10/6/03
MOVIE REVIEW : LORD OF THE RINGS MOVIES
By J.Parnell McCarter
The public, including and especially the Christian public, has
been captivated by the Lord
of the Rings
movies. First of all, this is contrary
to the doctrine that being entertained by drama is wrong. In movie reviews such as at http://www.puritans.net/movie%20reviews/godsandgenerals.htm
we have laid out our objections to being entertained by drama, such as movies. We have pointed out the immorality of
stage-acting.
Recently
I posed this question to a Christian advocate of movie-watching: do you think
it is wholesome for your children to play cops and robbers, wherein some of the
children play robbers. He responded
with this question:
> > *****CSC: ...Why do you consider it
to be unwholesome for
> children to play at such
> > things, remembering that it is p-l-a-y?
And my response was as follows:
> because we ought not practice at doing
evil, such as a robber does
>
> But if you see nothing wrong with it,
would you also see nothing
> wrong with your daughter (if you had a
daughter) playing a harlot?
> If it is ok to simulate robbery in
"play", is it also ok to simulate
> adultery in "play"?
>
> Or what if your son were
"playing" someone engaging in bestiality?
> Is it ok to simulate bestiality in
"play"?
>
> My answer- absolutely not.
>
> Phil 4:8-9 - Finally, brethren,
whatsoever things are true,
> whatsoever things [are] honest,
whatsoever things [are] just,
> whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever
things [are] lovely,
> whatsoever things [are] of good report;
if [there be] any virtue,
> and if [there be] any praise, think on
these things. Those things,
> which ye have both learned, and
received, and heard, and seen in me,
> do: and the God of peace shall be with
you.
>
>
> We ought to practice doing what is good,
not bad. And play in
> children can be for them a practice step
toward the real thing.
> Hence, it is wholesome for young
daughters to play being a
> homemaker, for example. But it is not wholesome to be playing and
> practicing being robbers, harlots, etc.
>
> But I expected you to say it is ok to
"play" being a robber, because
> it logically follows from your view
regarding the propriety of stage-
> acting.
>
>
> - Parnell McCarter
We ought not to be imitating the wicked, but this is inherent in stage-acting, as it would be in playing a ‘game’ of cops and robbers or pimps and prostitutes.
But, in addition, there are other concerns we should have with the way the Christian public is captivated by the Lord of the Rings movies. In being entertained in this way, the public is subtly being indoctrinated in Romanism. For evidence of this, consider this quote from an article at http://www.crisismagazine.com/november2001/feature7.htm : "Tolkien maintained that everything he knew, he learned from his Catholic faith, and that he owed this faith to his mother, who, according to Tolkien, "clung to her conversion and died young, largely through the hardships of poverty resulting from it...Tolkien always affirmed that his work taught good morals and encouraged his readers! to turn to the Catholic faith...So while Tolkien did not intend to preach Catholic moral theology, the moral tectonics of Middle-earth are distinctly Catholic."
We should not be fooled that being entertained by the Lord of the Rings movies is innocuous.