Tuesday, April 12, 2005

The Stepford Matrix

I watched the Stepford Wives tonight. A more interesting movie than I originally anticipated. And strangely enough, it reminded me a lot of the Matrix. In my opinion the first Stepford movie was more of a horror type of a movie, while this one was more philisophical. Even if it is a little silly in the process.

The reason it reminded me of the Matrix is that both stories seem to ask a basic question. The question is: Which is better--a utopian illusion or a reality that it is full of heartache, brokenness, and limitations? Both movies seem to choose the painful rollercoaster that is life, despite the difficulties and the pain.

These stories bring up lots of questions. What situations and what things in our world today are they speaking to? In what ways are mourning the illusion instead of living in the real? What are the temptations that try to guide us toward the unreal?
Just something to think about anyway.

3 comments:

Gossip Cowgirl said...

I think someone should write a "Stepford Wives" movie for Christians. And when I say that, I don't mean they should clean it up or make it more "family" appropriate. I mean they should actually write "Stepford Wives" about Christians. More to unveil the man behind the curtain than anything else.

Too many Christians feel the need to project this "Stepford" image to the world, when in reality, they are broken and desperate inside. And it would be so much easier to integrate new Christians into our church (and I'm speaking more literally, in the "our" part...I can't speak for everyone else) if they understood that we are all the same. Underneath all the praying out loud and the preaching and the teaching and the leading small groups and the potlucks and the smiling, we're all broken, needy little children who should cling to our Father as such.

So I think we all know that the "utopian" image of Christianity isn't doing us any favors, right? People aren't attracted to Jesus because Christians look perfect. They're attracted to Jesus because He loves them in spite of (or because of) their brokenness.

Too often, we come across as robots because we're trying so hard to maintain this image.

So maybe "SW" is really about Christians and I just never noticed it before.

See why film theory is so fun?

Friar Tuck said...

Good stuff, Becca.

I agree with all of what you say. As we start a new service, people on our team have been asking people without a church what they are looking for. They have said...something REAL.

The challenge though, is that on the other end of the spectrum there are people who are so into being broken and real, that this also becomes a stepford routine in and of itself too.

Also, I think the Stepford mentality is more pervasive in general culture than we might realize.

Anyway....

Friar Tuck said...

Exactly

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