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COMMENTARY

No Country for 'Slumdog Millionaire'

By Jesse Carey RSS
CBN.com Interactive Media Producer

CBN.com - If pop-culture serves as a reflection of society, what do the Oscars tell us about American thought and values? Beyond ongoing foreign wars, a global economic crisis and a domestic recession, in the past few months America has also elected a new president—and despite some sparring over politics, Barack Obama being elected to the position of the President of the United States was a profoundly historic moment. These are incredibly complex times where we've not only seen social breakthroughs, but also new sets of problems. If there was ever a time to look at the cultural barometer the Oscars provide, it’s now.

At this weekend’s Academy Awards, the indie film Slumdog Millionaire took home the Oscar for Best Picture. But, for the film even to be nominated was an unlikely outcome. Even after the movie had wrapped production, the filmmakers had doubts that it would ever see theaters. The studio that financed the movie folded after production, and the studio that later bought the rights doubted whether the movie would even make any money and considered releasing it straight to DVD. Obviously their decision to give it a theatrical release paid off. So far it’s made more than $150 million globally. And last week, the little movie took home Hollywood’s biggest prize.

Somewhat fittingly, the movie’s own underdog story matches that of its troubled distribution. The film tells the story of a young man from the slums of India who ends up on the show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire in an effort to find his lost love. It’s a rags to riches tale that, unlike its Best Picture rivals, offered a sense of unbridled optimism through a story of overcoming poverty, tragedy and crime. You could make the argument that if there are two words that could summarize major themes in the movie’s story, they would be “Hope” and “Change”.

By contrast, if “hope” and “change” summed up Slumdog Millionaire, last year’s Best Picture winner would be better described by “greed” and “violence”. The Cohen brothers’ adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s cotemporary western novel No Country for Old Men told the story of a Vietnam veteran who comes across the carnage of a drug deal gone bad while hunting in the Texas badlands. After he takes a suitcase full of cash from the scene, a psychotic hit-man is commissioned to recover the money, leaving a trail of murder and destruction in his wake as he hunts the film’s protagonist. Left trying to make sense of the madness is a small town sheriff in the twilight of his career who ponders the existence of evil, the difficulty of fighting it and the deterioration of American morality. The movie is anything but optimistic.

Interestingly, when No Country for Old Men was released (November 2007), the economic bubble had not completely burst and America hadn’t entered into its current recession (the National Bureau of Economic Research says the recession didn’t begin until December 2007, though its full severity wasn’t realized until months later). And though it was the final year of the Bush presidency and American was in the midst of two wars, the last six months of 2007 saw a dramatic decline in the number of US fatalities in Iraq. (The Brookings Institute released a surprisingly optimistic report in December 2007, stating “Iraq’s security environment is considerably improved, with security at its best levels since early 2004”).

This year though, headlines have been dominated by stories of impending economic doom and gloom, record-breaking job losses and a plunging stock market.

If anything, the messages of the two respective Best Picture winners countered the collective circumstances the American people found themselves in. Of course, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences doesn’t speak for every American, but the themes of the last two Best Picture winning films do seem to encapsulate the sentiment of much of the American public. The Bush years were marred by two relatively unpopular wars and Obama has taken office on the campaign promise of change and hope.

Ironically though, the actual circumstances much of the country was in (and is now in), counters those message. Now that times are getting tough, culture is calling for “hope” and “change”, but when times were comparatively good, the most decorated movie was one that focused on more pessimistic ideas like “greed” and “violence.”

If so much of the collective mindset of culture is dictated by circumstance, what does that mean for the Christian? Especially when the mindset is a somewhat opposite reaction to reality (looking at the bad when times are good and hoping for good when times are bad), how should Christians form their perspective and worldview?

When being questioned by Pilate before His crucifixion, Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” It’s a phrase and theme that appear constantly throughout the gospel. In the book of John, Christ tells his disciples, “If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world” (John 15:19).

What baffled Pilate and challenged Jesus’ disciples was that Christ wasn’t just focused on our present circumstances. He was constantly looking to things that were “not of this world.” In fact, much of what He taught was a direct contradiction to the mindset of his culture. He taught that "the last will be first, and the first will be last" (Matthew 20:16).

On the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus introduced even more radical concepts: "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well …Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you” (Matthew 5:38).

These ideas did not only underscore God’s love, but they also countered what culture taught. They looked past the collective mindset and circumstances by not calling for vengeance in response to wrong-doing—they called for love.

When being arrested before his crucifixion, Jesus didn’t put up a fight. He did not base his action on present circumstance—He saw the significance of the God’s Kingdom … one that is Eternal. He knew that dying for the sins of the world would ultimately fulfill the will of God. It was a notion that was not of this world.

"So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18).

There’s nothing wrong with wanting hope or change in bad times, or pointing to the violence that greed can bring. But our attitude toward the present state of our world shouldn’t wavier based on popular ideas or new circumstances. It should solely be based on eternal consequence. If we let our attitude toward life be tied to the culture’s waivering opinions, than our worldview will be based only one what is temporal. “For this world in its present form is passing away” (1 Corinthians 7:31).

Despite what circumstances tells us and what culture suggests, we have a greater perspective—one of things to come. “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2).

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Jesse CareyJesse Carey is the Interactive Media Producer for CBN.com. With a background in entertainment and pop-culture writing, he offers his insight on music, movies, TV, trends and current events from a unique perspective that examines what implications the latest news has on Christians.

 

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