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Re: The Revenge Song

Greetings All

First, I'd like to say, HarryandBillyBrick, I could see this episode as an important part in an overarching story which teaches a righteous theme.

We are taught in school that a story always has a topic, and a theme. The topic being what the story is about, and the theme being what the author is saying about that topic, or, the message. For example, "Topic is wrong", or "Topic is right". Should not films contain both of these elements, as they also seek to tell a story?

Professional film-makers are constantly sending subliminal messages to their audience. Hollywood almost always sends messages like, "Be Yourself", "Work with A Team" or "You're Special". People don't think these films are preachy, they just see the message. If the secular world believes it is important to send messages, how much more important is it for Christians to send a God-honoring message?

How is the audience to know that the revenge showed in this film is wrong? Countless Hollywood films have shown taking revenge as a sort of justice, people love watching the tough hero chase down the bad guy who killed, attacked, hurt, the hero's family or family member. People don't ever think about these killings as wrong, but instead leave the theater feeling that the hero was justified. We're not dealing with intelligence here, we're dealing with opposing world-views, and it is crucial to make an impact for good.

I agree, the audience doesn't always need to hear stories of good-acts, or to be preached at. When the Bible tells a story of a wrong-doing, it is made quite clear that it is a wrong-doing, just like David and Bathsheba; David did something terribly wrong, but the Bible doesn't stop there. David deeply repents of his sin. In my opinion, films should avoid glorifying wrong, but they shouldn't stop there. They should actually glorify what is right.

A well-crafted film has the power to affect the way people think about things. The secular culture has affected our society greatly through films, music, and other art. We, as artists, have a unique opportunity to combat this. A film can be beautiful as a piece of art, but it can be much more beautiful when it is structured with a righteous theme.

It's good to know that even if we don't agree on every point, we can still have an edifying discussion. 

Keep On Brickfilming,

Remnant Media

P.S. Jesus' parables were understood by the disciples, but they were not understood by many in the crowd because of their unbelief. (Matthew 13 KJV) However, all have a chance to understand these parables if they are willing to believe and trust in the Savior, Jesus Christ. (James 1:5 KJV)

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Re: The Revenge Song

RemnantMedia wrote:

I hope, over time, as we create more content on our channel, we can get you, backyardlegos, to change your mind about films with good messages being boring.

I'd like to point out that this is not what I said. I said if every film had a good message. I simply meant that I sometimes find it tiresome having the message of a film spoon fed to me, which seems to be a common sentiment. I prefer to have to do a little work to interpret a film; to have themes woven into the story for the viewer to pick out on their own.

I think maybe we've hijacked this thread enough. If someone really wants to continue this discussion, I might suggest making a new thread for it in the general film discussion forum.

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Re: The Revenge Song

Wow, I just have to say something about this. Fantastic! I love it, great editing, cinematography, animation, everything. I haven't really been around here all year, and wasn't intending to post anything when I dropped by just now, but I had to say something. Great job.

  • Joined: December 26, 2008

Re: The Revenge Song

RemnantMedia wrote:

When the Bible tells a story of a wrong-doing, it is made quite clear that it is a wrong-doing, just like David and Bathsheba; David did something terribly wrong, but the Bible doesn't stop there. David deeply repents of his sin. In my opinion, films should avoid glorifying wrong, but they shouldn't stop there. They should actually glorify what is right.

Not every story does (or should) end with the protagonist learning the error of his/her ways and being redeemed, though. The Book of Jonah ends with Jonah bitter and alone, unable to learn his lesson. There is room for more than one kind of story structure to be worthwhile. Essentially what I'm saying is that although it may appeal to a lowest-common-denominator audience, stating the thesis of your film explicitly instead of conveying it through story is the least interesting and certainly least cinematic approach to narrative. Most stories that last have greater depth to them than that.

A well-crafted film has the power to affect the way people think about things.

I agree, my argument is more that it can be done better than by hammering it home in a literal manner in the final act of the film. Not trying to start an epistemological discussion but I felt that Jesus' parables are a particularly salient example of this because of what is often a significant level of nuance and a design that encourages the audience to meditate on it rather than spelling it out explicitly.

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Re: The Revenge Song

Some immaculate filmmaking on display here, both technical and narrative. I'm not familiar with your series but had no issues following the plot and it all worked really well as a self-contained story. The lighting was especially great (the shot of the headlights against the minifigure's head was perfect), and as everyone else has stated, the animation is top-notch. My only quarrel would be that the scene of the woman being run over feels much to slow. Had you animated that with a faster frame-rate it would've lent the scene some added gravity.

As for the discussion of "good" vs. "bad" stories, a diversity is obviously key. It's quite ridiculous to propose that all stories must conform to a specific worldview, and if those are the only ones you wish to see then there are more than enough of those readily available for you.

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Re: The Revenge Song

I can't help but feel as though a lot of religious allegory brickfilms are far too preachy, and don't really allow the viewer to work out the message for themselves, but rather explicitly says what the message is. It is very hard to tell a good story with a Christian message well, hence why I don't do it very often myself. 'And Men Loved Darkness', one of my favourite brickfilms from 2015, managed to tell it's message very well. It worked because it was subtle, and allowed the viewer consider the message behind it themselves, in the same manner as Jesus's parables.

Zootopia could easily have been a little too preachy with it's message about prejudice. It took me a while to fully appreciate the proper message. It takes time to fully see the full picture, and that is what makes it a good allegory, and therefore not preachy.

So, not all films need a strong message, but those that do, take a lot of hard work, and can be difficult to do well.

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