How Movies Helped Save My Soul

My thoughts in general: This book, How Movies Helped Save My Soul, is written by a Christian author, who writes about seeking to find spiritual "fingerprints" in films that he watches. As I have been reading, I have found that Higgins draws many interesting insights. I have agreed with him on many points, but on other points I don't feel that either agree or disagree. One of the main reasons that I wanted to blog about this book, which I would recommend, is because it is not a "scholarly" work. It is just a book written by a guy who likes movies and who tries to find something redeeming in films rather than just judging them to be "indecent." I had an interview with my elders' quorum president the other day, and he asked me how I reconcile the Church and morally challenging material in films. When he asked me this, my first thought was: what a stupid question. Maybe I need to repent, but this is honestly what I think. How can people not know how to reconcile difficult things for themselves? Aren't we agents to act for ourselves? In such a media saturated environment, how can you not have already thought about these issues? Anyway, I gave him an answer; I'm not convinced that he agrees with me, but that's okay. I think I'm going to recommend that he read this book.

My thoughts on application: Since this book is overtly religious (in a promoting religion kind of way), it might be difficult to use in the classroom. However, I think it could actually be a good text (if used in an appropriate way) to initiate discussion about finding things in films that are not readily apparent on the surface. It is not scholarly, so I actually think that it would be fairly easily accessible to students. Higgins does reference a lot of films that students might not have seen, but as I've been reading, I haven't felt like someone would have to already have seen all of the films that he references. In general, I think it could be good foundation material for how to look beyond the basic plot of a film and the general "I liked it"/"I didn't like it." He presents some interesting basic, layman's analysis, even if it is centered on religion.