Wall-e vs Wanted by maTT vZ

I watched WANTED a while ago. What a pretty film. What great CGI and directing. What awesome action.

What a hunk of junk.

Man, it felt like I was having sour vinegar poured down my lungs, pausing only to let the odd pickle slide in there, but why? What was it about this film? It felt so bitter, so angry and so disdainful of well, pretty much anyone who slogs it through a rough day. And I wasn’t alone in this. We all exited with a heavy feeling of having chugged down something never intended for human consumption. And the aftertaste was one of disgust and shame. Disgust that people’s mindsets could portray them as so defeated, so vicious, so sad. Shame that I should feel or act so surprised. By now, I know better – not I should know better, I do know better, because my Father knows better, period. I even knew before I went into that cinema that this was a film we should not be watching. I don’t think the others did, but I did. And I never said a word, cos I wanted to watch the cool flick…

I’m a film nut, I obsess over directors and writers and actors, and who is going to be collaborating together to blow a 100-odd million dollars on a flashy piece of eye and ear candy just for me (and their pockets). I check out the backstory, find out where it all started, by whom and in whose dingy garage and whose mom supplied the brownies. In this case it was a pair of disgruntled comic book writers and illustrators who where sick of their industry’s cliché-ridden formulas, gave them a particular finger to contemplate and decided to make there own flavour of anti-super-villain-hero effort.

And that flavour is bitter.

They tell you your life is pathetic. They tell you you are pathetic (literally, the main dude in the film addresses you as such). And that now he has a purpose and freedom and other adjectives that made no sense compared to what we see, it’s reckoned that unless you quit your job, assault your co-workers and assassinate random fat guys smoking cigars because a woven tapestry told you to… you’re not complete. Yeeeeah, ookay…

But, mebe i’m just being… conservative, yes? Mebe, you say, it’s just a movie, don’t take it so seriously.

Boy then, are there a lot of films not to take seriously.

And each and every one of them have a line on what is the way to live, a snappy manifesto, an awesome cast and killer soundtracks that woo us to there way of thinking. But then who’s right? Which is the way to live? What happens when the credits roll and you bouncy-bouncy out of that cinema and you try live the life they showed you is the shizness and oops – you don’t have the mutli-angle close-ups, the sweet grading and snappy one-liners? Ya git stuck.

I watched WALL·E a couple weeks later. What a cutesy film. What lack of dialog. What weird main characters.

What a slice of awesome.

You know that somebody has done summin’ different when a hardened film buff watching odd little robots drops a few salty ones as the credits roll. I laughed, man I laughed. How is it that these guys are so good that I feel more emotionally attached to a CGI walking, talking garbage disposal than anything else I’ve seen on screen. Pixar are another level. The detail of character that is not just captured, but created from scratch that makes these little guys feel more human than most shot film.

This little guy is so independent, so hopelessly romantic and gob-smackingly plucky I was writing up the adoption papers. The way in which he never gives up, always pushes for the positive in the most negative sitchiation makes you feel anything is possible. So you bouncy-bouncy outta the cinema, thinking you gonna be as plucky and cute and successful and oops – you don’t have the robotic puppy-dog eyes or the adorable SFX or un-dent-able optimism. So what happens? Ya git stuck.

Okay, so mebe you don’t take in this stuff. Mebe you just watch and let go. But mebe, just mebe, you do, and you just don’t know it. We have a lot of entrances into each of our temples (some exits too, but lets leave that, shall we), we’ve got eyegates and eardoors that take in all we swing our head towards or around. And everything that comes in pours through our brain-filter and settles in our heart-wells, good or bad. Yeah, the brain will pick up on the obvious stuff – the swearing and the gratuitous sex and the gore and the etc. etc. – those big chunky bits we all know aren’t good – problem is it clogs everything up there and whatever passes through strains out all the underlying essence it seeps out like a Lipton’s triangular teabag, straight into our hearts, where it joins everything we don’t pick up.

Like what? Well, whether you like it or not. Every film you watch, e-v-e-r-y film, has an agenda and influence. This is not conspiracy stuff, it’s just common sense. People have opinions, pastimes, causes, preferences and beliefs. People make films. Do the math. Like it or not, that stuff is gonna come through. Whether it’s a brainless popcorn flick or a deep emo indie film, there is lovin’, hatin’, purity, perversion, anxiety, anger, intimacy, indifference, decadence, desolation, gory, horny, and porny. The experiences people have had and chosen and made instantly affects their creations.

So what’s my point? Wait, do I have one….? Oh, yes. Right. Yeah, I know, you’re not gonna go monkish and cut off all entertainment, but at the very least, a quick review of what you take in will help. Some stuff is just pretty obvious. You can feel it in your spirit, how is twists at it, discomforts it. Use that.

But more importantly, be AWARE of this reality, that all this stuff will affect you, and more importantly, how it can affect you relationship with your Father. I can tell you I’ve had instances where something has affected me to a degree that it seems to put a sticky wall up, or sometimes loses me in a fog, and I struggle to just be in God’s presence. And sometimes it can draw me right to Him, or give me a profound and powerful connection to Him through something He has shown me through what I’m taking in. Check out the Iwo Jima article coming for eg.

It’s something no one can judge you on or tell you which and what. You’ve got to make a call on that each time. There is some truly awesome stuff out there watch, big budget and small setup, fun and light and heavy and dark. God has given people awesome gifts to tell a story, or make a statement. You’ll make right calls, and wrong ones, more than once. May each instance and experience push you closer to Him, and help you choose again, even better each time. Happy watchin’.