Biosophilia

Amen, sista. Preach it.

just because i don't agree with you on chocolat doesn't mean i think you are an idiot or something. i wasn't trying to come across as dogmatic on a freaking movie. what i was doing was challenging certain assumptions you were making, especially about the portrayal of Christianity on film, and in that particular film. i was challenging some of the reasons given for liking chocolat. it's funny, you say from one side that it is fun to debate things such as movies, and then from the other side that everyone has different "tastes", so leave it alone. Well, all i was doing was following your first piece of advice, and challenging the assumption that chocolat was a good movie. if you enjoyed it, fine. but i think that certain qualitative statements can be made, such as "this is a good/bad movie", etc. but i want it understood that those are my OPINIONS, and you are free to agree/disagree with me. but i want to know your reasons, cause you know i'm gonna give mine:)

also, i want to make it clear, that what i disliked most about chocolat (beside it being incredibly boring) was not the stuffiness of the Christians, nor their being so stubborn on things and uncharitable (both bad as well), but the supposed turning point of the movie, the "good" sermon at the end. here it is, Easter Sunday, the RESURRECTION, and we just wanna preach how Jesus was our "friend", not here to give anyone a bad name, or damn anyone, or maybe not even to rise from the dead...just a perfectly nice guy. ugh. there is much more i can say, obviously, but i need to stop there, and just stop arguing altogether.

I think you've read into my reasoning a little bit Josh. All I want people to do is be willing to debate an issue while keeping in mind that when discussing issues such as movies, that we are dealing with tastes and opinions- not dogmatic truths. I don't think that is a contradiction and I don't think I ever said that we should "leave it alone". Your "say" is simply one of many opinions. So, I appreciate your recent clarification. I at least, am a lot more clear on your "tone". It is so hard to tell sometimes on a blog.

Nice post, Lisa!

you're right lisa, that is not a contradiction. thanks for the clarification.

as far as everything else goes, i realize we are not talking about dogmatic truths, as i put in my post. i have realized that from the beginning, and did not mean otherwise. that's the danger of the blog, it's very easy to read too much into one's words, and to come across poorly, even when you don't mean to. i seem to do that a lot.

this is obviously a vast subject, and one that can be debated at great length. i'm not sure one's "say" is simply one of many opinions. there are more informed opinions, more grounded opinions, opinions from more experience, better reasons behind opinions, etc. etc. i guess what i am driving at is that there has to be a happy medium between talking about dogmatic truth, and "just another opinion". there is an objective beauty to art (and movies, i would argue, are an art form). being that this is the case, there can be better, more informed opinions than others. now, i am NOT talking about our conversation, or anything like that, i am merely thinking out loud in generalities here. and i'm doing it very incoherently at that, so i'm going to stop.

Lisa, your post was well said.
I agree.

Josh, I agree. There are some movies that I recognize as "good" in that they effectively convey a story. I guess that would be the objective beauty you are referring to. Yet I don't necessarily 'like' a movie just because of its objective beauty.

thanks pat. and me neither. for example, i like the movie billy madison. i think it's hilarious. but is it objectively "good" or "beautiful"? no way, but it made me laugh...a whole lot. the trick is that i'm willing to admit that.

Certainly Josh- when I ask a theological question and I get answers from my little sister and Pastor Wilkins- I weight what Pastor Wilkins says a little more. If I asked a Restaurant Reviewer what the best restaurant in town was- I would probably think his opinion was better than others because of his vast knowledge. But on blogs, most of the time we are not discussing the things in which we have our profession. In fact, even outside of blogs, most of the time we discuss things with which our opinions are based on our subjective tastes or small amounts of study. So,that is what I meant by your opinion just being one of many. Blog comments (at least the way I understand them) are normally a "this is what I think" part- think being the crucial word.
That said- I think you're right on a lot of things. I agree with you- most of the time. And I think that I have even seen a movie that I can called "bad"- but even Remy disagreed with me on that one and I'm still stunned. It's called "The Big Hit"(came out about 5 years ago I think) and I thought it was the most horrible thing ever produced. However, others enjoyed it, people that I respect otherwise. So, I just don't know about the whole tastes thing ~ objective beauty. I do share your sentiments about Happy Gilmore and movies like that. So, I don't know where this is going right now. My brain is fried. I'll talk to you about it tomorow----in person. :)

Ugh, the Big Hit was stupid, both objectively and personally, and anybody who thought it was good is stupid too. ;]

Here's another example. We watched The Life of David Gale last Sunday. It's an objectively good movie in that it conveys a story effectively, but since the story is painful, it effectively conveys pain. (It's also a story about capital punishment protesters, and I completely disagree agree with their cause.) Since I don't especially like pain (and since I'm pro-capital punishment), I wouldn't rank the movie among my favorites - but I think it was extremely well done.