Barbenheimer was the composite word that described the cultural phenomenon of two sharply contrasting films on July 21, 2023: Greta Gerwig’s comedy Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s historical biographical thriller Oppenheimer.
Many film goers watched both films back-to-back in the same visit to the cinema. It was an unlikely combination. I did watch both films but not on the same cinema visit.
This month two new contrasting blockbuster films have been released: Toy Story 5 and another epic film by Christopher Nolan The Odessey. (More on that next time.)
Toy Story 5 is the latest of a run of films that began with Andy and his toys in the 1995 Toy Story 1. I began watching with my children and have continued with my grandchildren. The genius of these five films is that they tackle serious issues of identity, relationships and loyalty. As a case in point Toy Story 5 tackles the impact of electronic devices on children. It is almost as if Jonathan Haidt’s book The Anxious Generation has been animated!
Haidt argues that the digital revolution has sucked us into a virtual world without a map and or a compass. The result is a disorientated and anxious generation. Haidt writes that his book is “about how to reclaim human life for human beings in all generations.”
In Toy Story 5 Bonnie, who has been given Andy’s toys when he heads for college aged seventeen, comes under peer pressure to use a Lily Pad and engage with online “friends.” The film shows how online “friends” can disappoint us and desert us. Finally, Bonnie makes an actual friend that she can spend time with face to face offline.
As a preacher I was taken by the way that the film addresses a huge social issue in a way that is not preachy or moralistic.
Some preaching on the use of electronic devices can come over as way too prescriptive. It is seldom helpful to merely be told about that something is wrong, without giving reasons why and motivation to do something different.
Congregations need to have a conversion of the imagination and the redirection of their desires.
Firstly, we need a conversion of the imagination. Sometimes we adopt certain views because we think that this is the only way that something can happen. It might be as simple as caving into peer pressure and doing something because “everyone else is doing it!” Preachers need to learn how to help hearers remember that their primary identity is in Christ. Every week my iPhone and iPad give me a tally of the week’s screen time. It makes me reflect on who and what I spend my precious time on.
Secondly, we need a redirection of our desire, that is to experience what the 19th Century preacher Thomas Chalmers described as the “expulsive power of a new affection.” Augustine says that our desires go astray when we use what we should worship and worship what we should use. Whether it is electronic devices or anything else we need to learn how to use it is but not worship it.
Movies with big stories do preach!
Photo by Myke Simon on Unsplash