Original post: http://thereader101.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-gospel-according-to-disney-by-mark.html
When
I was 15, I attended church camp for a second time. As much as I want
to go into great detail about my experiences there, I will spare you the
reader and get to the point that relates to this book review. My
friends and I were at evening chapel, soaking in what the Pastor was
saying. Suddenly, he stepped aside and the lights dimmed. The screen lit
up in a blue glow and once our eyes adjusted it became apparent we were
watching a clip from a Disney movie...and not just any Disney movie but
The Lion King, one of my all time favorites! What does The Lion King have to do with church?
I asked myself. Let me paint the scene for you. Simba has just reunited
with his childhood friend who believed him to be dead and confronts him
with his past that he thought he left behind him. Angry, confused, and
lost Simba walks to the water and stares at his reflection in the water.
Suddenly, the peace is disturbed by the wise old Rafiki who tells Simba
he knows he is Mufasa's boy. When Simba tells him his father is dead,
Rafiki disputes him and tells him his father is alive and he can see him
if Simba follows Rafiki. Simba follows and they arrive at another body
of water. Rafiki tells Simba to look and when Simba looks at the water,
he only sees his reflection. Rafiki urges him to look harder and
suddenly Simba is starring at the image of his father. Then Rafiki says
the iconic words, "You see, he lives in you." There is a loud rumbling
and in the sky stands Mufasa, urging Simba to stop running from his past
and to take his place on Pride Rock as King. When Mufasa's ghost fades,
Rafiki furthers his message by saying, "Oh yes the past can hurt, but
the way I see it you can either run from it or learn from it." Hans
Zimmer's score beautifully clashes with the African choir as Simba makes
his decision to return to Pride Rock. Tears welled up in my eyes. A
great deal of my emotion stemmed from the nostalgia I was feeling. But
it was also more than that. I had never known that faith could be seen
through "secular" entertainment. Yet here was a perfect example. The
Christian symbolism was so clear to me at that moment and it is one of
the defining moments of my adolescence for it is the moment that
inspired me to study other entertainment and look for hidden meanings in
other media I encountered. I began searching for books that discussed
this topic of Christian symbolism in Disney films and soon came across
this book, The Gospel According to Disney by Mark I. Pinsky. I couldn't wait to read it.
This
book is not what I expected at all. While the title implies that the
author will be picking out bits of the gospel that are ingrained in
Disney films and discussing them, it is quite the opposite. The book
begins with a long chapter discussing Walt Disney's relationship with
Christianity and faith in general. It takes a deep look at Walt's
childhood that greatly summarizes the man the public came to know and
either adore or despise. The book then goes into separate chapters
discussing a different movie each chapter. Part one of the book focused
on the films that were made while and a little after Walt was alive.
Part two focuses on the Michael Eisner years. Once again, Pinsky
provided a good look at Eisner's relationship with faith. It then goes
into a bit about the theme parks and the Baptist boycott.
Critical
reviews of this book are very positive while the reviews I saw online
were extremely negative. This made me wonder a great deal, for I was on
the latter side. I did not think this book was very good. But I think it
is the title that either helped the book or made people cringe at the
book. I already stated what I expected this book to be. However, I
realize the title can be read another way. Rather than picking out the
deeper Christian gospel messages of these films, this book gave a
detailed look at Disney's relationship with culture and general
religion. It didn't really look for the deeper messages but at surface
level material - what Disney the company did, what it would look like if
people clung to the films as a religious entity, etc. While this was
also a good approach, it has already been done before. None of Pinsky's
chapters looking at these wonderful films wowed me or moved me. The only
chapters I took great interest in were looking at Walt's life and
Eisner's life, the theme parks, and the Baptist boycott. Those chapters
contained worth while substance. The rest of the book...not so much.
One
huge fault of the book is Pinsky's constant lengthy summaries of each
movie he talks about. Literally every chapter is a frame by frame look
at the film in question. As an English major in college, I was taught
that when you write an essay you should always avoid giving the summary
of said subject. The person who is reading your essay or group of essays
will most likely be reading it with knowledge of the content
beforehand. They don't need to hear it again, they just need to hear
your analysis. And if the chapter didn't contain a summary, it was
Pinsky bitching about the movie's lack of political correctness. I
gained nothing from these chapters which was extremely disappointing.
Another
huge fallback of the book was it's lack of even addressing the gospel
at all. The chapters talked more about Disney and culture and went on
more about tropes and stereotypes. We get it! People talk about this all
of the time. Why do we need to hear about it again? Chapters such as Alice and Wonderland and Aladdin
never mentioned the gospel once. It made me question why I was
continuing with the book when it wasn't even addressing the subject it
claimed to tackle in the actual title! And there were a few mistakes
made throughout the book as well. The one I can remember off the top of
my head was in the Alice in Wonderland chapter when Pinsky kept calling Alice's older sister her governess.
And
finally, the book's biggest mistake has to be the title. The word
"gospel" should not be in it. It is misleading and insulting to the
actual Christian gospel. Rather, the book should be titled Religion According to Disney.
The book's focus on religious culture and culture in general combined
with no focus on any specific faith tells me this book was not about any
gospel. It is about organized religion.
This
book disappointed me on multiple accounts. It is a real shame because I
think there is a lot of potential in looking for the Christian gospel
in Disney films but Pinsky went the cynical route. The fact that he
didn't take advantage of what could have been some excellent analysis is
just inadequate.
In
short, this book is a compilation of what has already been said and
done before. It added little to no new or interesting commentary to
these excellent films.
I can't help but compare this book to a similar book I read earlier this year titled The Wisdom of Pixar
by Robert Velarde. That book not only looked at Christian wisdom but
philosophical wisdom and it took that knowledge and applied it to the
Pixar movies. It dissected Pixar and showed where the gospel was hidden
and what we as Christians or general audience can gain from it. This
does not happen in The Gospel According to Disney and this is what I wanted and expected and I don't think I am alone in feeling this way.
Overall,
this book wasn't very good. There were some interesting chapters about
Walt himself and the Disney company outside the movies but it really was
poorly structure otherwise. For what the book was going for, it wasn't a
terrible book. It did a fair job at illustrating how Disney became the
almost religious icon that it is today and explained the morals Disney
films present that fans live by. But the glaring problems like the
misleading title, the semi-present gospel analysis, and the consistent
dull summaries were what I would expect from an amateur. I will give
this book 2.5 out of 5 stars.
Original post: http://thereader101.blogspot.com/2014/07/the-wisdom-of-pixar-by-robert-velarde.html
Pixar
has always been a huge part of my life. I grew up with the movies and
can appreciate them as artistic films as an adult. When I was in high
school, I became very fascinated with entertainment and the connections
with Christian spirituality. Being a teenager and still very
inexperienced in many aspects of life, I didn't quite have the
vocabulary to state what I felt and saw, but I continued to have an
interest and learned a lot since then. I now know I'm not the only one
who sees these connections. There are books and books discussing
entertainment's connection with faith as well as psychology, philosophy,
history, etc. I have read quite a few of these books and want to write
one of my own someday. The Wisdom of Pixar by Robert Velarde is
one these awesome books and it does a great job of analyzing these films
and forming connections that the viewer may not have noticed before.
If
you aren't aware, I am a host on a Disney podcast called Talk Magic to
Me. Disney is a big part of my life and I have always felt a strong
connection with their movies. That is why I am on the podcast, to
discuss my love for Disney in a community based way. Our summer theme is
Pixar and I figured this was as a good a time as any to start reading
this book. A big plus to being on a podcast is that I contacted author
Robert Velarde himself and had a chance to interview him! How cool is
that?!
I'm
going to state right away that this will be a five star review. I'm
telling you this early because I don't want you to think I'm giving the
book kudos just because I interviewed the author. Nope, not the case. I
genuinely really loved this book. While the title of the book doesn't
overtly hint at any faith based analysis, it is primarily focused on
Pixar films and their connection to Christian faith and spirituality.
Wisdom itself is a biblical virtue after all. I find it a bit ignorant
when I see people reviewing this book with one or two stars just because
of it's Christian worldview. Every book has a worldview so why start
getting picky when there is a Christian one? Velarde doesn't shove the
theology mindlessly down our throats. He meets us in the middle and is
very straight forward...here is a movie, this biblical virtue exists
within that movie, this is what we can learn and take away to apply to
our own lives. Velarde makes it clear that he isn't saying Pixar
intended to make their movies as biblical metaphors. But as John Green
states, "Books belong to their readers" and this saying isn't limited to
books but all entertainment. What you get out of a film, TV show,
painting, or video game is equally (if not more) important than the
author's intent. This phrase has always been bittersweet for me because
as a writer and creator I want my intentions to be known yet as a reader
I have interpreted texts and art in a very specific way that has helped
me grow as a person but not everyone gets.
The
book is split into chapters in order of Pixar movies, starting with Toy
Story and ending with Up. Each chapter has a different focus on wisdom
such as love, humor, technology, justice, etc. and how the piece of
wisdom ties into the movie of focus (with an occasional look at other
Pixar films that also incorporate the same aspect of wisdom). The
chapter will use biblical examples to make things clearer. Velarde does a
great job at breaking these films down and analyzing them in a
simplistic way. He reveals the depth within Pixar that many
choose not
to see since they label it as kids entertainment. David Beagley, a
professor at La Trobe University once said in a lecture, "Children's
literature is not simple. It's as complex as adults. It's the audience
that is different, not the literature." The same can be said about any
other medium. Of course with film this idea is hard to see since so many
companies only make kids movies for money and use stupid dialogue and
easy humor that suggests no adult will ever enjoy these movies at all!
Luckily Pixar is not one of those companies, nor Disney...or at least
most Disney movies don't adhere to that standard but there are
exceptions. Ironically enough, David Beagley also stated in his lecture
that he hates Disney which made me die a little inside because I really
respect him and hoped some scholar would see the good in Disney but so
many don't.
Pixar
is the perfect example to show that not all "kids" movies are simple.
They hold a lot of weight! What is cool about being a 90's kid is that I
grew up in arguably the greatest era of Disney...the Disney
Renaissance, good Disney channel programming, and of course the birth of
Pixar. These films have really shaped me as a person. I'm not saying my
entire being is all thanks to Disney/Pixar but you get my point. I was
able to enjoy these as a kid and now can still enjoy them as an adult
but in an academic way which is really awesome!
The
book was excellent. I really enjoyed Velarde's writing style. He wrote
as if you were on the
journey through Pixar movies together. He has a lot of important things
to say about these movies and the biblical imagery within them that
should be taken more seriously by Christians and entertainment lovers
alike. It was thought provoking and written well. If you love Pixar,
you will really enjoy this book. As I said, I will be giving this 5 out of 5 stars. If you want to check out our interview with Robert Velarde, visit www.talkmagic2me.net and be sure to rate and subscribe to the podcast on iTunes.
Every month on Disney Danielle I plan to have a week dedicated to recommending something that isn't purely Disney but has ties to it. This week I am recommending a podcast called Literary Disco!
The podcast is hosted by Tod, Julia, and Rider, three friends who went to graduate school together and are collective book nerds. If the name Rider stands out to you, good job. Rider Strong is an actor most known for playing the character Shawn Hunter on the hit 90s TV series, Boy Meets World.
While I was never a big fan of the show growing up, I've always viewed Shawn as my favorite character and the most well developed of the series. I'm so glad to see that Rider isn't the cliche child actor but is going into the realm he wants rather than what nostalgic fans ask of him.
It is very typical of me to recommend a literary podcast for my first recommend. I am a lover of books and literature and I am also a podcast fanatic. Combine the two and it is a match made in heaven as far as I'm concerned. Finding good podcasts about books isn't easy. I only listen to one other book podcast and have unsubscribed to many others after attempting to listen but just becoming annoyed (this excludes podcasts such as Game of Owns and Alohomora, two book podcasts that I adore. One focuses on Game of Thrones and the other focuses on Harry Potter). Literary Disco is intelligent while also entertaining and witty. The language can be choicey so this isn't a show for kids. The hosts go into unique segments such as grabbing a book from their book shelf and talking about it or klassics korner where they read two real quotes from a classic novel and one fake that they wrote and the other two hosts must guess which quote is fiction (pun intended). They also go into in depth discussions about books and their impact on the world and what the impact means. But my descriptions is feeble and can't actually describe the awesomeness that is Literary Disco. Go take a listen yourself by clicking one of the links below! You will be not disappointed!
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/literary-disco-literary-disco/id509343636?mt=2
Website: http://www.literarydisco.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LiteraryDisco
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LiteraryDisco
Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/literary-disco
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/83453-literary-disco
