WACO, Texas (Feb. 19, 2013) — Oscar-nominated films Lincoln, Silver Linings Playbook, Argo, Les Misérables and Life of Pi — different as they are —have a common message for all of us: We have to take our lives as they are, not as we wish they were. Being a hero is about not giving up, despite incredible challenges, says pop culture critic and author Greg Garrett.
“In Les Misérables, the huge themes were grace and forgiveness,” said Garrett, Ph.D., a professor of English in Baylor University’s College of Arts & Sciences. “In Zero Dark Thirty, there's the post-9/11 question of ‘What do you have to become to bring a fugitive to justice?’ But in all these films there’s the common theme of playing out the hands we’re given.”
“So you find yourself stuck in a lifeboat with a ravenous tiger? Make it work out for the both of you (Life of Pi),” he wrote in an article in Patheos.com. “So your wife left you and your brain doesn't work the way it ought to? Be a stand-up guy. Get over your delusions, and see the wonderful person standing in front of you, and work together to make some sense out of this crazy world. (Silver Linings Playbook) So you've been given the task of rescuing people in a dangerous situation and the best chance you have is to pretend they're scouting a movie in Revolutionary Iran? Well, then—make the best imaginary movie you can (as Alan Arkin's Lester Siegel says, “If I'm doing a fake movie, it's gonna be a fake hit”) . . . (Argo)
“If there's a spiritual message that seems to be common to most of the Best Picture films, it's that you have to get up every morning and do the work, where you are, with what you have,” Garrett said.
The movies’ themes echo traditions of a host of religions: Christianity’s daily progress toward holiness, the Jewish working for the healing of the world through acts of daily justice that spread out into the world like ripples in a pond, or Buddhists’ seeking to act with compassion and “mindfulness” — the process of being totally where they are rather than wishing to be elsewhere, he said.
Greg Garrett is the author of three critically-acclaimed novels and an internationally-recognized authority on culture, religion, and politics who has written nonfiction books including The Gospel according to Hollywood, Holy Superheroes, Stories from the Edge: A Theology of Grief, and We Get to Carry Each Other: The Gospel according to U2.
ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITYBaylor University is a private Christian university and a nationally ranked research institution, characterized as having “high research activity” by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. The university provides a vibrant campus community for approximately 15,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating university in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 80 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 11 nationally recognized academic divisions. Baylor sponsors 19 varsity athletic teams and is a founding member of the Big 12 Conference.
ABOUT BAYLOR COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCESThe College of Arts & Sciences is Baylor University’s oldest and largest academic division, consisting of 26 academic departments and 13 academic centers and institutes. The more than 5,000 courses taught in the College span topics from art and theatre to religion, philosophy, sociology and the natural sciences. Faculty conduct research around the world, and research on the undergraduate and graduate level is prevalent throughout all disciplines. Visit www.baylor.edu/artsandsciences.
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