantalizingly on the silver screen. Mixing lyric and essay, collage and narrative, memoir and invention, Hollywood & God is an audacious book, as contemporary as it is historical, as sly and witty as it is devastatingly serious.
Download or read book Hollywood Heroes written by Frank Turek and published by NavPress. This book was released on 2022-05-03 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Captain America assembles the Avengers. Iron Man battles Thanos. Luke Skywalker duels Darth Vader. Aragorn charges Mordor. Batman confronts the Joker. Superman destroys Doomsday. Wonder Woman defeats Ares. We are captivated. Why? We are entranced by stories that take us to a world where heroes fight evil and sacrifice themselves for a greater good because we long for our world to be free from pain, suffering, and struggle. That’s the real hope and promise of Jesus—when He returns to set things right. In Hollywood Heroes, you’ll see how: Your favorite movie heroes are patterned after the Ultimate Hero—Jesus of Nazareth Big screen stories parallel the real-world fight between good and evil Movies and characters can impart inspiring biblical life lessons on justice, purpose, courage, strength, sacrifice, faith, and love Hollywood Heroes begins with the true story of a US Navy SEAL who faced evil and sacrificed himself to save his teammates. Authors Frank and Zach Turek then use Spider-Man’s origin story to address the question: “Why would a good God allow evil?” You’ll then read how seven movie franchises—Captain America, Iron Man, Harry Potter, Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, Batman, and Wonder Woman—portray the battle against evil, providing a set of modern-day parables that reveal truths about God and His mission for us.
Download or read book God on the Big Screen written by Terry Lindvall and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2019-08-13 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Links film history with church history over the past century, illuminating America’s broader relationship with religious currents over time Moments of prayer have been represented in Hollywood movies since the silent era, appearing unexpectedly in films as diverse as Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Frankenstein, Amistad, Easy Rider, Talladega Nights, and Alien 3, as well as in religiously inspired classics such as Ben-Hur and The Ten Commandments. Here, Terry Lindvall examines how films have reflected, and sometimes sought to prescribe, ideas about how one ought to pray. He surveys the landscape of those films that employ prayer in their narratives, beginning with the silent era and moving through the uplifting and inspirational movies of the Great Depression and World War II, the cynical, anti-establishment films of the 60s and 70s, and the sci-fi and fantasy blockbusters of today. Lindvall considers how the presentation of cinematic prayer varies across race, age, and gender, and places the use of prayer in film in historical context, shedding light on the religious currents at play during those time periods. God on the Big Screen demonstrates that the way prayer is presented in film during each historical period tells us a great deal about America’s broader relationship with religion.
Download or read book Hollywood Heroes written by Frank Turek and published by NavPress. This book was released on 2022-05 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Seven fictional stories--Captain America, Iron Man, Harry Potter, Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, Batman, and Wonder Woman--point us to the ultimate hero, Jesus Christ. Think about it. What if Batman knew your name and wanted to be friends with you? What if you were the one that Tony Stark died to save? What if it was you that Luke Skywalker would stop at nothing to redeem? Hollywood Heroes will awaken you to these questions and help you to see a God who stops at nothing to redeem you. And it will strengthen you to invite others into conversations of faith and life in Jesus. Fictional stories about heroes help us realize that there is evil to fight, souls to be won, and growth to be achieved. It helps us recognize--regardless of religious or cultural beliefs--that sacrificing your life for another's is a powerful and beautiful display of love. Fictional heroes help us to reconsider what is tangibly in front of us through the lens of story rather than simply as just another day in our ordinary lives. Appealing straight to the heart, the stories bypass artificial barriers that we would normally block them with because our worldview has been threatened. When we examine out-of-this-world qualities like idealism, genius, a willingness to sacrifice, discipline, loyalty, humility, courage, wisdom, focus, power, and love, we discover that Jesus practices them perfectly.
Download or read book Faith in the Land of Make Believe written by Lee Stanley and published by Zondervan. This book was released on 2011-02-22 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than a narrative about a young man destined to accomplish the impossible, more than a chronicle of successful Hollywood writer, producer, and director, Lee Stanley’s unparalleled success that changed not only his life but also the lives of millions of others … Faith in the Land of Make-Believe is the gritty memoir of someone who was never taught how to be a man, a husband, or a father, and was scared to death somebody would find out. Now an award-winning filmmaker, author Lee Stanley learned early in life never to show a weakness. With a macho facade, womanizing ways, and hair-trigger rage, Stanley became his own worst enemy—an enemy that only Christ could defeat. Faith in the Land of Make-Believe is the powerful and brutally honest story of a man who learned how to become totally dependent on God. This is a book about passion, determination and a refusal to give up. Most importantly it is about fulfilling your purpose by never backing down, and always standing solely and completely upon the Word of God.
Download or read book The Ken Commandments written by Ken Baker and published by . This book was released on 2017 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author describes how he re-embraced his Christian heritage and regained his spiritual center after abandoning it for twenty years in the fairy tale world of Hollywood.
Download or read book Whom God Wishes to Destroy written by Jon Lewis and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In March 1980 Francis Coppola purchased the dilapidated Hollywood General Studios facility with the hope and dream of creating a radically new kind of studio, one that would revolutionize filmmaking, challenge the established studio machinery, and, most importantly, allow him to make movies as he wished. With this event at the center of Whom God Wishes to Destroy, Jon Lewis offers a behind-the-scenes view of Coppola's struggle--that of the industry's best-known auteur--against the changing realities of the New Hollywood of the 1980s. Presenting a Hollywood history steeped in the trade news, rumor, and gossip that propel the industry, Lewis unfolds a lesson about power, ownership, and the role of the auteur in the American cinema. From before the success of The Godfather to the eventual triumph of Apocalypse Now, through the critical upheaval of the 1980s with movies like Rumble Fish, Hammett, Peggy Sue Got Married, to the 1990s and the making of Bram Stoker's Dracula and Kenneth Branagh's Frankenstein, Francis Coppola's career becomes the lens through which Lewis examines the nature of making movies and doing business in Hollywood today.
Download or read book Behind the Screen written by Spencer Lewerenz and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2005-11-01 with total page 165 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When it comes to Hollywood, Christians too quickly wash their hands of popular culture and leave this immensely influential media to unbelievers. In truth, the industry is listening. There is a church in Hollywood, but too often their work is unrecognized. Behind the Screen offers a glimpse of Hollywood insiders who, through their jobs on movie sets, behind TV shows, and in radio broadcasts, work together to give glory to God. With contributions from the writers and producers of such productions as Joan of Arcadia, Mission Impossible, Batman Forever, That '70s Show, and others, believers everywhere are encouraged to join with the church in Hollywood and do their part in closing the gap between Christianity and culture.
Download or read book God in the Movies written by Catherine M. Barsotti and published by Brazos Press. This book was released on 2017-07-18 with total page 427 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This informative guide helps readers combine their love of movies with their desire to grow closer to God. Foremost experts on faith and film, all connected with the Reel Spirituality Institute at Fuller Seminary, explore forty leading movies from the last four decades to encourage movie lovers and small groups to reflect critically and theologically on their film choices. God in the Movies introduces and analyzes the spiritual content of top films from the 1980s through the 2010s, opening viewers up to a conversation about life, faith, and God. Following a format similar to Barsotti and Johnston's successful Finding God in the Movies, this completely new book covers different films spanning four decades. This engaging resource contains production notes and film synopses, relevant Scripture texts, theological reflection, discussion questions, film stills, recommended film clips, and more, serving as a treasure chest for hours of film viewing, discussion, and ministry. Clips from the movies referenced in each chapter are available online.
Download or read book The One Story written by T. L. Hartley and published by WestBow Press. This book was released on 2022-08-16 with total page 127 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We all have favorite films that make us cry, inspire us, and touch our souls in wonderful but inexplicable ways. The majority of these films share a common theme: a single story of hope and love that has been told and retold in a thousand different ways, always to the same effect. This story points to something we all inherently need or subconsciously long for, even though we don’t fully understand why. T. L. Hartley explores the meaning behind that story—God’s tale of hope for us all—and why it matters in order to help others discover their part in this grand yet little understood epic. While revisiting the themes and characters from a variety of movies, Hartley draws a distinction between the stories that titillate the senses or manipulate emotions and the ones that challenge the mind and soul, and delves into the origin of certain stories, their meaning, why we never tire of hearing these stories, and why they matter so much to so many. The One Story offers an inspirational examination of the common theme behind many movies while encouraging others to hope in the mystery of the unseen and believe in the power of the greatest story ever told.
Download or read book From Hollywood to God written by Kelly Granite Enck and published by . This book was released on with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How far would you go to find God? Some people go all the way... When Kelly loses her job at a Hollywood studio, she takes off around the world. Candid, funny, poignant—Kelly's journey takes her to surprising places. She's held hostage in Israel, taps into the energy of the pyramids in Giza, hikes in the Himalayas, meditates in the great cathedrals of Europe, winds up in the news in Rio—and finally raises hell in a Southern Bible college. The author takes us on a journey not just around the world, but into the center of the soul.
Download or read book Jesus of Hollywood written by Adele Reinhartz and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2009-04-01 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the advent of the cinema, Jesus has frequently appeared in our movie houses and on our television screens. Indeed, it may well be that more people worldwide know about Jesus and his life story from the movies than from any other medium. Indeed, Jesus' story has been adapted dozens of times throughout the history of commercial cinema, from the 1912 silent From the Manger to the Cross to Mel Gibson's 2004 The Passion of the Christ. No doubt there are more to come. Drawing on a broad range of movies, biblical scholar Adele Reinhartz traces the way in which Jesus of Nazareth has become Jesus of Hollywood. She argues that Jesus films both reflect and influence cultural perceptions of Jesus and the other figures in his story. She focuses on the cinematic interpretation of Jesus' relationships with the key people in his life: his family, his friends, and his foes. She examines how these films address theological issues, such as Jesus' identity as both human and divine, political issues, such as the role of the individual in society and the possibility of freedom under political oppression, social issues, such as gender roles and hierarchies, and personal issues, such as the nature of friendship and human sexuality. Reinhartz's study of Jesus' celluloid incarnations shows how Jesus movies reshape the past in the image of the present. Despite society's profound interest in Jesus as a religious and historical figure, Jesus movies are fascinating not as history but as mirrors of the concerns, anxieties, and values of our own era. As the story of Jesus continues to capture the imagination of filmmakers and moviegoers, he remains as significant a cultural figure today as he was 2000 years ago.
Download or read book Finding God in the Movies written by Catherine M. Barsotti and published by Baker Books. This book was released on 2004-08 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Experience God in the movies! A valuable resource guide examining over thirty films and their theological impact. Excellent for film buffs and church leaders alike.
Download or read book A Change of Affection written by Becket Cook and published by Thomas Nelson. This book was released on 2019-07-30 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The powerful, dramatic story of how a successful Hollywood set designer whose identity was deeply rooted in his homosexuality came to be suddenly and utterly transformed by the power of the gospel. When Becket Cook moved from Dallas to Los Angeles after college, he discovered a socially progressive, liberal town that embraced not only his creative side but also his homosexuality. He devoted his time to growing his career as a successful set designer and to finding "the one" man who would fill his heart. As a gay man in the entertainment industry, Cook centered his life around celebrity-filled Hollywood parties and traveled to society hot-spots around the world--until a chance encounter with a pastor at an LA coffee shop one morning changed everything. In A Change of Affection, Becket Cook shares his testimony as someone who was transformed by the power of the gospel. Cook's dramatic conversion to Christianity and subsequent seminary training inform his views on homosexuality--personally, biblically, theologically, and culturally--and in his new book he educates Christians on how to better understand this complex and controversial issue while revealing how to lovingly engage with those who disagree. A Change of Affection is a timely and indispensable resource for anyone who desires to understand more fully one of the most common and difficult stumbling blocks to faithfully following Christ today.
Download or read book Hollywood Jesus written by Matt Rawle and published by Abingdon Press. This book was released on 2015-08-18 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pastor and author Matt Rawle is on a mission. He sees Christ all around him—in books, movies, TV shows, rock music—and he wants to share what he sees. As Matt says, "God offers the raw ingredients, and 'culture' is whatever we cook up." Hollywood Jesus is pastor and author Matt Rawle's study of Jesus and Christ figures in films including Cool Hand Luke, The Lion King, The Truman Show, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. Explore what happens when script meets Scripture, when pop culture encounters the King of kings and Lord of lords. Hollywood Jesus is part of The Pop in Culture Series of Bible studies in which Matt Rawle stirs up a tasty gumbo of insight, humor, and inspiration based on some of your favorite pop culture classics. A DVD featuring four sessions with the author, a full Leader Guide, and a Worship Resources Flash Drive also are available for group study.
