The second of four sessions by Margunn Serigstad Dahle of Gimlekollen School of Journalism and Communications, Norway, and Tony Watkins of Damaris Trust, UK, on popular culture at the Third Lausanne Congress, Cape Town, October 2010.

1. Worldviews,
Film Analysis
and the Gospel:
Finding points of contact/tension
Margunn Serigstad Dahle,Tony Watkins
and Lars Dahle

2. The way to deal with the challenge of the
media is to be better at understanding it
than anyone else, and to be able to relate
it God’s word.

3. If we can develop our capacity for double
listening, we will avoid the opposite pitfalls
of unfaithfulness and irrelevance, and be
able to speak God’s Word to God’s world
with effectiveness today.
John Stott

4. global village
(Marshall McLuhan)

5. The pervasive influence
of entertainment media

6. The moving picture has become a
preacher, and its sermons are most
effective because they are addressed to
the eye rather than to the ear.
K.S. Hover, 1911

7. cinema

8. Film is the most significant and powerful of
today’s media.
DavidThompson

9. The moving images stirs our emotions
rather than engaging our minds.
Ingmar Bergman

10. More is said than what is spoken.
David Porter

11. All stories teach, whether
the storyteller intends
them to or not.They teach
the world we create.They
teach the morality we live
by.They teach it much
more effectively than moral
precepts and instructions.
Philip Pullman

12. Film is a global factor in shaping
young people’s perspectives

13. Traditionally, most philosophical investigation
took place in the universities, and most
spiritual reflection took place in the
churches.
However, in recent years that seems to have
changed. Now, arguably, most philosophical
investigation and spiritual reflection takes
place in the cinema.
Nick Pollard

14. Surface
Middle
Deep
see it as entertainment
realise that there is a
message
realise traces of
worldviews

15. critical analysis is crucial

16. Our double identity:
disciples and witnesses
John 17

17. Worldviews

18. [Everyone] has a worldview.Whenever any
of us thinks about anything – from a casual
thought (Where did I leave my watch?) to a
profound question (Who am I?) – we are
operating within such a framework. In fact, it
is only the assumption of a worldview –
however basic or simple- that allows us to
think at all.
James Sire

19. A worldview is a commitment, a fundamental
orientation of the heart, that can be expressed
as a story or in a set of presuppositions
(assumptions which may be true, partially true
or entirely false) which we hold (consciously or
subconsciously, consistently or inconsistently)
about the basic constitution of reality, and that
provides the foundation on which we live and
move and have our being.
James Sire, Naming the Elephant, p. 122
19

20. 19
A worldview is a commitment, a fundamental
orientation of the heart, that can be expressed
as a story or in a set of presuppositions
(assumptions which may be true, partially true
or entirely false) which we hold (consciously or
subconsciously, consistently or inconsistently)
about the basic constitution of reality, and that
provides the foundation on which we live and
move and have our being.
James Sire, Naming the Elephant, p. 122

21. ‘. . . that can be expressed as a story . . .’
finding traces of the
worldview-story behind or
within the fictional story

22. finding point of contact/tension

23. ?
What do we mean by ‘points of contact’ and
‘points of tension’ when comparing a movie
with the biblical worldview? What examples
can you think of?

24. ?
What do we mean by ‘points of contact’ and
‘points of tension’ when comparing a movie
with the biblical worldview? What examples
can you think of?

25. How do we respond?

26. 5 dimensions
to think about

27. Aesthetics

28. Emotions

29. 27
morality

30. beliefs

31. spirituality

32. Worldviews like maps
30

33. Worldviews like maps
30

34. 31

35. 31
salvation

36. Questions to ask
when watching
a movie

37. How did the film make you feel?

38. What causes the major turning
points in the film? Why does it
end in this way?

39. What do the main characters
want? What stands in their way?

40. Why do the characters make
particular choices?

41. Whose point of view
do we see?

42. What do the film-makers want
us to take away from this film?

43. What is the underlying
theme of the film?

44. What impact will it have on
viewers?

45. WORLDVIEWS 41

46. reality
42

47. What does this film suggest
about the nature of reality?

48. humanity
44

49. What does it suggest about the
nature of human beings?

50. How is the image of God seen?
How is human rebellion
expressed?

51. knowledge 47

52. What does it say about truth,
knowledge and wisdom?

53. morality
49

54. What does it say about
morality and ethics?

55. What’s the solution to
our most basic need? 51

56. What does it suggest that
human beings need above all?

57. points of contact

58. points of tension

59. celebrate / challenge

60. challenges . . .

61. Do not conform any longer to the pattern
of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind . . .
Romans 12:2a
. . . as disciples of Christ

62. Be wise in the way you act towards
outsiders; make the most of every
opportunity.
Colossians 4:5
. . . as witnesses for Christ

63. ?
How do we understand the major worldview
challenges in influential recent movies as
represented in our own cultural contexts?

64. ?
How do we understand the major worldview
challenges in influential recent movies as
represented in our own cultural contexts?
What kind of educational material (on film
analysis) do we need to develop in our
cultural contexts?

65. www.damaris.org / www.damaris.no
www.engagingmedia.info
www.culturewatch.org
www.tonywatkins.org
twitter.com/tonywatkins_
facebook.com/tonywatkinspage