What drives them? What motivates them? What gets them out of bed and out the door?
How easily do they break promises and commitments?
Is their outlook on life generally positive or generally cynical?
Do they have a respect for other people?
How do they handle setbacks?
Do they know how to make the first things in life the first things or are their priorities upside down?
Do they learn from their mistakes or simply repeat their mistakes?
What other questions would you add to the list?
Austin Moon Tower
Fascinating look at Austin's historic "moon towers."
I don't like to be wrong, but I do like this correction!
In yesterday's sermon, I mentioned that The Princess Bride was a film about a fictional book by the same title. I read somewhere that the book didn't exist until preadolescent girls who saw the film started asking where they could get the book referenced in the film. Turns out I had bad info. Paul Waldo wrote me this correction yesterday:
A minor correction to your sermon this morning: You said the book was written after the movie. In fact, the novel was published in 1973, written by William Goldman, one of my favorite writers (Novels: Marathon Man, Magic, and others. Screenplays: Butch Cassidy, Papillon, All the President’s Men, The Right Stuff, and others.)
By the time the The Princess Bride came out in 1987, I had read it myself, and I had read it to Erin and Amy. I later read it to my son David. Erin and I went to the sneak preview when the movie came to Austin in 1987, and we were surrounded by people who had read the book. We were all nervous about whether the movie was going to accurately recount the best parts of the book. We all agreed later that it had done an admirable job – probably because Goldman also wrote the screenplay.
I recommend the book. It takes some of the things in the movie to considerably more depth. And I love the writing style of Goldman – he is a master storyteller. But there are some aspects of the book that the movie improves. The best example: The grandfather/grandson scenes replace an irritating set of side notes in the book, where Goldman pretends he is abridging boring parts out of the full-length version of a book written by S. Morganstern – keeping only the good parts. The movie does that better.
Anyway… not important, but just for the record… the book came first.
That was a needed correction. Thanks, Paul!
Our new Sunday morning series, Movie Messages, is generating closer looks at the themes of popular films. Here’s Terry O’Daniel’s take on Twilight.
I tried to avoid the Twilight craze. When I saw Stephenie Meyer at the Texas Book Festival in 2006, I didn’t know who she was. All I saw was her seated at a table inside a large outdoor event tent with a line of what appeared to be teenage girls stretching out the opening at the other end. Many of these girls wore tshirts with a boy’s name on it, which meant nothing to me. Years passed. I would see women my age reading one of her books while waiting for a child to finish a swim class or sitting in a doctor’s office waiting room. I shook my head in amusement. How were these books so popular with such a broad age of young to middle-aged women?
About a year ago while driving to visit my mother, I stopped to refuel the car. I had my then-11 year-old daughter with me. I was approaching the cashier, a young man in his late teens or early 20’s. He was ranting about how frustrated he was with girls who thought Edward or Jacob were realistic standards for a boyfriend. He was complaining about how unfair it was to real-life guys (like himself) who couldn’t live up to the expectations of girls who believed they deserved nothing less than an Edward (or Jacob). I honestly had no idea of the qualities he described but tried to show some compassion for the clearly tortured young man.
Recently, my husband brought home a DVD of Twilight. I grimaced. “Really?” I asked. But, we sat down to watch it together. Sure, the male lead was an attractive actor, but I remembered seeing him in another movie a year or so earlier. He didn’t overwhelm me in any way. In fact, I remember thinking at that time that he was the Twilight actor and wasn’t so amazing to spark a huge craze with almost 12 million Facebook fans to his fictional character of Edward Cullen.
Then, I started to see the character of Edward Cullen in Twilight. I thought about it after the movie was over. Sure, there is that dark side of him being a vampire (but it wasn’t his choice to become one and he fights against those urges) that is unavoidable. But, his true self is shown to Bella and his “family.” He is loyal, faithful, generous and selfless. But more than that, he is powerful and godlike (as described in the book) in both appearance and abilities. He can read minds, has super speed and strength. His love for Bella is unconditional, self-sacrificing, protective and like that of a parent in the sense that he would rather disappoint her than have her be hurt or damaged in any way. He is unwavering in his devotion, unchanging in his commitment to her and not offensive in any mere human way. But the real and lasting thing he can give Bella is immortality. It hit me with such a powerful realization. He is the image of Jesus. He is greater and more powerful than any human, judicious and careful in his reactions, self-sacrificing in his love, always putting her best interest ahead of her more limited judgment. Protecting her soul and virtue is crucial to him.
It’s the need for Jesus that draws us to a character like Edward. Seeing someone with flesh, who displays such love and power, who can offer immortality, is almost too much to resist. We all long for such a perfect (or near perfect) love and to be free from the frailties of this human life. Is someone like Edward a realistic standard for a boyfriend or husband? No. There are aspects of his character in many good young men. They should take heart. Knowing that Jesus is the longing we feel can help relieve the pressure to measure up. We all feel like the ordinary and flawed Bella next to Jesus.
Thankfully, we really do have Jesus and can look forward to the promise of eternal life and heaven beyond this earth. For now, we are here, all flawed and needing grace from one another while we wait for our Savior to rescue us.
