The God Complex

I’ve worked on a number of faith-based films during my movie-making career. In all honesty, I’ve enjoyed working on those projects more so than the others. Aside from agreeing with their general messages, the on-set environment was usually much more positive.

However, very few faith-based films are well received by general audiences. We can’t blame it solely on their religious foundations, since I’ve seen plenty of moral and religious-heavy films that turned out just fine. Some of these faith-based films are technically sound, too. So, what’s the issue?

The biggest hurdle faith-based films must overcome is the believability and presentation of how problems are solved.

In basic story writing, characters grow when they get past an obstacle. Angry dog in the path? Find a way around it. Short on funds? Try a new business plan to rake in more money. The bigger the challenge, the greater the reward and the more interest the audience has in that character.

Unfortunately, faith-based films often face a stereotype that undermines this character development: if the protagonist “prays harder,” everything falls into place. Life hits them like a truck, and at their lowest point, they pray to God and put the situation in His hands. All of a sudden, every issue that came up begins to resolve themselves. The choice to rely on faith rather than our own efforts bears bountiful rewards.

One example of this is Facing the Giants from 2006. The protagonist, Grant, faces several hurdles. The high school football team he coaches has had a notorious losing streak, the parents are petitioning to replace him, and he and his wife are unable to bear children. Once he hits rock bottom, he has that perfectly-lit scene where he prays to God for help. After that, each problem slowly resolves itself. His team starts playing better, the parents get off his back, and his wife comes home with news that she’s pregnant.

Granted, Christian audiences are totally fine with this because that’s exactly how things go. We were once lost in our sin and despair, but the moment we humble ourselves and turn to God, we see how He’s at work in our lives and we’re liberated from our shackles. Once we view the world through God’s eyes instead of our own, things do begin to look better. We have the hope to press on.

As a disclaimer, this does not mean that everything is hunky-dory once we make that faithful stand. Our eyes have opened, but we still live in a fallen world that is very anti-God. The idea that praying harder makes everything work out leads to a dangerous and inaccurate mindset: if my prayers go unanswered or the answer is “No,” my faith must be too weak.

That is a false notion. There have been multiple times in my life where I prayed for something and the doors closed instead of opened. Seeing how things played out after I received the “No,” I realized that God had bigger and better things planned for me. We can’t see the big picture. That’s why we put our faith in the One who can. Honestly, I’d almost like to see a faith-based film where things aren’t all wrapped up with a shiny bow, just to show that, while things didn’t end the way the protagonist wanted it to, they still choose to remain faithful.

Drawing our attention back to film, movies and TV shows are visual-based mediums. Since faith is evidence of things not seen and comes when you close your eyes and open your ears, it doesn’t translate well onto film. We can’t “see” God at work, so the idea of faith gets lost on general audiences. It feels as though it’s random acts of coincidence overcoming the obstacles instead of the protagonist, which portrays them as dull and uninteresting.

That’s what happened with Grant in Facing the Giants. He had finally set his ego aside and let God use him. The audience could see him making more faith-based choices, but because they couldn’t physically see God, the significance was lost.

Now, we want more people to come see our films and possibly encounter God through them, so how do we show God at work without undermining our visible characters?

There are four solutions to portraying God within a visual medium: abusing foreshadowing, allegory and symbolism, reference, and making God an involved character.

When I say “abuse foreshadowing,” I mean take the proverbial acts-of-God events and roll with them. People gripe about how faith-based films seem to rely on convenient fixes to problems, so why not show how these events aren’t so coincidental?

There is a story-writing archetype called “petting the dog” or “saving the cat.” These are the moments where the protagonist goes out of their way to help someone, even if they get nothing in return or if it keeps them from reaching their intended goal. The ruthless mob boss can pull a child out of the way of a speeding bus. The down-on-her-luck musician can still drop some of her precious coins into the homeless man’s cup. These acts of kindness make characters more appealing to audiences.

Now, take that concept and blow it up enough to encompass the entire story. The protagonist is struggling, but still goes out of their way to help others. Each of those random acts of kindness then pay off later in the movie when the protagonist needs it most. The child the mob boss helped? Turns out he’s the son of the antagonist cop, who lets the mob boss go at the end of the film. The homeless man the musician helped? Turns out he knows how to play guitar and offers to teach her how to play better.

Faith-based filmmakers can take this concept and use it to show God at work behind the scenes. “Divine appointments,” if you will. Admittedly, this is probably the weakest of the four solutions. The acts-of-kindness payoffs could still be perceived as happy coincidence rather than God creating the opportunities.

Next, we move to Allegory and Symbolism. Throughout His three-year ministry, Jesus told parables, stories of everyday life that reflected how God’s Kingdom would work. We can do the same thing by using allegory and symbolism. An allegory is a story, poem, or picture that reveals a hidden meaning, while symbolism is the use of symbols to represent ideas.

Two faith-based allegorical films are The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and The Pilgrim’s Progress, both of which are movie adaptations of prominent books. The Pilgrim’s Progress reflects a person’s spiritual journey, while The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe portrays Jesus’s sacrifice to save us from our sins within a fantasy setting.

Although symbolism is usually more subtle, some people’s uses are more blatant than others. Take Superman in 2013’s Man of Steel. When he’s about to leave Zod’s ship to stop the enemy Kryptonians, Superman floats out into space with his arms outstretched, just as the sun is coming into view. Everyone could tell this mimicked Jesus on the cross, which makes sense. Superman is about to save mankind as an otherworldly messiah.

While allegory and symbolism use parallels to portray God in film, this works differently than solution number three: referencing Him. In this case, God is alluded to within the story, but He is not an active character. The cast can be Bible-believing Christians, but they are shown overcoming their own obstacles. They can still have that moment of prayerful epiphany, but we see them making choices that directly influence their current problems. This makes them more dynamic and appealing as characters. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is what they were trying to do in Facing the Giants, just not with as much success.

The best example I can think of (prepare for another one of my shameless plugs) was the first faith-based feature film I worked on, A Champion Heart. The protagonist, Mandy, is dealing with a lot of stuff. Family’s hit hard times, new environment, the whole shebang. God is referenced in this movie several times. Mandy comes from a Christian family, and she ends up working at a horse sanctuary whose owner shows no qualms explaining how God has helped her through life. However, this is Mandy’s story, and it’s Mandy who overcomes her hardships. Yes, God is mentioned throughout, but the focus is more on her.

The final solution, and probably the hardest one to do well, is making God an involved character, writing Him directly into the script. It’s difficult because you don’t want to run the risk of inaccuracy, which could result in the entire Bible Belt storming your house with torches and pitchforks. Sure, you can do Jesus’s life directly, like The Passion of the Christ and The Chosen, but what about when God isn’t the main character? We want God involved in the story, but we still want to see the human characters grow in believable ways.

Well, we do have some solid examples, such as The Prince of Egypt, Ben-Hur, and The Chronicles of Narnia (no, that’s not a typo; I’ll explain in a bit).

In The Prince of Egypt, Moses, the protagonist, encounters God through a burning bush. God comes off as powerful and commanding, but also gentle and understanding. The writers didn’t have to get too creative with the dialogue, though. All of God’s lines were slight variations of what’s written in Exodus, so at least we can say this movie was fairly accurate.

The 2016 Ben-Hur remake took a slightly different approach to adding God to the cast. The story takes place in Jerusalem during the Roman occupation. Jesus shows up several times throughout the film, interacting directly with Judah Ben-Hur at certain points. We even see Him led off to be crucified later down the line. Though their encounters were brief, Jesus’s words and actions still left an impression on Judah, later influencing his showdown with his traitorous brother.

And now, we come to what some of you were wondering: Tim, why did you list Narnia again? Didn’t you say it was an allegory? Originally, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was an allegory. That is how C.S. Lewis wrote it. However, in book four (and, later, movie three), The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, the Pavensie kids reunite with Aslan, the lion who paralleled Jesus in the first movie. Here, he tells them that he’s in their world, too, and that he goes by another name there. In other words, Aslan does not simply represent Jesus. He is Jesus.

I find it interesting how, in the more recent film adaptations, Liam Neeson was cast to voice Aslan. This isn’t the only time he’s played God on screen. The other notable time was also one of the briefest: the BBC comedy show Rev.

Rev follows Adam, a preacher, and his life at his parish. Already, the show did an amazing job with its Christian cast because it did not portray any of them as “holier than thou.” Everyone felt real, with authentic problems, concerns, and shortcomings. Although Adam is supposed to set an example for his congregation, he’s by no means perfect. He’s still a regular guy, and Rev captured that dynamic well.

In season three, Adam comes to the end of his rope. His reputation has been stained and his parish is in danger of being closed down. He finds himself alone in a park, reflecting on what’s happened, when along comes a rather familiar face. Anything I say about this powerful scene won’t do it justice, so watch it down below:

There’s a delicate balance to maintain when it comes to including God in film. While we need to focus on the characters’ efforts, we cannot, and should not, exclude God’s involvement in their stories. It’s difficult, but not impossible. Hopefully, faith-based films and media will get better from here on out. That way, they can properly share all the good news they have.