Cars 2: a Telling Film on Hollywood's Agenda

BY G.P. GALLE

In 2006, the animated feature film Cars hit the box office and scored big, nearing a half billion dollars in the box office alone. The much anticipated sequel hit theaters this year, and is testament to the agenda push by powerful Hollywood players against Big Oil...in a kids movie.

Cars 2 director John Lasseter is very forward about the agenda in Cars 2:

"I kept thinking about, "OK. A spy movie in the world where cars are alive. What would be a really good kind of über bad guy? Who is an über bad guy?" I kept going to big oil. This is before what happened in the Gulf of Mexico. Why isn't alternative fuel more... Why isn't everybody jumping on that bandwagon? It makes so much sense: Electricity, solar, whatever. There's ethanol. There's all this stuff you could be doing. And so I thought, well, that could be really cool in that you could have big oil versus alternative fuel. That's when we kind of crafted the bad guy's story."

Whether or not your political leanings are for or against the Oil industry, Cars 2 begs a larger question: What is Hollywood teaching our children, and how does this effect families? The question can be answered by looking to a perhaps seemingly odd pair of constituents: stained glass and super bowl commercials.

For the larger part of history, people have been largely illiterate. As a result, people learned visually and orally. In the middle ages and after, Christianity was able to educate through the beauty of the Church. A Blacksmith, hard at work in his shop, would stop at noon and go to receive Communion. While he was probably not allowed into royal houses, he was allowed in a Church. Here this man could feel safe, could know that there was an eternal place for him. He could also be educated on the teachings of the church. This Stained Glass was only the starting point: Gregorian chants, large icons, incense (which was probably a lot more pleasing to an audience without deodorant), and morality plays were just a few things that would help this man find peace in a very tough world. He could know those dedicated Christians. He could aspire to their lives.

Compare this to an explicit commercials during the SuperBowl, ones provocative and overtly sensual. These commercials air during a family event. A very different message certainly...but a similar type of education. People pay millions for a minute of SuperBowl air time. Why? Because they can convince people to buy their product....and it is proven to work. Sales go up with Super Bowl marketing. A great ad can make a product sell.

So what is a compelling television show selling? Think about it: if people will spend so much on an ad for the Super Bowl, because 1 minute will influence buying power, what does an hour and a half message in a movie do to a person? It is a simple connection, and one that Hollywood knows well. They have used it continuously, and Cars 2 is just one example. That is a political agenda on big oil. What about agendas against the Church? Movies like The Da Vinci Code? The Order? Doubt? The list goes on.

We are not using today’s stained glass called modern media. We have the truth, but it has got to get beyond dissertations. We need to speak in current Marketplace terms. Otherwise we will fail to reach a large part of the population. Why not have a Tom Clancy novel with a Christian hero? Why not have Tom Cruise in constant prayer in a Church when he plays a devout Christian World War II hero (a great example of a downplayed faith is Valkyrie).

And at heart, the most important place that we present this new stained glass is to our children. But because we have yet to take a proactive approach, to create new forms of media, we must, Fathers in particular, guard the family and the eyes of the children. They need not be swayed by a false but emotionally stirring presentation of sexuality, or gratuitous violence, or flawed arguments against the Church.

It is our job within Christianity to show people the splendor of the Holy Church, and reach people through the God-given mediums He has bestowed. It is our job as Father’s to protect our children and promote the Culture of Life in new and creative ways.

About G.P. Galle G.P. Galle, Jr. has spent over 10 years studying the intersection of faith, politics, and pop culture. He is a writer and producer, previous works including A Dream Worth Living a culture of live musical, and vivace, a Christian Art extravaganza. He has a law degree from the University of Alabama Law School, and graduated magna cum laude from Auburn University.