Since its debut in 2008, the Christian film Fireproof has garnered very mixed reviews. Some people swear by it as the best spiritual movie they’ve ever seen, call it “highly recommended for married couples,” and say it “could change your life.” Others call it “a horrible excuse for a film,” “lame,” and indoctrination. Why the vitriolic response? And why the disparity in opinion? The answer lies in expectation.
The kinder reviewers affirm that “the film does get its heartfelt message across with undeniable sincerity,” but even they admit that the film is “hardly sophisticated in its approach and certainly not polished in its technical elements.” So what? Poorly made movies are produced all the time. If I watch a B-string film about vampires, dystopias, or unicorns and discover the writing is awkward and the filming subpar, the poor quality doesn’t offend. What sets this one apart? The difference is found in the perceived goal.
Let’s look at a few of the reviews for Fireproof from Rotten Tomatoes, one of the internet’s biggest film review sources. The L.A. Weekly said, “Fireproof stops becoming relatable to us all and only to the already, or easily, indoctrinated.” Los Angeles Times said, “Unfortunately, the emphasis on what God wants has a way of overwhelming who Caleb and Catherine are as characters.” And one independent critic claimed that, “As a companion piece to a Bible study group this may have some merit, but it doesn’t belong in a theater.” Ultimately, what these critics deem a travesty is not the production quality but the story and its presentation. To the general public, the film felt more like a Bible study than a film.
Medium Matters
Let us leave the over-argued Fireproof to address the heart of the problem: medium. Medium matters. And medium will always matter because expectation influences perception. Audiences have different expectations for painting than classical music, for film than for book. And even within these classifications, there are divisions. You would not expect the same content in a Spielberg film as you would a Hallmark movie. As an artist, it is vital to know the associations of your medium. If I turn on a Hallmark movie and large, slimy monsters fill the screen, the director loses my comprehension for the length of time it takes me to understand where the 2,000 pound slug has come from. I had expectations.
This is not to say expectations cannot or should not be broken. John Cage’s musical composition 4′33″, a work that is entirely silent, is an illustration of breaking expectations masterfully. As could be a production of Othello set during the Civil War. These choices break expectation in a way that catches the audience off guard before drawing them further in.
The problem arises when the expectations for a medium are broken accidentally, arbitrarily, or in a way that forces a desired point instead of letting it arise naturally. Mechanisms like breaking the fourth wall work because they ultimately let the audience connect at a deeper level. It fits the medium. But if I go to a concert to hear Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony and find myself at a book reading, not only am I denied Beethoven, but I’m denied music. My expectation has been broken so completely that I can no longer appreciate the art. Medium matters.
Sticking to Your Medium
Let’s go back to Fireproof and the other Christian films that get a bad rap. What have they missed? They missed the medium. They took the art of preaching and transposed it into film. And therein lies the disparity between a cheesy horror film and a cheesy Christian film. There is a vast difference between aiming for a goal and failing versus aiming for a goal and masking it as something else. The latter is something our culture will not stand for.
Film is not sermon and sermon is not film. Entertainment Weekly said of Fireproof, “You probably can't blame pastors moonlighting as moviemakers for wanting to pack their film with multiple messages, but the conversion subplot feels shoehorned into the more crucial marital doings.” For Christian artists, sometimes the art of story comes in second place to the obligation we feel to make spiritual art.
One livid reviewer of Fireproof said, “This is not going to be reviewed as a film. It will be reviewed for what it is, a shockingly dangerous piece of propaganda that offers a bias view as to the causes and solutions to life’s issues. The complete lack of integrity that a filmmaker would have to show in order to publish such complete crap is astounding and what makes it worse is the positive reviews it received as a film. IT IS NOT A FILM, IT IS AN Advertisement.” This is the danger of missing the medium, or of masking one medium as another. Artistic trust is lost. The audience leaves feeling cheated by a film that set out to save their souls instead of tell a story—when perhaps the story untainted would have been effective. So to the painters, writers, directors, and dancers who yearn for more than the next cheesy Christian stereotype, heed this: medium matters.
Callie Johnson works as Editorial Assistant at Kelli Sallman Writing and Editing with a bachelor’s degree in Theatre Arts and Creative Writing from Calvary University. She previously interned with Kelli for two years, working as proofreader and copyeditor on several manuscripts. Her strange obsessions include kerning, East Coker, and the sound of cows chewing.