Useless Beauty: Ecclesiastes through the Lens of Contemporary Film

by Robert K. Johnston

Overview

Reveals how both contemporary movies and the Book of Ecclesiastes portray life's beauty despite its pain and futility.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781441206510
Publisher:	Baker Publishing Group
Publication date:	11/01/2004
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Robert K. Johnston (Ph.D., Duke University) is professor of theology and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary. He is the author or editor of over twelve books, including Reel Spirituality and Finding God in the Movies. A past president of the American Theological Society and the recipient of two major research grants from the Luce Foundation, Johnston is an ordained minister in the Evangelical Covenant Church.

Table of Contents

	List of Illustrations	9
	Preface	11
	Acknowledgments	15
1	A Battered Optimism: Ecclesiastes and Our Contemporary Context	17
2	The Existentialist Alternative: Akira Kurosawa and Woody Allen	35
3	Death and Life: Alan Ball and American Beauty	57
4	The Saddest Happy Ending: Paul Thomas Anderson and Magnolia	73
5	Chance and Fate: Tom Tykwer and Run Lola Run	93
6	An Ambiguous Joy: Marc Forster and Monster's Ball	113
7	Can God Be in This? M. Night Shyamalan and Signs	127
8	Confessions of a Workaholic: Alexander Payne, Election, and About Schmidt	147
9	Humanity at Full Stretch: Let the "Preacher" Respond	169
Appendix A	Ecclesiastes' History of Interpretation	179
Appendix B	Christian Film Criticism	183
Appendix C	Biblical Criticism and Useless Beauty	187
	Notes	191
	Movies Cited	201
	Index	205

Editorial Reviews

Drawing the title from a line in an Elvis Costello song about "all this useless beauty," Johnston, Fuller Seminary professor of theology and culture, invites us to consider connections between biblical wisdom literature and film. In particular, he compares Ecclesiastes with films such as American Beauty, Magnolia, About Schmidt and Signs. "Useless beauty" refers to the paradox described in Ecclesiastes (and in many of the selected films) of beauty in the midst of a life filled with vanity, futility and absurdity. Although the title promotes Ecclesiastes through the lens of film, it is really a treatment of film through the lens of Ecclesiastes, as Johnston intersperses key biblical passages in italics next to his rendition of film plots and characters showing us the dynamic analogies. Johnston's hope is that this will create a "two-way dialogue" that starts with the film but moves back and forth between the film and scripture. Narrowing in on Ecclesiastes-a book embraced by many different religious traditions-exposes Johnston to a wide audience, one that includes Christians, Jews, Muslims and even New Age hybrids. That's good for everyone, because Johnston's forte is helping us think more deeply about how God is revealed in popular culture, so that our notion of God is expanded even beyond our traditional understandings. (Nov.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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