Saturday, June 18, 2005
Why I Hate "Napolean Dynamite"
If you don't know what I'm talking about, "Napolean Dynamite" is a movie that has been tremendously successful amongst young people. I would never even have bothered with it except the kids in our high school Bible study talk about it all the time so I figured I had to see what all the fuss was about.
I despised it. It is the story of an extremely mal-adjusted young man -- not dangerously so, just a poor clueless guy that everybody laughs at. For the longest time now, I have thought I hated the movie because it was just making fun of a guy that all I wanted to do was take to the mall, buy some clothes and give some socialization lessons to.
This movie is so popular with kids that our high school youth group is including a visit to the town where the movie was filmed in its summer camping adventure. They have had movie nights featuring the film. All of this, because of how much I dislike the movie, has troubled me. When I have discussed this with people, they have pointed out that Napolean "wins" in the end. I will not bore you with the details of the movie to explain that, but I have been refelcting on that viewpoint and now I think I have finally put my finger on why I find the movie so dissatisfying.
Napolean "wins," but he does not change. The point of the movie is that "it's OK to be a complete dunderhead and clueless and maladjusted -- you'll win in the end." Compare that with "Revenge of The Nerds" wherein the nerds win, but are also transformed by their victory.
So, I don't like a movie...why is that a big deal. Well, when church youth groups are basing so much activity around it, one has to wonder if it is appropriate. Is the message of "victory without transformation" really a message we want to give youth in church?
I don't think so -- that is a message of cheap grace. Christ did not provide us with victory over sin and death so that we could go on being sinners. Not, by the way, that Napolean Dynamite was a profligate sinner -- I am talking analogously here. Napolean Dynamite's "victory" in the movie was momentary at best because he remained his own worst enemy. Thus it was dissatisfying.
There are lots of bad movies out there that people like -- that's just a fact of life. But we do not need to embrace them as a part of our church culture just because they are popular.
I despised it. It is the story of an extremely mal-adjusted young man -- not dangerously so, just a poor clueless guy that everybody laughs at. For the longest time now, I have thought I hated the movie because it was just making fun of a guy that all I wanted to do was take to the mall, buy some clothes and give some socialization lessons to.
This movie is so popular with kids that our high school youth group is including a visit to the town where the movie was filmed in its summer camping adventure. They have had movie nights featuring the film. All of this, because of how much I dislike the movie, has troubled me. When I have discussed this with people, they have pointed out that Napolean "wins" in the end. I will not bore you with the details of the movie to explain that, but I have been refelcting on that viewpoint and now I think I have finally put my finger on why I find the movie so dissatisfying.
Napolean "wins," but he does not change. The point of the movie is that "it's OK to be a complete dunderhead and clueless and maladjusted -- you'll win in the end." Compare that with "Revenge of The Nerds" wherein the nerds win, but are also transformed by their victory.
So, I don't like a movie...why is that a big deal. Well, when church youth groups are basing so much activity around it, one has to wonder if it is appropriate. Is the message of "victory without transformation" really a message we want to give youth in church?
I don't think so -- that is a message of cheap grace. Christ did not provide us with victory over sin and death so that we could go on being sinners. Not, by the way, that Napolean Dynamite was a profligate sinner -- I am talking analogously here. Napolean Dynamite's "victory" in the movie was momentary at best because he remained his own worst enemy. Thus it was dissatisfying.
There are lots of bad movies out there that people like -- that's just a fact of life. But we do not need to embrace them as a part of our church culture just because they are popular.
