Breach - a post by Brennan
This past weekend I went and saw the movie Breach which deals with Robert Hanssen, the FBI that was convicted of espionage in February of 2001. I thought it was well done, with the actors playing good roles. However, the movie was fairly predictable, as with any other spy type of movie. Though, a movie should be predictable when it is based on a real life situation.
Which brings me to the point that made this movie more interesting to me. There is an obvious change in the last few years of the content of movies. There is a larger demand for movies that are based on a true story. All one needs to do is look at how well the Pursuit of Happyness did. Though, they are two totally genres. To me it seems like that for a movie to do well, the topic needs a strong fan base, like the comic book movies, or it needs to be more realistic, as in these based on a true story ones. I find this interesting, but think this is because of the large amount of movies that come out during the year. There are so many that perhaps being are tired of the same story and these two genres provide something new.
Which brings me to the point that made this movie more interesting to me. There is an obvious change in the last few years of the content of movies. There is a larger demand for movies that are based on a true story. All one needs to do is look at how well the Pursuit of Happyness did. Though, they are two totally genres. To me it seems like that for a movie to do well, the topic needs a strong fan base, like the comic book movies, or it needs to be more realistic, as in these based on a true story ones. I find this interesting, but think this is because of the large amount of movies that come out during the year. There are so many that perhaps being are tired of the same story and these two genres provide something new.
Labels: Canadian Youth Culture, CHRI 3313, pop culture
posted by blair at 3/04/2007 05:24:00 p.m.
2 Comments:
jasonmajor32 writes:
The review for this movie by "Christian spotlight on the movies" made me angry. You can find it at:
www.christiananswers.net/
/spotlight/movies/
2007/breach2007.html
Here's just part of the review:
"In spite of his devotion to prayer and church, Hanssen is unable to find fulfillment and peace. While keeping the outward appearance of purity and piety, he misses out on the inward work that God could do to make him a whole man, one with lasting meaning and purpose."
The rating for this movie was given as "offensive." Yet it also says the movie has "moderate" sexuality, "moderate" violence and "moderate" language. So why is this movie considered offensive? Because they're portraying a TRUE STORY THAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED????? Because Hansen is seen as a hypocrite? I'm sorry, but for me, this seemed to me like social control. Let's not have stories where Christians are revealed to be Hypocrites, let's pretend that doesn't happen. Let's not talk about the issues in this story of lying, deception & control, because, we don't want to show that. The message the review gives to me is this:
"What we as Christians say is true, and you have no choice but to believe us. We're right, you're wrong. Christians never make mistakes, we don't want to see that."
I hope someone reads this. Because the truth is, I think the Church is just as guilty of Hansen of having secrets & lies- look at recent events were Christians have fallen.
Rather than covering up the facts, let's tell the truth. Christianity as a religion has its faults. We've screwed up. But let's be HONEST about our own sins before judging others.
Yeah Brennan, it seems like most movies that come out now are either based on a true story or have some sort of lineage, like comic book or movies that are remakes of old shows (ex. Starsky and Hutch, Transformers). I think that audiences embrace the “based on a true story” theme because we have become obsessed with extremes of reality and fantasy. For instance take the rise in popularity of reality TV shows. People are no longer satisfied with sitcoms like they were in the 80s and 90s. On the other hand movies like Sin City, 300, and Lord of the Rings cater to the sensationalistic side of the scale. The fact that movies today require previous knowledge shows that culture is shifting. The act of watching a movie is no longer contained to the 2 hours that it plays; now we need to know something about the movie before even entering the theatre (ex. sequals, comic book movies) in order to understand the movie within its context. This shift is indicative of one that is occurring in culture and reiterates the fact that youth ministers need to evolve continually to stay up to date with popular culture. Or else we run the risk of becoming out of touch with today’s teens.
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