Thimblerig’s Ark: Introduction
1 Mar
27 Dec
One of the salient features of a particular kind of film marketed explicitly to evangelical Christians is the use of what Tyler Smith calls “the emblem.” Among other characteristics, it typifies what Tyler has classified under the umbrella of “Christian social drama” in his master’s thesis. Examples of this genre include movies like Fireproof, Courageous, War Room, God’s Not Dead, and Do You Believe. The form of the emblem varies from movie to movie, but consistently, there’s some monument or object that represents the characters’ commitment to family and faith.
16 Dec
In this episode, Tyler and Josh discuss the emerging genre of Christian Social Drama.
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
00:00:44- Intro, Bob Connally’s reviews, The Fear of God, Salty Cinema, Rogue One
00:03:55- Tyler’s paper
00:06:20- What is genre?
00:16:35- Christian Social Drama
01:07:10- Episode wrap-up
8 Dec
Tyler was recently a guest on The Wade Williams Show to talk about Christian film.
24 Oct
As I write this, it is two years to the day since four students were murdered by a classmate at Marysville-Pilchuck High School in Marysville, Washington. 15 years earlier, I was a junior at that school, looking around the campus on the morning of April 21, 1999. It was the day after the massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. School shootings were not as commonplace as they would become but I still remember feeling that if someone really wanted to commit such a horrific act on our campus, there would be little to stop them. Tragically, 15 years later that would turn out to be true.
5 May
Tyler recounts his experiences at the 2016 International Christian Film Festival.
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
00:00:44- Intro
00:04:40- Day 1, Priceless, human trafficking
00:16:45- Day 2, Tyler’s seminar, Wade Williams
00:26:00- Movie recommendations
00:57:00- Reactions to seminar
01:04:15- Day 3, Alex Kendrick
01:10:00- God using Christian film, “The Dilemma of Christian Film”
01:26:50- Awards, meeting Alex Kendrick, the end of the festival
00:01:35- Episode wrap-up
7 Apr
In this episode Tyler and Josh discuss Harold Cronk’s God’s Not Dead 2 and Otto Preminger’s Anatomy of a Murder.
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
00:00:44- Intro, International Christian Film Festival
00:05:50- Atheists reviewing Christian films
00:13:55- God’s Not Dead 2
01:39:35- Anatomy of a Murder
01:54:03- Episode wrap-up
4 Mar
In this episode, Tyler and Josh discuss Kevin Reynolds’ Risen and Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus.
EPISODE BREAKDOWN
00:00:44- Intro, new articles, International Christian Film Festival
00:02:50- Risen
00:53:18- Spartacus
01:04:35- Episode wrap-up