 |
| Stand By Me |
The
primary reason I hate some movies I might see is that they do not
affirm what is and what ought to be. If a movie does not ring true,
I have little patience with it. On the other hand, a movie like
Stand By Me becomes a memorable event when it evokes boyhood
experiences and treats the vulnerabilities, fears, strengths,
loyalties, and loves of those experiences with integrity and
authenticity. Jesus taught in parables—short movies. The parable
of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son are archetypal events
because they reveal what is and what ought to be. They serve to
affirm what is already known subconsciously. Jesus could have
lectured abstractly on compassion, responsibility, and love and his
conceits inevitably would have become fodder for intellectual
exercises—for parlor games that toss about and play with
abstractions. But his parables disallow such escape from reality and
provoke thought, evoke emotions, and confirm what we already know as
truth but which has lain unrecognized and unstructured.
Print Page
