Wednesday, June 25, 2008

WALL*E

I’ve been enjoying the sunshine we’ve been having ’round these parts, finishing up a couple other writing projects, and working to get the house ready for our second child (due next month!). So while I’m thinking about kids, here are a few interesting items about WALL*E (which I can’t wait to see, though I don’t know when I will): First, Jeff Overstreet links to an excellent interview with writer-director Andrew Stanton, at Christianity Today. Second, one of the film’s themes is the danger of excessive consumerism (it, literally, destroys the earth), and there is a humorous and satirical webpage for Buy N Large, the fictional corporation at the heart of the movie. On the other hand, the film’s critique of consumerism is ironic (perhaps even hypocritical?), considering the fact that, like all Disney films, WALL*E has been accompanied by its own heavy merchandising campaign. In any case, this is a great shot of WALL*E sitting atop a pile of garbage, including Pixar’s own toys!

3 comments:

Super Churchlady said...

Ken - this has nothing to do with your Wall*e post -
but I just wanted to tell you how much I have enjoyed reading your older posts about universalism, inclusivism, etc.

I have always "erred" (if ,in fact, I have...) on the side of exclusivism, but the topic continues to come up in my house periodically (Jewish husband).

Ken Brown said...

Thanks! It is an interesting and difficult question, and I'm pretty sure I don't have it all figured out yet!

majorsteve said...

Ken you have written before on the topic of "why I am a Christian". I had a fleeting glimpse of how that topic is related to my leaning away from exclusivism.

If I were to write about why I am a Christian, the discourse would most certainly emanate from the fact that I was born into a Christian household in the U.S., specifically, in northeast Texas, therefore the chance of me turning out to be Jewish or muslim or Hindu was virtually nil. At the same time, if I had been born into a muslim home in Saudi Arabia the chances of me being Christian would also be virtually zero. The chance of me converting to Islam is similarly slim as is the chance of a muslim in another part of the world converting to Christianity. Although every religion has its apostates, does God really expect significant numbers of those who've endured decades of cultural and societal indoctrination to hear The Word and then suddenly see the light? If so, why?

Also, is it possible to get into heaven and NOT believe in exclusivism? If not, then what is the entire list of things I must believe in order to get into heaven? Is there such a list?