Season: 10 Episode: 150
Listen to episode 146 in Spanish:
Summary:
Barbie is on the boycott list for many Christians, and with all the negative movie reviews, Shanda wasn’t going to go see it either. However, she caved. In this episode, she gives her reasons for why she watched Barbie, and although she does spare you another lengthy review, she goes into why Christians boycotting Hollywood is dangerous for the American culture. She also dives into celebrity Christian culture and the three things she WON’T do when she’s around well-known Christians, and why there are NO famous Christians. This episode is jam-packed with lots of cultural topics and of course she lays a biblical foundation for all of them.
Quotables:
Resources on this topic:
Why are the newer translation of the Bible missing verses?
Does John 7:53-8:11 belong in the Bible?
Has the Bible been corrupted, altered, edited, revised or tampered with?
Recommended Resources:
Cross Examined Article: Don’t Panic: A Step by Step Approach to Teaching Kids About God
Website: shandafulbright.com
Instagram and Facebook: @shandafulbright
Email: hello@shandafulbright.com
Join my Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2584147064952378/?ref=group_browse
Free Resources: https://www.shandafulbright.com/links
YouTube: Shanda Fulbright
Take the quiz!!
Hey Everyone! Welcome back to another episode of Her Faith Inspires podcast where we take cultural issues and we tackle them with Biblical truth. I got a question from someone who wanted to know about celebrity worship culture in America and why so many Christians flocked to see the new Barbie movie. I thought I’d combine this with the question: Should Christinas boycott Hollywood because I was already going to tackle this anyway after a few thoughts over the release of the new Barbie move.
This question is from Teena and her review is on iTunes if you want to read it. Tina, I appreciate you taking the time to write the review and I am grateful for it. Tina did mention something about me leaving my Pentecostal church and I want to address that before I get into today’s episode. As you can see, this one is going to be jam packed. But it’s all good things, so let’s get to it.
I want to let you know about two upcoming conferences for next month.
One of them is online and one of them is in person at the Pickens Baptist church, now I am having some trouble getting the links but you can keep an eye out on my event page to see when those registration links are LIVE and get signed up. If you are in the upstate area of SC, I would love to meet you in person at the Pickens women’s event on 09/23/23. I will be posting on my social media accounts once I have the links.
This is what we’re going to discuss in this episode:
- Why did so many Christians flock to see the new Barbie movie?
- Should Christians boycott Hollywood?
- What is up with the Christian celebrity culture?
These could quite possibly be an episode on their own, but I am going to do my best to tackle all three of these, and of course come at them from a Biblical view. Because the Bible is our authority and what it says we abide by because it is the word of God, we have to base our decisions on the guidance from the word. Now that doesn’t mean we have to over spiritualize things and I highly suggest we don’t do that, but when it comes to what we expose ourselves to, we have to be careful.
To be honest, I was not going to see the Barbie movie.
There was so much controversy surrounding it and so many views that I honestly did not want to support it. I also didn’t want to be another voice in the noisy crowd of voices. I have seen reviews from everyone – Ben Shapiro was the first one I saw, then I heard the CE review with all the lady apologists, then I read the Salvo Magazine review and I shared that to my FB page. But then I thought to myself, “If I don’t see this movie, I cannot speak for or against it. I shouldn’t even be sharing a review on it because I cannot confirm whether or not that review is honest.”
Now, I am not saying that we have to see every movie so we can give our opinion.
But what I am saying is that since there was a lot of controversy surrounding this movie, I could not give my unbiased opinion on it without seeing it. For that reason, I gave in and went and saw it. I’ll share more on that in a bit but this is not meant to be a review of that movie. As I said, there are already a ton of reviews you can go watch/read if you want to.
The question in the review of my podcast on apple is why did so many Christians flock to see the Barbie movie. I honestly don’t know how many Christians have seen it. It’s still playing at the movies and is a box office hit, so with 65% of Americans who claim to be Christian, I would say a lot of people who call themselves Christians helped put it in that category.
With that said, I do have some information on how Christians reviewed this after they saw it.
A mothers’ random thoughts blog page says, “Overall, this is a visually pretty movie, but some of the content is too adult for children. However, the themes of women running everything versus men running everything and seeing that things aren’t perfect in Barbieland and they aren’t perfect in the real world is an overall good message.”
However, there is a pastor out of TN who said the movie is demonic and warned parents not to take their kids to see it. If they do, he said, don’t be surprised if they start acting different.
As you can see, there is differing opinions on the message of the movie and whether or not Christians should see it. Here’s my take on it:
Let me go back to what I think the underlying problem is – regardless of whether or not you see the movie. Barna’s AWI for 2021-2022 show us that 65% of Americans claim to be Christian while only 6% have a biblical worldview. There is a lot of hype surrounding this movie and I think some want to get in on the hype.
Second, I think a lot of people love Barbie.
And for that reason, they watched it because it’s nostalgic. Now, I will say the older teens in my family went and saw it and they said it was weird. I’m not sure how iconic the Barbie doll is for Gen Z. It was a popular when I was a kid, but these kids aren’t going to get the 80s90s themed references to Barbie like we do.
The Bible tells us we are to be in the world but not of the world. In fact, let’s read John 17:11-17. It says, “I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of[b] your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by[c] that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
13 “I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by[d] the truth; your word is truth.”
Notice that Jesus is praying to the Father and he says we are not of this world but we are still in it.
He is asking the Father to keep us from the evil one. In verse 15 Jesus said He is not asking that the father takes us out of the world but that He keeps us from the evil one while we’re here. Finally, He asks that the Father to sanctify us. To sanctify is to make holy and set apart. That means we are different than the culture.
The real question is, can you go to the movies and still be different, set apart?
When I was studying for my certificate in apologetics, I believe it was JP Moreland who said that Christians dominated every form of art, literature, music, and education but left the movie industry because of the movies portrayed by the secular culture. Christians lost their influence in the movie industry and instead started boycotting Hollywood.
mastermedia.com says this, “As World War II ended, the mid-40’s brought a change in the cultural wind. As American soldiers returned home from Europe and the Pacific and foreign films entered the U.S. marketplace, new ideologies began to take root. Seeds of secularism were planted, often blooming on the screens of local theaters.
How did Christians respond? Some panicked.
Some pulled out. And some stopped going to the movies under the conviction, “What business does a Christian have being in a dark theater?” And perhaps the most detrimental fruit of our response, a generation of talented young Christian creatives were discouraged by many, even condemned by some, from entering the media business. As the church relinquished the responsibility of creating or supporting positive, life-affirming films, the secular film culture filled the void!”
So, let’s move on to the second question: Should Christians boycott Hollywood?
No. And here’s why. Let’s go back to our John 17 text – we are in the world but not of it. How do we balance that? There will always be a tension between living in the world and not being of the world. Christians do not dominate the area of art, literature, music, and movies anymore. We are called to have our finger on the pulse of the culture and being a hermit crab and burying our heads in the sand is not going to accomplish that.
Some will argue and say that we are not here to fight the culture war. Ok, I agree. But I will say that your life as a Christian will naturally clash with the culture because darkness and light do not mix. So you can say all you want that we are not here to fight a culture war, however, I would say your very life as a Christian will put you at the center of the battle.
As I listened to and even shared a post on the Barbie movie, I made a decision to go and see it.
My SIL and I decided to go together because here’s the way I use secular movies – I like to watch them and identify the worldview in them. I do this with my boys and I ask them to identify what the worldview is. I knew Barbie was absolutely pushing feminism. Every problem is going to have a solution based on this worldview it promotes. Movies are an excellent teaching tool because they does several things:
- They teach you and your kids to think critically through entertainment without automatically buying in and allowing your mind to be formed by it. I cannot say enough about how powerful a teaching tool this is with kids. I don’t think every movie Hollywood produces should be watched. There are a lot I never see – especially if they’re dirty and crude.
- Movies helps keep your finger on the pulse of culture and you can add your voice to the conversation. I felt a little hypocritical when I shared the article from Salvo because I had not seen the movie to confirm that what they said was true. However, Salvo’s assessment was filled with examples from the movie, so I knew they represented it well. I’ll link it in the show notes.
But still, I am an apologist.
I believe in providing evidence and reasons for your position and this is no different. I don’t know how Christians who do not see the movie can give an honest review. But I do see how those who have not seen the movie can decide not to see it based on the information they get from other reviews. What am I saying? I’m saying this comes down to discernment and how you will use the information from the movie itself. Is isolation the best way to be the light in a dark world? I don’t think so, but we should always approach what we’re going to filter through our minds with discernment before we do it.
As far as Barbie is concerned, after seeing it, it’s exactly what you would expect from Hollywood – it’s all feminism and the director Greta Gerwig admits it. No surprise there. I thought most of the reviews I saw were hypercritical. My SIL and I both found it entertaining and funny and we both agree that the most offensive part of the movie were the sexual innuendos. Why? You’re reducing the message to crude and rude jokes that make it shallow. But since most of those innuendos were from the men in the movie, maybe that was done purposely to prove her point.
As far as people being hypercritical of the movie, in my opinion, my question is where do you draw the line?
Are you boycotting all movies or just this one?
Do you review all movies or just this one? And does it end here or are you boycotting music that has secular messages? I think, when we as Christians are critical of everything, we lose the influence of our message. It doesn’t make sense to go crazy about this movie and not others because there are a lot of really dumb movies our there that come from a non-biblical worldview.
I mean, what do you expect from Hollywood? They’re anti-God.
So here’s what I and my SIL think of Barbie, if you even care for another review.
I don’t think this movie is fit for young kids but I do think it’s a great conversation piece between teens and others examining worldviews, as I’ve already said.
I think there are questions that you can critically think through, such as, when one of the Barbies in Barbie land says, “I don’t make the rules, Matel does” it shows they acknowledge a moral objective standard and what’s funny is it’s a question that every worldview has to answer about truth and morality. Who makes the rules? They are treating Mates like God. It’s interesting to me, but I’m weird like that.
Also, I don’t like America Ferrera’s monologue. I don’t see the expectations of women in society the way she does. The world may have been like that in the 40s but is it like that now? What are the roles of men and women?
My SIL said this:
Being a girl mom, I could relate to encouraging girls to pursue whatever dreams they have regardless of what it is. If they want to be President, then go for it. Doctor, soldier, engineer, construction worker, the sky is the limit. I did see that there were some talk about the “real world” being a man’s world, and for me, I just don’t see that as much anymore. In fact, women in the workplace get more preferential treatment and women owned businesses get tax breaks and accolades. There were stereotypes of men, cat calling, other things that made men seem awful, but that is not true of all men.
I am a mom who doesn’t try too hard to keep my kids in a bubble.
Within reason, obviously. I believe in teaching them and showing them before the world does. I believe that there has to be a maturity level with your children, too. My daughters are older, but I still don’t like them to see scary movies (especially demonic ones), because I know what they can handle.”
Ok, so there’s our take on that. You can love it, you can hate it, but that’s the beauty in having an opinion.
Finally, what is up with the Christian celebrity culture?
It’s a thing in the west. It’s because we can. I have a lot to say about this because it annoys me too. But here’s the deal: no one is immune from it because it is the lie the enemy sold Eve in the garden – “You can be like God.” The enemy wanted to set his throne above God’s and we do too. So just know we are all prone to it because we all came from Adam and Eve.
Also, this is bred by social media. I called someone the other day to talk to them about our new curriculum and he said, “Oh, my. It’s Shanda? I’m so honored.” He heard me on Frank’s podcast and thought I was some big deal. I’m not. Like, at all. But here’s why we think those on the other side of the screen are big deals – because we don’t know them. Andy Crouch wrote a book called Tech Wise and I am studying this with our core group at church. He said that we view those we don’t know on social media as some big thing because we don’t have them right in front of us. They are untouchable. Their follow list is long and their posts seem authoritative because they have a platform where they establish themselves as the expert.
But that’s only because you don’t know them.
Let that sink in. On the flip side, that also makes it easy to fire back at people and say things you wouldn’t say in person. Why? Because you don’t know them.
Christians aren’t supposed to build their kingdom. They’re not supposed to make themselves great. We are to lift up the name of Jesus, not our own. And being on this side of things, it’s hard sometimes to balance that because you are always promoting your thoughts about things or your videos, curriculum, etc. I have to check myself daily and more so lately I do not get caught up in the pull.
So here’s what I do when I’m around people who are “celebrities” in the Christian world.
- I do not ask them for their autograph.
- I don’t take very many pictures with them, if any.
- I don’t follow them around and loiter in their space.
Why don’t I do this? Because I don’t want to treat them any different than any other human being. They’re not famous. They’re not celebrities. And they’re flawed like you and me. And they’re not here to life their name, they’re here to lift the name of Jesus. The only time I’ll write my name for someone is if I’m signing the book I wrote.
Here’s the thing – you can’t control how people act, but you can control how you view them. Don’t put anyone on a pedestal. They’ll disappoint you and it’s not fair to them.
Christianity always has a price. You will not be a celebrity Christian. And if you are, it’s going to be very hard not to allow it to get to your head and effect your heart. I think we need to be careful how we view this and how we “headline” speakers. Don’t make more of a man than you do Jesus.
Close:
Let’s close this out by saying this – I said a lot of things here that you might not agree with. That’s fine. I am not advocating for you to go watch all the movies Hollywood promotes, and if you do, you will always need discernment to make sure you’re not putting something into your mind that impacts your heart.
I am saying that we can be a bit too critical of things and we can jump on the bandwagon very easily. Try not to do that.
*Asbury. Act 5:39.
If you have any questions for me, you can email me at hello@shandafulbright.com. I’ll catch you on the next one.
.
Leave a Reply