Questions to focus on: Interpreting Film Stories

These questions can be used at different levels. You can take 30 seconds to think about one or two. You can discuss them in a team or group of like-minded Christians. Or they can be used in a college class, including assignments and research projects, and answered in writing at any depth. They may be freely reproduced for this purpose. Please email us additional questions that could be added to this page.
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  1. "Story-telling is central to every culture." Discuss.
  2. What proportion of TV output in your country is narrative story-telling: soap opera, drama, film, opera?
  3. How many new movies are released in your country each year?
  4. In many countries in recent years, movie attendance has increased. Why is this?
  5. Find examples of movie script-lines that have entered the language.
  6. Look in newspapers and magazines. How much of the writing:
    1. is about films and TV drama?
    2. is about people connected with films and TV?
    3. contains allusions to film and TV drama within writing on other subjects?
    4. uses phrases from script-lines that have become incorporated into the language?
  7. Why is the use of embedded parallel meanings so important in effectively sharing the Gospel?
  8. Read Brian Godawa's book Hollywood Worldviews. Use the study questions at the end of each chapter, if possible in a group discussion.
  9. Subscribe to the Damaris.org email newsletter, and use their study guides for individual study or group discussion.
  10. How can you encourage your church, or any peer group of Christians, to learn how to analyze popular culture from a Christian viewpoint? How can you encourage them to use tools such as Damaris.org and Facingthechallenge.org for group study?