It's called "picking your battles"

Warning: This is a rant.

I read this article on an author's page the other day. Inside the piece is a a petition to essentially throw out the MPAA rating system. And, I think, the MPAA all together. The catalyst of this seems to be the film Bruno. Christians, apparently, are shocked and horrified at the fact that this movie was rated "R", and further horrified by the graphic content.

Okay people.

What part of Sacha Baron Cohen said "family-friendly" or "date night" to you? This is the guy who brought us Borat, also not family movie-night viewing. There is a track record here. Did you see the posters? Why the heck would you have stepped into the theater long enough to be horrified? And while, sure, you could sit and argue that the film ought to have been rated NC-17, clearly this is not a film Christians are interested in, clearly this is not a film made for believers, so why are Christians taking up a battle that really shouldn't concern them?

Furthermore, why are they horrified when non-Christians make non-Christian movies? Why are they dismayed when non-Christians rate movies according to non-Christian standards?

What drives me crazy is when people poing at films like Bruno and say that Hollywood is evil. They all missed Up, is all I can guess. And a lot of other movies. If you don't do movies, fine, just say so. But don't say there isn't anything good out there. It's just not true.

Christian media groups beg for Hollywood to take their preferences seriously, refuse to take any part of Hollywood seriously, and then wonder why they aren't getting anywhere. Dale Carnegie is rolling around in his grave.

Want to make a difference in Hollywood? Attend the good movies. Attending them opening weekend is even better - if a film surpasses box office expectations, ad money will come out of nowhere (well, not really nowhere) to continue to promote it. Go ahead. Cast your vote in a language Hollywood understands.

Or another idea - get involved yourself. There are missionaries in Hollywood. Organizations like Act 1 train Christians to work in the film industry. And I'm sure Michael Apted could use some prayer. I'll bet Sacha Baron Cohen could stand to be prayed for too.

After Jesus ascended into heaven, we were told to go and tell people the good news. But we've spent so much time shouting about the things we're against that it amazes me when anyone has a voice left to share the Truth.

Note: By and large, the really gross movies don't actually do that well in the box office. Bruno's cumulative box office so far is $49,533,475. Compare that with Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs at $151,865,987.

Both films opened the same weekend in roughly the same amount of theaters, but Ice Age won out by far. Coincidence? Not really.