Why Beowulf is dangerous

The film Beowulf is set to open tomorrow. Undoubtedly, many of you have seen trailers, teasers and TV spots for the film all over the internet and, most likely, all over TV. It is supposed to be one of the most visually captivating and impressive films to date, due to its incredible animation.

Robert Zemeckis is the man behind it all, the director of the film. He has long been involved in this new wave of 3-D animation. And his films have grown steadily, and significantly, worse.

Over a decade ago he was involved in 2-D animation combined with live action in the ungodly film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?. He has since been heavily involved in this new and growing form of animated film, which is basically motion-capture animation, pretty much like what Peter Jackson's crew did with Gollum in Lord of the Rings and with Kong in King Kong, only these new films have no live-action elements in the final versions.

Zemeckis a few years ago teamed with Tom Hanks to present the visually spectacular movie version of the book, Polar Express. Despite its obvious worldview flaws (the all-knowing Santa and such), the film was, from what I remember, relatively clean. However, the intenseness of several scenes clearly warranted a PG rating, but, of course, it got a G.

Then last year, he teamed with Steven Spielberg to produce the Academy-Award nominated, halloween film Monster House. According to reviews I've read and comments from people who have seen the film, it is scary, crude, and has a horrible worldview. Some have said it pushes the PG rating.

Now he is getting ready to release Beowulf. I have read the poem. I admit that the way in which it is written made it very confusing for me, however, it was still a decent poem that had references to God and The Flood and with an at least somewhat biblical worldview. I don't remember much about it, except that when I heard about the movie version a while back, I thought it would be a great film. I didn't think they'd be able to ruin a movie based on a poem that had no language, as well as no romance or sexual content at all.

But, alas, they have. It is rated PG-13 for: intense sequences of violence including disturbing images, some sexual material and nudity. I guess they changed things from the poem. I have read some reviews of the film, and it seems that this is yet another Zemeckis film that pushes its rating. The sexual content and nudity are worthy of an R rating and, were the film live-action, it would carry that R rating. Of course, one of the things it seems to boast is its amazing 3-D that looks almost exactly like live-action.

One secular website referred to the film as, I believe, a "sex and creatures-filled spectacle." Angelina Jolie, who is one of the reasons for the horrible content, stated the final version "shocked" her and she didn't know how it obtained a PG-13 rating with its content. She also stated she will not be taking her kids to see it due to its content. What's sad is that many Christians will take their kids to see it.

Anyway, this content obviously makes the film dangerous to its viewers. The Bible admonishes men to guard their eyes and women to be modestly dressed, and a chapter in the Old Testament directly condemns viewing the nudity of others, although in that passage it is referring to relatives. However, in the New Testament we are admonished to treat "younger women as sisters and older women as mothers." So, if you wouldn't want your mom or sister portrayed in the way a movie portrays a woman, you probably shouldn't watch it. Thus, we can clearly see that God does not want us viewing films with nudity/sexuality. There are other applicable verses, I'm sure, but this post is not geared toward that subject, so I will refrain from giving my long-winded opinion on that.

So, to get back to the intent of this article. You're probably wondering why I would spend an entire post talking about a film with such horrible content. There are numerous PG-13 films with similarly bad content. But I feel Beowulf is especially dangerous because of its filmmaking style. The method of motion-capture 3-D animation is relatively new, and, as we all know, Hollywood is very rarely original. If Beowulf is a success - and perhaps even if it is not - I believe this stlye of moviemaking will become more and more frequent, just as the traditional 3-D animation of Pixar and such has become so popular. And Hollywood will only make the content worse. When they see that a certain movie with certain content is popular, they will use that style of film until it dies for the sole purpose of making money. This means that if all of these motion-capture films that follow Beowulf copy its content, this will be a ruined genre.

This is upsetting, as the motion-capture look is so amazing and impressive, that I would love to be able to see future films with this style. But if all of these types of films follow Beowulf's example, I may never get see one of them. Perhaps Hollywood should read this post and realize that they can keep their special effects and technical innovations that draw secular crowds, and provide clean stories that draw Christian crowds, and they will make big, big bucks.

But that will probably never happen. And Hollywood is paying for it. They are going bankrupt. Several weekends this year, box-office sales have been down 1,2, or even 5 percent from last year.

What makes matters worse for them (and better for us Christian filmmakers) is the strike declared by the Writer's Guild. If it lasts long enough, it could result in a $1 billion loss of potential profit for Hollywood and those involved with the industry.

Although it doesn't seem like it on the outside, Hollywood certainly is dying. The evidence is there. I believe the main reason is that they are not making stories people want. People can only take so much sex and special effects before they long for something deeper. That's why such films as the newly-released Bella, Facing the Giants, The Passion of the Christ, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings, and numerous other films, some on a smaller scale, such as The Last Sin Eater and TimeChanger, have been so successful. Although some of these films have their flaws, for the most part they tell good, inspiring, solid, clean stories. They all have a deeper purpose than to just entertain.

That is why, if we work hard and honor God and rely on Him, we can redeem filmmaking and destroy Hollywood. What a glorious day that will be!

Apparently, next year will find Robert Zemeckis releasing A Christmas Carol, based on Dickens' classic. I don't know how they would ruin that film content-wise, besides making it scary, but it is obviously possible, seeing what they did to Beowulf. We can only pray that God will change Robert Zemeckis' heart and the hearts of others in Hollywood to use their talents for Christ and His glory. What a glorious day that would be!

God bless!

Geno