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on values and stories…

“The final cause of the decline of story runs very deep. Values, the positive/negative charges of life, are at the soul of our art. The writer shapes story around a perception of what’s worth living for and what’s worth dying for, what is foolish to pursue, the meaning of justice, truth-the essential values. …ours has become an age of moral and ethical cynicism, relativism, and subjectivism–a great confusion of values. As the family disintegrates and sexual antagonisms rise, who, for example, feels he understands the nature of love? And how, if you do have a conviction, do you express it to an ever-more skeptical audience? This erosion of values has brought with it a corresponding erosion of story.” -Robert McKee

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Filed under: life by Jonathan

  • Tina

    this is such a good statement…. it reminds me of that bible verse from Revelations 3:16 “so because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, i am about to spit you out of my mouth.
    i think that hardest thing about building relationship with people and encouraging them to build their relationship with God is not their anger or hatred but just their complete lack of feeling all together.
    You have to get people to feel something, to take a side, to have an opinion. This horrible apathetic ground our generation is in is killing us faster then intense times of persecution!!

  • Jonathan

    The crazy thing with this quote is that McKee isn’t even Christian, he’s just a guy who teaches courses on scriptwriting for movies.

    This is the direction my thesis is starting to turn in though. Obviously for Christian artists I’m lobbying for faith informed art that promotes a justice centered worldview, but for artists in general both inside and outside of the church we desperately need to restore “Truth” to the conversation. Postmodernism has so stripped Truth and meaning from everything in society that even our stories and art now suck. Even non-Christian artists make better art when they are raising questions of our relationship with Truth, when they are struggling to make sense out of the moral ambiguities of life. You don’t have to be a Christian to make beautiful, meaningful art. I think there is a HUGE opening for Christians to return to the arts with a message of Truth that people are eager to explore.

« on faith and justice, part one… on experiencing art… »

  • about me

    My name is Jonathan Assink.

    I'm a writer, photographer, baseball nut, foodie & lover of indie bands you've probably never heard of. I wrote a theology of justice for artists & love to talk about the intersection of art, faith & social justice. I am passionate about words & images. I have a heart for the city, for the church (in whatever form it takes) & for artists.

    Though inspired & influenced by many different people and experiences my words here are my own & do not represent the views of any organization I might be involved in.

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