What do these two have in common? Let’s plunge into the Deeper Waters and find out.
It would seem on the surface that I have mentioned two opposites. Look at the values of Pureflix. As a Christian, I agree with them I’m sure for the most part. Look at the Woke agenda. I thoroughly disagree with that and think it’s damaging our community greatly.
Yet as I thought more about Mario and Bud Light, I realized that really, these two are quite similar. Here’s a question to think about. How many people do you think who are non-Christians have subscriptions to Pureflix? Odds are, a bare minimum if any. If I found that it’s only Christians who have one, I would not be surprised. (I am also including those who claim to be Christians like Mormons in this case)
Let’s compare this to movies that have come out that have been identified as Woke and how much they have bombed. Strange World was a complete flop. Lightyear was not successful. Bros targeted a small minority of the population and even a lot of that population did not go and see it, and it’s my understanding that the Disney Star Wars has pretty much killed the series.
Why is this?
Families often don’t want to take their children to see movies that have values that disagree with them. That’s understandable. It’s understandable then that parents that could be Woke would not their children to see movies that are Christian. That’s the freedom of parents. They can raise their children with the values they want.
That’s one reason the Mario movie has done so well. Parents don’t have to be afraid to take their children and in some cases, some parents might take their children not because the children are excited, but because the parents want to see it and the children are a nice reason to get to go see a movie meant for children. I’m 42, but I still went to see it with some friends.
It’s also why Bud Light is failing now. The representative who had the idea wanted to be “inclusive” and at the same time made disparaging remarks about their main client base. Talk about inclusivity. Hint people on the left. No one is 100% inclusive or can be.
So to get back, if you are Woke and reading this and wondering why people don’t want to go see movies that are said to be Woke, imagine a parallel universe. In this universe, the Christians are in charge of the media, but there’s a strong population base out there that believes what today’s “Woke” do, and yet every movie has to have Christian elements throughout it and Christian messages that are in your face. Finally, a movie comes out that has none of that. It’s not Woke, but it’s just a neutral movie. It sells well.
I am not trying to be insulting to Pureflix, but if non-Christians are not interested in the media we produce, then we are just preaching to ourselves. Now there is a place for producing media just for us. I have plenty of books that are written by Christians for Christians, but in evangelism, we have to present something for the world outside of us.
If we just make it where we have the content of the message in the face of the customer while the content of the movie otherwise takes a back seat, they won’t want to see it. If someone wants to watch a movie, a TV show, or play a video game, they have one requirement at the start normally. It has to be fun for them. If they are interested, they will stay. If I pick up a game to play and I just can’t get into it, then I will just stop. (Exception could be if I was being paid to review a game.)
The Woke community has been focusing so much on diversity points and their message that they have left content behind. The content of the Mario movie was granted, not a story, as the plot is minimal, but it was several items that fans would recognize and was true to the source material. If you have a superhero in a comic book and their big draw is that they’re non-binary or gay, that’s not enough. Most readers don’t care really. They just want good content.
On the other hand, secularists probably don’t care if a character is Christian or not (Daredevil and Nightcrawler both are). They care if the content is good. Now if a Daredevil movie came out and it was all about Daredevil being a Christian, they wouldn’t care to see it.
If we want to win a culture war, we can’t just be focused all on the message and assume everyone is interested in the message as we are. We have to make good content that people will enjoy and find a way like Lewis did to slip past the watchful dragons with the message content. Lewis in his Chronicles of Narnia never explicitly spelled out the gospel, but it was shown throughout the books and they are classics to this day.
It can be done. We need to do better. If we only speak to our own, we will not make any strides forward in the culture war.
In Christ,
Nick Peters
(And I affirm the virgin birth)