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Weekly Resources, Ideas and Articles from The Source for Youth Ministry Wednesday, April 18, 2001
April 18, 2001 Nicky Peña added a video clip and discussion idea that works great, even after Easter. I wanted to share it with you: Saving Private Ryan: This is a really heavy movie- very gory, but a realistic portrait of war. The storyline is about a soldier named Private Ryan whose brothers have all been killed. The government recognizes this and decides to pull him from duty before having to send him home to his mom in a body bag too. So Tom Hanks is commissioned with a crew of guys to get Private Ryan (Matt Damon) out safely. They go through horrible stuff and lose several men. Review the plot-line of the film and show the clip at the very end when Tom Hanks' character himself is dying and he has a chance to say some last words to Private Ryan and he basically tells him to live a life worthy of all the sacrifice that was made for him. He tells him to "earn this"... I showed this movie to teens right before Easter Sunday and followed up with the clip out of the Jesus film where they´re crucifying Christ. From there I talked about how we don´t "earn" our salvation -- it was given to us, but that we should live a life worthy of the sacrifice that was made on our behalf, the way that Tom Hanks admonished Private Ryan to live in a way that would reflect what was given up for him. The end of the movie shows the same soldier as an old man, visiting Tom Hanks´ character's grave, and really anguished as to whether or not he had lived a life worthy of so much spent on him personally. We talked about not having to come to the end of your life and feel that anguish of having wasted a life that Jesus thought was so valuable that he gave His own to save. Added by Nicky Peña Note: The animated/claymation Jesus film that was on network TV Easter Sunday was also very well done. I think that's a good option to show to students as well. http://www.thesource4ym.com/archives/
Every once in a while someone asks a question about the use of video clips. "How can you justify showing a rated 'R' film?" or "Aren't you endorsing movies and what they stand for by their use?" I thought I'd address that right up front since I know those emails are coming. I wouldn't show most movies to kids- and to be honest with you, 'R' isn't the line I use. I'm surprised how often Christians make the 'R' rating, a secular rating system based on secular morals, their line. There is more PG and PG-13 junk out there than ever before. Furthermore, almost every sit com on the 3 major networks today have more junk than 'R' movies 30 years ago, and to be totally honest with you . . . I would rather kids see some movies out there than most sit coms on TV today. A movie like Saving Private Ryan is Captain Kangaroo compared to your average 5 minutes of television's FRIENDS, DAWSON'S CREEK, or BOSTON PUBLIC. My movie suggestions take small clips from movies to promote discussion. I recommend using discretion when choosing which movies to watch. Now realize- my background is working with non-church kids in campus clubs. Most the kids I work with are allowed to watch R-rated movies and are always talking about them. Fact is, in my recent survey of junior high kids (age 12, 13, and 14) their favorite movie is an 'R' rated film. A good example was last year: over 90% of the students had seen Matrix and were talking about it, so we did a Matrix discussion (see link on my video clip page, under the topic "Choices") Finding clips from these films and discussing them can be advantageous. Precaution always has to be taken . . . and ramifications always need to be prayerfully considered. But I don't have a problem with showing clips from movies, especially from a war movie like Saving Private Ryan. Personally, I love movies. Anyone who knows me knows that if they go see a movie with me I usually give the run-down on who directed it, the director's history and the history of all the actors. I studied film in college and I have even dinked around filming a few shorts. However, I have 3 kids and they don't watch anything but a little public television and kids films (Milo & Otis, Tarzan, etc.) Web sites like screenit.com have been a great help in discerning what is appropriate for viewing. Just because I personally watch almost no TV but like movies, I'm not going to shove that on anyone else. I'm hoping and praying that youth workers out there are going to stay connected to Christ and let their wisdom and decision making flow from Him. Meanwhile, I'll try to keep providing good ideas and resources that might be useful to some, and maybe not to others. http://www.thesource4ym.com/videoclips/ God Bless, Jonathan |
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