Q4: Entertainment is one of the largest product categories the United States exports. While most of us wish Hollywood and other entertainment businesses would produce more product to our liking—do they have an OBLIGATION to do so? There are many Christians working in Hollywood and other entertainment firms, dealing with this question of content.
If you were the head of a major studio, game company, publishing house, etc. how would you structure your product offerings? Do all product/service offerings have to be blatantly Christian or can there be redemptive “themes” in more secular offerings such as Pride & Prejudice, Shreck, or Narnia?
(By the way check out http://www.DecentFilms.com for Catholic movie reviews )
Professions Of Faith 
I think it would depend on what it is that I am the head of. If I am the head of a major studio, then I am probably going to try to produce what the public is clamoring for (unless it is hard core pornography). This would probably eventually end up compromising my ideals though, so I would not last very long as the \”head\”. I think if I am the head of game company or publishing house, I have a bit more flexibility in my creativity and could include Christian themed offerings as well as other material that does not compromise my beliefs as a Catholic christian. In most of these businesses, you have to give the public what they demand or you will not make it a success. I guess the question, at least for me, comes down to is what I am doing being guided by God and His Holy Spirit, or am I off in left field by myself trying to manage things without discerning God\’s will for me. Isn\’t all that we do, to be done for the greater glory of God?
Comment by Ken J. — March 7, 2006 @ 12:55 pm
In thinking about this when I wrote it, and it brought to mind how important it is to really consider your profession as part of your vocation. Perhaps we need to spend more time with college students to encourage them to really consider the implications of one\’s career choice.
Comment by D Spencer — March 7, 2006 @ 1:43 pm
In any major business with shareholders or investors involved the expectations are to deliver results that will sustain growth and attract additional shareholders. There is usually a board of directors involved or at a minimum several advisors in the leader’s ear pointing the way to profits. If it’s me in that position and then I am living the life and not concerned about being a christian..that is I would have a false god and could not serve two masters. Look at what Mel Gibson went through creating “The Passion of Christ.” I can imagine books and games are not produced for similar reasons. If I did go out on a limb and try to balance the product offering with underlining christian themes then I’d have to have a lot of “hits” to survive even one bust with a christian theme. Since I am not in this position I feel very blessed to work for a company that supports business ethics and allows me to balance our services with my faith.
Comment by Rob Fallon — March 8, 2006 @ 7:32 am
Speaking of where my heart/beliefs are today, I would have a hard time running a major studio/game company or publishing house without trying to put out only products that have a positive influence. I assume this would make it a specialized company or one that may not make as much $ as the others. Your eyes are the closest to your mind and the stuff the majority of these people put out is not in line with what I want to be involved in. So I guess the question is kind of irrelevant for me. I do pray that the Christians that are in this industry work to put out product that we can enjoy as a family.
Comment by Mike — March 8, 2006 @ 2:41 pm
It’s interesting though. A film like Brokeback Mountain has taken in only $60million. Whereas the Narnia film has grossed more than ALL the Best Picture Oscar candidates COMBINED.
In fact, when you look at “family films” category–they have been the top 10 highest grossing films EVERY YEAR FOR 5 YEARS RUNNING.
So maybe you can do your shareholders BETTER with family and Christian based films.
As for other media, especially online games (not gambling), etc. violence reigns supreme. Why is that I wonder?
Comment by Dan — March 8, 2006 @ 5:03 pm
Thought I would share this article, I thought it was interesting since we are talking about Hollywood and such….
Father Clooney and the First Church of Hollywood
by James Robison
Forget Scientology. The new religion of the Left Coast is Hollywood itself.
The Academy Awards exposed a faction of filmmakers who possess more zeal than many Evangelicals. Led by the outspoken (and now Oscar-winning) actor George Clooney, this congregation of artist-activists came completely out of the closet during their Sunday evening service.
Early in the program, host Jon Stewart noted that Hollywood is sometimes considered “out of touch with mainstream America…an atheistic pleasure dome…a modern-day beachfront Sodom and Gomorrah…a moral black hole where innocence is obliterated in an endless orgy of sexual gratification and greed.”
Clooney departed from the typical thank-you speech and admitted, “We are a little bit out of touch in Hollywood every once in a while, I think. It’s probably a good thing. We’re the ones who talk about AIDS when it was just being whispered. And we talked about civil rights when it wasn’t really popular… This group of people gave Hattie McDaniel an Oscar in 1939 when blacks were still sitting in the backs of theaters. I’m proud to be a part of this Academy. I’m proud to be part of this community. I’m proud to be out of touch.”
Isn’t it amazing to discover Hollywood’s desire to be recognized as the champion of all worthy causes, the nation’s true source of healing and the real cure for our social ills? This role used to be fulfilled by the church!
My own observation is that much of Hollywood tends to feed and motivate the selfish, gratuitous, extreme and even perverse practices that ultimately demand someone taking a stand for what really matters in life. They have spent a fortune promoting many of the things that they now seek credit for addressing. Talk about hypocrisy!
I will readily admit that the movie industry has occasionally done some positive things with art. Giving the Gone with the Wind actress an award for her stereotypical portrayal of the slave “Mammy” did require courage back in 1939. Of course, Mrs. McDaniel and her husband had to sit at the back table during those Academy Awards and it took Hollywood 51 years to award another Oscar to a black woman. But nevermind the details. They provide such leadership on racial issues that they gave this year’s Best Song Oscar to the Three 6 Mafia for It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp an inspiration for any young black American.
Another Oscar went to screenwriter and producer Diana Ossana for her adaptation of the gay cowboy movie Brokeback Mountain, who declared in her acceptance speech that “the duty of art is to send light in to the darkness of men’s hearts.”
That’s right, homosexuality equals light, heterosexuality equals darkness. A passage straight out of the new Hollywood Bible.
Ang Lee, the Oscar-winning director of Brokeback, praised the screenwriters who “taught us about all the gay men and women whose love is denied by society.”
Wait a second. I thought the conflict had to do with sex, not love. Aha! Another passage from the First Church of Hollywood’s sacred text: Sex equals love! That’s their story and, in the words of the Academy President, Sid Ganis, “We are the salesmen of the story.”
There was a time when Hollywood defended their more controversial films with the argument that art merely reflected society. But in the New Religion, the rules have changed. Paul Haggis, whose film Crash won Best Picture, quoted Berthold Brecht, the early 20th century Marxist playwright who was honored with the Stalin Peace Prize, when he said, “Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.”
The members of Father Clooney’s parish are hammering away. They are happily out of touch with mainstream America, but if the Oscars are any indication, their sermons are being proclaimed in theaters around the country. I wonder if they even notice the drop-off at the box office.
The rest of us can only hope and pray for an increase in the brief and glorious moments of film, when movies like Schindler’s List caused us to search for the good in each of us, and Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner forced us to think honestly about how we treated each other, and The Passion of the Christ helped us see the face of true love.
Comment by Mike — March 9, 2006 @ 4:34 pm