This evening we watched (most) of the film Pleasantville, and then discussed how it intersected with Christianity. The first main them we discussed was how it mirrored the fall. The film contained very overt symbolism, including temptation and eating an apple in a garden. But in Pleasantville, the fall makes things better. The TV repairman character, who seemed to represent God, looked happy with how things had developed at the end of the film - it was as if he intended it to be all along. Did God intend the fall to happen?
The other theme was how the spreading of colour could represent the advancing of the kingdom of God. The colour first came to a marginalised group of people, and then spread more widely. The coloured people were segregated and discriminated against, in a similar way to the early followers of Jesus. They formed a new society, with its own rules, and chose which rules of the dominant culture to follow and which to ignore.
We finished with a prayer along these lines:
Lord Jesus, you brought so much colour and life into the world. People couldn't help but leave their grey lives and follow you. May we go now and live our lives in colour, and by your grace help us to spread some colour to the world this week. Amen.
1 comment:
Just watched this. Lots to muse over. Initial reaction is being reminded of Matthew Fox's "Original Blessing" - where the Fall isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Will mull over and maybe post again.
A very intelligent film, and glad to have watched it :o)
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