21st Century Princess

Remember how I stated in the last blog that Geoff Botkin's message at the film festival entitled, How To Analyze A Hollywood Movie, deserved a blog post all of its own?

Well, today on Doug's Phillip's blog (founder of the film festival), he posted an article by someone named Adam McManus describing the sum and substance of Mr. Botkin's message - and thus saving me from having to do so! I think the issue at hand is greatly worth the post, so I am pasting the entirety of his article below.

First, as a little background, let me say that I wasn't even planning on attending Mr. Botkin's lecture at the festival. But when I heard he would be using the film Princess Diaries 2 as his example movie, my curiostiy was piqued as to what he would have to say. (I never have seen Princess Diaries 2, but I did see its predecessor several years ago...and was very un-impressed by the whole thing - to put it nicely.) Considering that it was Day 3 of the festival, and we had viewed a myriad of films already, Mom and I decided that Mr. Botkin's lecture would be a nice change of pace and would certainly be worth hearing.

I am so glad we went.

This lecture has opened my eyes even more to understand the agenda of Hollywood - targeted especially at my generation - and I am sure I will never view a film the same way again. My friends, I am more convinced than ever of the importance of not allowing ourselves to become desensitized by the sin and worldliness that is subtly packaged in such attractive entertainment all around us.

You may think the issues Mr. Botkin pointed out in his lecture are no big deal. It's just a movie. Yeah...that's the problem. Just a movie that thousands, if not millions, of girls have seen and been influenced by.

At the end of Mr. Botkin's message, he said something along the lines of:
In summary, don't be fooled by a lack of gratuitous sex, overt violence, or swearing. There can be far more harmful and insidious messages within the movies we watch, especially when we are trusting enough to allow our children to consume them freely or unattended. Everyone has a worldview, and they do not develop in a vacuum. Every film contains and communicates messages and a worldview, and those who don't watch with a critical mind and eye will absorb those messages and find themselves molded by that worldview. It is our duty to shape and form the worldviews of our children rather than allowing Hollywood to do it for us.

The Lord Jesus stated in His Word, "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." (1 Cor. 10:31) If God cares even about the little things we do like eating and drinking, and He wants those actions to be pleasing to Him, don't you think He cares about the movies we watch?

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How Hollywood is Poisoning Our Daughters: A Review of Geoff Botkin’s Message “How To Analyze a Hollywood Movie”

Review by Adam McManus Host of KSLR’s The Adam McManus Show

When Geoff Botkin warned the 2009 San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival audience that the G-rated Walt Disney film entitled “Princess Diaries 2” was filled with toxic messages antithetical to a biblical worldview, you could have heard a pin drop.

But, in scene after scene, Mr. Botkin revealed how this seemingly innocuous movie wasn’t innocuous at all!

Indeed, in the very opening scene, Mia Thermopolis portrayed by Anne Hathaway — the Crown Princess of Genovia — is graduating from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of International Policy. Mr Botkin described Woodrow Wilson as the second most treasonous president in terms of constitutional fidelity — the one who instituted the income tax system and established the Federal Reserve Bank. We learned that in the world of film making, nothing is there by chance. It’s all scripted to a “t” - including the decision to honor Woodrow Wilson over Ronald Reagan.

Throughout the movie, we hear the Princess declare over and over again the politically correct mantra “This is the 21st century!” — a notion no doubt instilled in her in the classrooms of the Ivy League. The message? Throw off the constraints of family, tradition, and religion and find your own “truth.” While the servants are conducting a slide show of possible suitors in order to help to get married within 30 days and retain the crown, Anne Hathaway’s character and a friend, without pause, yell out approvingly when they discover that one young man has embraced the abomination of homosexual behavior. In other scenes, materialism, lust, rebelliousness, and rudeness are all exalted as character traits in keeping with a Princess who wants to rule the country of Genovia as Queen.

Honor is a concept far from her mind, as Mia sneaks out the window to meet the cute boy, despite the fact that she is not only engaged, but literally hours away from holy matrimony. From Disney Company’s perspective, I suppose, it’s totally innocent since they don’t engage in sex.

I believe Walt Disney himself would be horrified at how the good, masculine, and honorable guy is presented as boring, and the bad, effeminate, skirt-chasing guy is seen as desirable. What messages are we sending both our young girls and boys if we allow them to watch this movie without an immediate biblical critique, or watch it at all? And why would a Christian pastor claim that Princess Diaries 2 was “loaded with virtue”?

Isaiah 5:20 comes to mind: Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil.

For too long, parents and pastors alike who profess to follow Christ have allowed the pagan culture to desensitize them to the dangers in the world’s films, TV shows, and music, missing critical moments for Christ-like discipleship. If, as Geoff Botkin suggests, we are to “take every frame captive for Jesus Christ,” we all need to look at the world through a biblical lens, not at the Bible through the world’s lens.

For more details from the message jotted down by another attendee, click here.