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Cinematic Faith: A Christian Perspective on Movies and Meaning
This engaging book explores how Christians can most profitably and critically hear, read, and view popular culture through the lens of film. William Romanowski highlights the benefits of a faith-informed approach to cinema that centers on art and perspective and shows how Christian faith contributes to the moviegoing experience, leading to a deeper understanding of movies and life. The book draws examples from classic and contemporary American movies and includes illustrative film stills. Additional resources for professors and students are available through Baker Academic's Textbook eSources.
240 pages, Paperback
First published May 21, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 22, 2022
As a movie lover, this was an entertaining read. Well-researched and well-written, I enjoyed Romanowski's "Movie Musings" as well as his use of other films to discuss the conventions of American cinema. The "Christian perspective" aspect, however, definitely felt like more of an afterthought. But this book did encourage me to think more critically about movies and gave me some tools to do so. Would recommend to other cinephiles.
May 27, 2020
Cinematic Faith: A Christian Perspective on Movies and Meaning is not a book of shallow Christian film reviews such as the one about Schindler’s List that William D. Romanowski calls out on p. 78 of this book. The Christian reviewer cited warned of extensive nudity in concentration camp scenes, graphic sex scenes between unmarried individuals and “…19 obscenities, 8 profanities, an several vulgarities.” Really, people being tortured in the name of research, starved in the name of nationalism, and executed in the name of “eugenics” and the Christian take was not to see the film because of unchristian behavior? Cinematic Faith doesn’t just consider moral meaning underlying the films discussed in this volume, but much like Adel Reinhardtz’ earlier Scripture on the Silver Screen takes the films and their underlying semeiotic universe seriously.
One can even learn a little bit about filmmaking from reading this volume. Do you know where the word, “cinematography,” originates, much less what a cinematographer does? Cinematic Faith helps: “…combines three Greek words--kinesis (movement), photo (light), and graphia (writing)—to mean ‘writing with movement and light.’ (p. 49) The reader has matters as simple to describe as “continuity editing” explained as, “…a process of linking different shots together with temporal and spatial consistency, [which] routinely uses various matching techniques to make the transitions between shots smoother.” (p. 118) Then, one reads that such editing tends to imply an ordered and comprehensible world (p. 118). Every hear the term, “Spielberg face?” The book explains that it is a facial close-up showing the character’s shock, fear, trauma, or discovery as the character views off-screen action (p. 69). The next quotation requires more room:
“In practice, form and content are essential and mutually dependent aspects of film—two sides of the same coin, so to speak. For the purpose of the analysis, however, we can make a distinction. Content is what the filmmaker makes of the film’s subject,…form is how…the subject is conveyed and experienced.” (p. 54)
Romanowski is even alert to artistic motifs. He points out the importance of the recurring car horn in La La Land (p. 173) and apparel in Titanic. For the latter, he writes: “Clothing symbolizes Rose’s increasing freedom. Rose slips on the hem of her dress on the ship’s rail while contemplating suicide, kicks off her red-satin shoes at the party in steerage, and finally undresses, posing for Jack’s drawing of her wearing only the priceless piece of jewelry.” (p. 110) “Implicit meaning lies just beneath the film’s surface presentation; its power relies on nuance instead of direct expression. This kind of meaning arises by association or an implied connection among characters and story events.” (p. 73)
Of course, Cinematic Faith addresses moral issues, as well. Speaking of racism in Hollywood films, Romanowski doesn’t use Spike Lee’s term, “magic negro,” but he does talk of the tendency of black supporting actors existing for the sake of tutoring, saving, or rescuing the white lead characters. Romanowski uses the term, “black saint,” (p. 187) which I will adopt in place of Lee’s term when I address that phenomenon in my classes. We read about The Big Short and the breaking of the fourth wall such as when Ryan Gosling’s character says, “Tell me the difference between stupid and illegal and I’ll have my wife’s brother arrested.” (p. 126) Romanowski touches on gender stereotypes when he asks if many so-called Strong Female Characters aren’t simply aping “the qualities we admire in male characters.” (p. 159) Sadly, that may be a valid point. And, unlike many Christian reviewers, Romanowski takes the time to question The Blind Side. “Race and socioeconomic difference, features of the film’s landscape, being underplayed, serve merely as a backdrop to the unfolding drama. In effect it lifts the fictional characters out of the very conditions that make this such an inspiring real-life story in the first place.” P. 192
I particularly liked the book’s perspective on action-adventure films “…understood as ritualistic, repeated metaphors pointing to an ongoing and optimistic movement toward final human power and perfectibility.” (p. 143) Romanowski recognizes in the melodramatic formula used to create the action-adventure a danger of creating an “Us vs. Them” mentality due to the monochromatic view of goo and evil presented therein. His other biting observation which stuck with me was:
“What more do inherently good and well-intentioned people need with God than perhaps a little magical assistance in fulfilling their personal dreams? Humanity’s relationship with God becomes simply a matter of wishing upon a star, …” (p. 104).
Cinematic Faith: A Christian Perspective on Movies and Meaning has a permanent place on my shelf. It is one of the best books I’ve read on this subject. At times, I wished for more explicit Christian criticism, but I can’t fault Romanowski on objectivity.
One can even learn a little bit about filmmaking from reading this volume. Do you know where the word, “cinematography,” originates, much less what a cinematographer does? Cinematic Faith helps: “…combines three Greek words--kinesis (movement), photo (light), and graphia (writing)—to mean ‘writing with movement and light.’ (p. 49) The reader has matters as simple to describe as “continuity editing” explained as, “…a process of linking different shots together with temporal and spatial consistency, [which] routinely uses various matching techniques to make the transitions between shots smoother.” (p. 118) Then, one reads that such editing tends to imply an ordered and comprehensible world (p. 118). Every hear the term, “Spielberg face?” The book explains that it is a facial close-up showing the character’s shock, fear, trauma, or discovery as the character views off-screen action (p. 69). The next quotation requires more room:
“In practice, form and content are essential and mutually dependent aspects of film—two sides of the same coin, so to speak. For the purpose of the analysis, however, we can make a distinction. Content is what the filmmaker makes of the film’s subject,…form is how…the subject is conveyed and experienced.” (p. 54)
Romanowski is even alert to artistic motifs. He points out the importance of the recurring car horn in La La Land (p. 173) and apparel in Titanic. For the latter, he writes: “Clothing symbolizes Rose’s increasing freedom. Rose slips on the hem of her dress on the ship’s rail while contemplating suicide, kicks off her red-satin shoes at the party in steerage, and finally undresses, posing for Jack’s drawing of her wearing only the priceless piece of jewelry.” (p. 110) “Implicit meaning lies just beneath the film’s surface presentation; its power relies on nuance instead of direct expression. This kind of meaning arises by association or an implied connection among characters and story events.” (p. 73)
Of course, Cinematic Faith addresses moral issues, as well. Speaking of racism in Hollywood films, Romanowski doesn’t use Spike Lee’s term, “magic negro,” but he does talk of the tendency of black supporting actors existing for the sake of tutoring, saving, or rescuing the white lead characters. Romanowski uses the term, “black saint,” (p. 187) which I will adopt in place of Lee’s term when I address that phenomenon in my classes. We read about The Big Short and the breaking of the fourth wall such as when Ryan Gosling’s character says, “Tell me the difference between stupid and illegal and I’ll have my wife’s brother arrested.” (p. 126) Romanowski touches on gender stereotypes when he asks if many so-called Strong Female Characters aren’t simply aping “the qualities we admire in male characters.” (p. 159) Sadly, that may be a valid point. And, unlike many Christian reviewers, Romanowski takes the time to question The Blind Side. “Race and socioeconomic difference, features of the film’s landscape, being underplayed, serve merely as a backdrop to the unfolding drama. In effect it lifts the fictional characters out of the very conditions that make this such an inspiring real-life story in the first place.” P. 192
I particularly liked the book’s perspective on action-adventure films “…understood as ritualistic, repeated metaphors pointing to an ongoing and optimistic movement toward final human power and perfectibility.” (p. 143) Romanowski recognizes in the melodramatic formula used to create the action-adventure a danger of creating an “Us vs. Them” mentality due to the monochromatic view of goo and evil presented therein. His other biting observation which stuck with me was:
“What more do inherently good and well-intentioned people need with God than perhaps a little magical assistance in fulfilling their personal dreams? Humanity’s relationship with God becomes simply a matter of wishing upon a star, …” (p. 104).
Cinematic Faith: A Christian Perspective on Movies and Meaning has a permanent place on my shelf. It is one of the best books I’ve read on this subject. At times, I wished for more explicit Christian criticism, but I can’t fault Romanowski on objectivity.
June 30, 2022
I picked up Cinematic Faith on a whim a few years ago and finally carved out some time to read through it. That said, I still took entirely too long to read what is a fairly short book, but I guess at the end of the day I just find cultural criticism less engaging than classic Russian literature.
All of that said, Romanowski's book covers a lot of very interesting ground. Despite the title, he mainly uses the book as a lens to explore American filmmaking, and how Hollywood props up the tenants of the American monomyth. In particular, Romanowsky is critical of American "melodrama," and the simplicity with which many Western films carve out good and evil, ultimately relying on violence to solve individual problems without taking any stock of the systemic issues at play. Of particular interest is his second chapter, in which he outlines movies as a means of creating meaning and shaping cultural viewpoints. Through this he suggests a matrix of interpretation, trying to seek out the value system a film is supporting and how that reflects the core of humanity.
Chapter 2 is also where Romanowski chiefly deals with what the subtitle would present as his main concern: what defines a "Christian" perspective? Romanowski is aware that the term "Christian" is a broad one encompassing many often competing world views. How one reads and interprets the Bible will cast suggestions on how one thinks of something as "Christian." At one point, he notes that "movies people think are Christian" might not necessarily reflect a Christian vision, and that many which do may not necessarily be thought of as Christian by the majority. Unfortunately, Romanowski's engagement with this line of thought feels fairly surface-level. Except for his criticism of "The Blind Side," Romanowski seems largely uninterested in critiquing exactly what it is about these "movies people think are Christian" that is so contrary, and there is a lot that could be said there. The total exclusion of the Kendrick Brothers' and their capitalistic-minded filmography that has been so embraced by Evangelicals feels like a particularly jarring exclusion. As well, he seems uninteresting in pointing directly to movies that could have a surprisingly Christian vision. In his discussion of Aranofsky's "Noah," for example, he is far more interested in the film's placement of Noah as a sort of Biblical superhero than he is of the ways that the movie grapples with faith. Primarily, he defines a Christian perspective through two points - an awareness of the complexity of human image-bearers, and a vision of God's sovereignty, and lets those implicitly echo throughout the book.
It's here where a large part of his criticism of melodrama shakes out; melodrama both creates an uncomplicated vision of humanity where people can be intrinsically "good" or "evil" and highlights singular, human accomplishment over both outward divine redemption and the systemic failings of the social order. I find his first point pretty compelling; it suggests that, rather than seek out easy answers, audiences should look for movies that present humanity in its fractal nature, movies that see each character as fully human. Implicit in his argument is the belief that Christian viewers ought to care about how films misrepresent social issues, which is an idea I'm very on-board with and think would shake up a lot of the aforementioned interest in "movies people think are Christian." His second criticism reads as a little shortsighted, if only because it never feels fully defined. While he is rightly critical of action movies that frame their protagonists as violent saviors, his frustration seems to land on the locus of salvation resting on humans instead of God, rather than salvation through violence rather than love or empathy. I'm just not sure what movies he is interested in where it is "the Lord God Almighty" rather than individual heroism which saves the day, as he suggests on page 147. It's not a totally unfounded criticism, it just feels very route from someone otherwise very studied in storytelling; movies almost by necessity need a protagonist, and I can't see how making that protagonist God would create a wealth of interesting stories. I'm willing to be proven wrong, I'm just a little disappointed that Romanowski brushes off the issue and doesn't attempt to try.
To be clear, I quite liked this book! I think if nothing else it's a great textbook to build up some basic knowledge of how art creates cultural meaning and invites spaces of discussion. While the "Christian perspective" of his book feels a little underbaked, it does hopefully make it a palatable means through which Christians who are a little more pop culture-wary can begin to think more deeply about the world around them.
All of that said, Romanowski's book covers a lot of very interesting ground. Despite the title, he mainly uses the book as a lens to explore American filmmaking, and how Hollywood props up the tenants of the American monomyth. In particular, Romanowsky is critical of American "melodrama," and the simplicity with which many Western films carve out good and evil, ultimately relying on violence to solve individual problems without taking any stock of the systemic issues at play. Of particular interest is his second chapter, in which he outlines movies as a means of creating meaning and shaping cultural viewpoints. Through this he suggests a matrix of interpretation, trying to seek out the value system a film is supporting and how that reflects the core of humanity.
Chapter 2 is also where Romanowski chiefly deals with what the subtitle would present as his main concern: what defines a "Christian" perspective? Romanowski is aware that the term "Christian" is a broad one encompassing many often competing world views. How one reads and interprets the Bible will cast suggestions on how one thinks of something as "Christian." At one point, he notes that "movies people think are Christian" might not necessarily reflect a Christian vision, and that many which do may not necessarily be thought of as Christian by the majority. Unfortunately, Romanowski's engagement with this line of thought feels fairly surface-level. Except for his criticism of "The Blind Side," Romanowski seems largely uninterested in critiquing exactly what it is about these "movies people think are Christian" that is so contrary, and there is a lot that could be said there. The total exclusion of the Kendrick Brothers' and their capitalistic-minded filmography that has been so embraced by Evangelicals feels like a particularly jarring exclusion. As well, he seems uninteresting in pointing directly to movies that could have a surprisingly Christian vision. In his discussion of Aranofsky's "Noah," for example, he is far more interested in the film's placement of Noah as a sort of Biblical superhero than he is of the ways that the movie grapples with faith. Primarily, he defines a Christian perspective through two points - an awareness of the complexity of human image-bearers, and a vision of God's sovereignty, and lets those implicitly echo throughout the book.
It's here where a large part of his criticism of melodrama shakes out; melodrama both creates an uncomplicated vision of humanity where people can be intrinsically "good" or "evil" and highlights singular, human accomplishment over both outward divine redemption and the systemic failings of the social order. I find his first point pretty compelling; it suggests that, rather than seek out easy answers, audiences should look for movies that present humanity in its fractal nature, movies that see each character as fully human. Implicit in his argument is the belief that Christian viewers ought to care about how films misrepresent social issues, which is an idea I'm very on-board with and think would shake up a lot of the aforementioned interest in "movies people think are Christian." His second criticism reads as a little shortsighted, if only because it never feels fully defined. While he is rightly critical of action movies that frame their protagonists as violent saviors, his frustration seems to land on the locus of salvation resting on humans instead of God, rather than salvation through violence rather than love or empathy. I'm just not sure what movies he is interested in where it is "the Lord God Almighty" rather than individual heroism which saves the day, as he suggests on page 147. It's not a totally unfounded criticism, it just feels very route from someone otherwise very studied in storytelling; movies almost by necessity need a protagonist, and I can't see how making that protagonist God would create a wealth of interesting stories. I'm willing to be proven wrong, I'm just a little disappointed that Romanowski brushes off the issue and doesn't attempt to try.
To be clear, I quite liked this book! I think if nothing else it's a great textbook to build up some basic knowledge of how art creates cultural meaning and invites spaces of discussion. While the "Christian perspective" of his book feels a little underbaked, it does hopefully make it a palatable means through which Christians who are a little more pop culture-wary can begin to think more deeply about the world around them.
November 26, 2021
This book was definitely interesting and the first book I’ve read in the “film criticism” genre. I found the perspectives from which you can interpret movies that he offered to be compelling, and some scattered passages arguing certain non-film-related subjects to be convincing too. I also found the argument he made that your perspective has a lot to do with how you interpret a movie to be strong and well-supported. His presentation of Carl Plantinga’s “three takes” idea in terms of how one responds to a film (Chapter 3, p. 37) was another highlight. Finally, his presentation of some basic concepts concerning film production and analysis scattered throughout the book were exciting to learn about.
All that being said, this book’s weakest characteristic, which I think hurt its impact, was its lack of organization. Introduction to the basics of film criticism are scattered between passages supporting various of the author’s arguments, and sometimes he seemed to jump between big ideas within the same chapter. While the “Movie Musings” were interesting analyses of various films, they were also a little confusing since they often had parts that supported the chapter’s overarching theme, but sometimes they were only related peripherally. This book is definitely a good “‘way in’ to thinking about film for virtually any Christian reader”, as a review says on the back of the book, but you don’t come away from it with too many coherent points. Also, I felt often like the book was merely about film criticism theory in the middle chapters, rather than emphasizing a Christian viewpoint, which I found pretty disappointing.
Overall, this book wasn’t quite what I had hoped it would be, and I think it would benefit from some restructuring, but I did learn some useful concepts from it that will make me a better casual film critic and help me to apply my Christian viewpoint to film analysis in a constructive way.
All that being said, this book’s weakest characteristic, which I think hurt its impact, was its lack of organization. Introduction to the basics of film criticism are scattered between passages supporting various of the author’s arguments, and sometimes he seemed to jump between big ideas within the same chapter. While the “Movie Musings” were interesting analyses of various films, they were also a little confusing since they often had parts that supported the chapter’s overarching theme, but sometimes they were only related peripherally. This book is definitely a good “‘way in’ to thinking about film for virtually any Christian reader”, as a review says on the back of the book, but you don’t come away from it with too many coherent points. Also, I felt often like the book was merely about film criticism theory in the middle chapters, rather than emphasizing a Christian viewpoint, which I found pretty disappointing.
Overall, this book wasn’t quite what I had hoped it would be, and I think it would benefit from some restructuring, but I did learn some useful concepts from it that will make me a better casual film critic and help me to apply my Christian viewpoint to film analysis in a constructive way.
May 30, 2019
Cinematic Faith
A Christian Perspective on Movies and Meaning
by William D. Romanowski
Baker Academic & Brazos Press
Baker Academic
Christian , Entertainment
Pub Date 21 May 2019
From the start of the film industry at the turn of the twentieth century the church has played a role in the industry. Catholics, Christians and Evangelicals have all played various roles at different times in helping to allow the Industry to be looked at as a legitimate one.
Various Church groups at various times also worked to get the industry to act in a way they saw more appropriate going as far as to boycott the Industry.
This books shows us how Christians can benefit critically , reading, hearing and reviewing popular film. William Romanowski shows us the benefits of a faith based approach that centers on art and perspective showing how the Christian faith contribute to the movie going experience, allowing us a deeper understanding of movies and life. The author draws examples from classic and contemporary movies to bring these lessons to light.
Cinematic. Faith was a unique, thought provoking look at the Film Industry in the context of the Christian perspective and I find it worthy of five out of five stars!
Happy Reading!
A Christian Perspective on Movies and Meaning
by William D. Romanowski
Baker Academic & Brazos Press
Baker Academic
Christian , Entertainment
Pub Date 21 May 2019
From the start of the film industry at the turn of the twentieth century the church has played a role in the industry. Catholics, Christians and Evangelicals have all played various roles at different times in helping to allow the Industry to be looked at as a legitimate one.
Various Church groups at various times also worked to get the industry to act in a way they saw more appropriate going as far as to boycott the Industry.
This books shows us how Christians can benefit critically , reading, hearing and reviewing popular film. William Romanowski shows us the benefits of a faith based approach that centers on art and perspective showing how the Christian faith contribute to the movie going experience, allowing us a deeper understanding of movies and life. The author draws examples from classic and contemporary movies to bring these lessons to light.
Cinematic. Faith was a unique, thought provoking look at the Film Industry in the context of the Christian perspective and I find it worthy of five out of five stars!
Happy Reading!
June 12, 2021
What Romanowski does well: The book is a primer on how to think deeply about the movies we watch. It made me want to watch again several of the movies I have seen--some that I didn't like at all. The discussion of "The Blind Side"--a movie I completely loved--made me think more deeply about the message of the movie about racism.
So, why 2 stars? While Romanowski delved deeply into issues of gender, race, artistic work, and cultural commentary, I kept wondering when he was going to get to the faith part. At the end, he seems to sum up what he has to say about faith by referring to movies "Christians think are Christian." His only real point about how our faith affects the way we view movies seems to be that our faith assertions are pretty much always wrong. Even in dealing with the theatrical story of "Noah," he seemed disinterested in how the film dealt with faith.
Cinematic Faith could have better been entitled Cinema in America and would not have required the change of a single word (except for the misleading subtitle).
So, why 2 stars? While Romanowski delved deeply into issues of gender, race, artistic work, and cultural commentary, I kept wondering when he was going to get to the faith part. At the end, he seems to sum up what he has to say about faith by referring to movies "Christians think are Christian." His only real point about how our faith affects the way we view movies seems to be that our faith assertions are pretty much always wrong. Even in dealing with the theatrical story of "Noah," he seemed disinterested in how the film dealt with faith.
Cinematic Faith could have better been entitled Cinema in America and would not have required the change of a single word (except for the misleading subtitle).
September 22, 2023
Romanowski has long been one of my favorite thinkers and writers on issues of film and cinema, and so I was really looking forward to this book and what it seemed to offer. And, really, I did enjoy reading through it, and there were a number of great film analyses and examples drawn out. But I agree with other reviewers that the premise of the book was not quite delivered upon, namely in that the faith aspect of the book was pretty severely lacking. Other than one dedicated chapter and then scattered biblical references, the majority of the chapters read like works designed to introduce undergraduates to film theory. If that's the goal, the book has succeeded rather well. But the expressed aim of showing how this works from a Christian perspective is only debatably accomplished. I enjoyed reading through this, but wish it could have given me a bit more of what it set out to give me.
July 24, 2024
I expected something completely different.
Don’t get me wrong, the first three chapters were filled with useful information that I appreciated, but after that it lost its purpose. I don’t really understand why I had to read the whole plot of so many different movies, in the beginning of the book he suggests that we watch the movies he listed before reading them, but he ended up telling the whole story from beginning to end with only half- to one page of actual commentary. I did learn some things but it wasn’t the easiest thing to read.
Don’t get me wrong, the first three chapters were filled with useful information that I appreciated, but after that it lost its purpose. I don’t really understand why I had to read the whole plot of so many different movies, in the beginning of the book he suggests that we watch the movies he listed before reading them, but he ended up telling the whole story from beginning to end with only half- to one page of actual commentary. I did learn some things but it wasn’t the easiest thing to read.
June 11, 2019
This is a scholarly work of how American individualism and human achievements often conflict with biblical concepts of humanity's sinfulness and the need for salvation. Myriad movies preach the message that humans have the potential within themselves to accomplish their goals. Although there is much analysis of modern films, I most enjoyed in-depth looks at "Rocky," "The Blind Side," "Titanic," and "Rear Window."
April 15, 2023
Read for my college theology class. Liked the film aspects of the text, interesting information and a new perspective to look at film from.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews