A father must do the impossible: sacrifice his son. The son kneels before him, ready to accept his fate. And then, suddenly, both are saved by …
A word from an angel? A ram caught in a thicket? No, in this case, the son—Jake Sully’s adopted son, Spider, in Avatar: Fire and Ash—is saved by his remorseful adoptive mother, Neytiri. Just in the nick of time, too.
Fire and Ash is in no way a Christian story. In fact, its shamanistic environmentalism is a few light years away from Christianity. But that hasn’t stopped its director, James Cameron, from using Christian themes and imagery to spread his own pseudo theology. For many, it would’ve been just a resonant emotional moment. But for those with a decent rooting in the Bible, they might’ve been struck by the narrative parallels to Abraham and Isaac. And given Cameron’s penchant for cherry-picking biblical motifs throughout his Avatar series, I’m pretty sure those parallels were intentional.
This is nothing new, of course, and we shouldn’t be surprised. The gospel is often called the “greatest story ever told,” so why wouldn’t even secular moviemakers want in on that action? And sometimes, Hollywood’s stories—intentionally or not—can make us Christians even more mindful of important biblical themes: Good and evil. Truth and grace. Sin and redemption. Occasionally, movies can strengthen our faith or challenge it in healthy ways.
But some filmmakers can use spiritual touchstones to draw us further away from our beliefs. And in some cases, they might even do a little of both. (I’m looking at you, Sinners.)
So join Bob Hoose, Emily Tsiao and me as we talk about the intersection of spirituality with cinema—the good, the bad and the just plain ugly.
5 Responses
Some of my favorite secular Christian films are Hacksaw Ridge, Silence, The 33, Kill Bill 2, Sin City, and Pan’s labyrinth.
You are trolling. Those are not Christian movies at all. I’m tired of people saying terrible movies are Christian when they clearly are ungodly
I am not trolling. Pan’s Labyrinth has many Christian references from three tasks echoing the three days Jesus was in the tomb before he rose again, to Ophelia willing to spill her own blood instead of her baby brothers, to the fawn telling her to sit at her fathers side.
And hacksaw ridge has a Christian reading the bible and quoting bible verses throughout.
Sin city has Harrigan’s willing to die for Nancy to protect her.
Kill bill 2 has the bride willing to do anything to protect her child and makes us think of morality and ethics and right versus wrong, and so on.
Even the Chilean miners admitted god was with them.
Lots of secular films have Christian themes and characters that can touch us greatly or make us think. God can resonate with us in unexpected ways.
Pan’s Labyrinth is one of my favorite secular films with what could be interpreted as Christian themes!
I love Christian films too though. Films like God’s not dead, do you believe, Noah, the passion of the Christ, to save a life, soul surfer, miracles from heaven, left behind, etc. But I also recognize that secular movies can have Christian themes too. Even Fargo is about old testament judgement.