Let's Talk About "God's Not Dead" · 9:54pm Feb 3rd, 2014
Ah, the unstable and fiery topic of religion. I normally tend to avoid the topic most of the time whilst online due to...well...the not-exactly-so-friendly exchange of words on the topic one can find in any random Youtube comment section. The most I've gone into religion in the past on my blog was back in my review of Feeling Pinkie Keen. Now, I'm sure a fair number of you are wondering why I'm talking about it out of the blue right now. I just recently came across this movie, I feel the need to give my thoughts about it, and it gives me something to blog about aside from My Little Pony and Doctor Who. Change is good sometimes. I just hope this blog doesn't open up a flurry of religious arguments in the comments.
There's a channel I follow on Youtube called NateTalksToYou where a guy named Nate hosts of compilation of different videos ranging from rants to video responses to dramatic readings and so on. Yesterday, he uploaded his first review of a movie trailer (or at least the first one I've seen him upload). The movie in question was, as you all can probably guess by now, God's Not Dead. Being an Atheist, Nate ripped the trailer a new one and commented much on the unrealistic portrayal of the main Atheist in the film, the overly-perfect portrayal of the main Christian protagonist, and the film's overall negative portrayal of Atheists and poor attempt at trying to raise questions and encourage mature debates. You can view this video in question below:
And you can view the full trailer for God's Not Dead below:
So, basically, the plot of God's Not Dead is that Christian college freshman Josh Wheaton (which sounds waaaaaaaay too similar to Joss Whedon but I digress) enrolls in a philosophy class taught by the extremely dictatorial and Atheist Professor Radisson (played by Kevin Sorbo). When Josh refuses to adhere to Radisson's insistence that God doesn't exist, Josh is forced to defend his beliefs in a series of debates in order to pass the class.
Even though I'm a Christian, I agree with Nate's many criticisms of the trailer. This film feels very one-sided as well as feels like every "Atheists are stupid" Youtube video expanded into a full length movie. While there's probably a fair number of Atheists like Professor Radisson in the real world (again, just look in any comment section of a religious video on Youtube), this movie portrays the situation in an incredibly unrealistic light. Now, I'm not going to lie and say that I'm an expert on college professors but I'm pretty sure that there's no rule allowing professors to give their students a piece of paper, make them write something that outright goes against and insults their beliefs, and fail them if they refuse to do so. The portrayal of Radisson's character hardly feels realistic and he seems more like a "villain" from a Christian elementary school play than anything else. Everything else about this trailer just screams overly-generic and pretentious crap.
Ignorant and stereotyped-as-hell Atheist antagonist?
Check.
Perfect white boy as main Christian protagonist?
Check.
Mostly white cast?
Check.
Blonde, pointless romantic interest for our protagonist?
Check.
Christian rock song that's made to be so catchy that it'll get stuck in your head faster than Babs Seed?
Check.
Pointless celebrity cameos?
Check.
Pro-Christian arguments so old and dated they make Lindsay Lohan look relevant?
Check.
Now, I have to give credit where credit is due and admit that certain aspects of this film's premise...actually have potential if executed correctly. This movie could have taken the idea of mature religious debates and expanded upon it in better light. Maybe it could have been about several people with different religious backgrounds defending their personal beliefs and explaining their reasons for believing what they do. A film like that, if executed well, could properly inspire people to ask questions, start proper debates, want to learn about other beliefs, learn to see through the POV of other faiths, and understand why other religious people or non-religious people choose to believe what they do. This film could have provided us with an intelligent film like that! Instead, we're getting a stereotypical Christian film that's going to, once again, paint Atheists in an needlessly-bad light and pretentiously make Christians look right; and all the while adding more fuel to the ongoing religious flame wars spread across the internet.
If any of you are looking for potentially good religious films this year then I recommend you stick to Son of God and Noah because at least those have strong premises, good actors, and promising effects backing them up while this film has...the Duck Dynasty guy, the older brother from Good Luck Charlie, and Newsboys.
...Yeah, I'm sticking with Emma Watson, Russel Crowe, and Diogo Morgado, thank you very much.
But seriously, why is the Duck Dynasty guy in this movie again?!
On a last note, I apologize if I offended anyone in any way with this blog because that wasn't my intention. I was merely noting my opinions about the premise for this film and, from what I've seen so far, its poor execution and I was by no means attacking anyone's beliefs or aiming to offend anyone. That is all.
Duck Dynasty guy is in this? Good, a legitimate reason to avoid this movie like the plague.
Man, I wish I could fave blogs right now.
You know I follow a group called Movie to Movement that promotes films about traditional Christian values and stuff. Does not surprise that they are not promoting this film because I've never heard of it. If what you say is accurate, this film does not seem helpful at all.
As long as we're giving recommendations for better films, I suggest a movie out now called Gimme Shelter starring James Earl Jones and Vanessa Hudgens.
BTW, the actor playing the "perfect white boy" was Teddy's boyfriend in Good Luck Charlie, not the older brother. (I know this because my sister watches that show).
This looks terrible. I stopped watching after thirty seconds it was so bad. Now, I'm up for a good debate on the whole science versus faith train, but I'm not even going to bother with this. It's overly-romanticized BS that looks like it's trying to be poetic ((ASK ME WHAT IT MEANS!!!)) but just is *no surprise* one-sided nonsense.
So what you're saying is, it's a feature-length Jack Chick tract.
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I guess? Sorry, I don't know what a Jack Chick track is.
1793566 Google is your friend, but here's Wikipedia's take:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_T._Chick
I was thinking in particular of "Big Daddy?", a tract in which a creationist student manages to talk an atheistic science professor out of believing in evolution (or, for that matter, physics).
Web Archive has a reversed parody of the thing here: http://web.archive.org/web/20100126041111/http://www.facts4u.com/OffSite_Stored_Pages/wyd_files/wyd.htm
Is it odd that the thing that jumped out at me most on that top picture was the name Kevin Sorbo? I used to watch Hercules The Legendary Journeys so the name caught my attention immediately. And he's playing the ignorant atheist. So does he believe in what he's doing or just strapped for cash? That's the question hitting my mind.
Sounds like this is a movie I'd be better off avoiding even if I were religiously inclined, which I'm not (I generally refer to myself as "apatheist"). I find it very difficult to take overly religious or overly political stuff too seriously. So much of it boils down to "I'm right and if you disagree you're not only wrong but an enemy of the state and/or doomed to eternal hellfire."
Looking at a the trailer, what kind of philosophy teacher flat out says he wants no debate about a topic, period? Whatever your belief in God, that kind of defeats the entire purpose of philosophy, doesn't it?
Also, along with the similarity to the name Joss Whedon, I note the comparison of Raddison's class to the Roman Coliseum, which was used to execute Christians.
I'm a Christian, but I usally tend to avoid religious films because they, of course, get nearly the whole thing wrong. I could go on and on about some stuff, but this is your blog, not mine, so...
1792691 SEGA!!! youre here too, cool! Either way i liked the movie, just think of it as a movie instead of judging it.
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At the time I wrote this blog, I was mostly going by the trailer and its presentation of the film's premise. I haven't seen it yet and I've heard mixed to negative opinions about it.
If you liked it, that's cool. I never insult people for liking something I don't. If anything, you're on the better end because this film is just another thing that I can't enjoy but you can. And when I eventually get around to checking it out (whenever that happens), who knows? I might end up kind of liking it too. I'll try my best to keep an open mind going in, despite the terrible first impressions it gave me with its trailer.
2009442 well i waould still watch it it is a cool movie! And, thatssssss a nice blog you have there it would be a shame if something happened to it (creeper blows up)