One suggestion for all of us is to occasionally refer to older books, classics, film and material—rather than getting caught up in a tit-for-tat cultural war today. Mathewes-Green discussed how one of her own favorite classic films was the 1935, “It Happened One Night”.
By referring to that classic film from today’s perspective, the author could recognize all kinds of cultural and gender biases in this film--which those of the 1930s audience scarcely took note of.
The point, Mathewes-Green is making to us all—i.e. of whatever political or social or religious preference is: “Sure, you can make yourself read the contemporary magazines and authors you disagree with, but even they share the same underlying assumptions. It's as if we see our ‘culture war’ opponents standing on the cold peak of an iceberg. From our corresponding peak, all we can discern between us is an expanse of dark water. But underneath that water, the two peaks are joined in a single mass. The common assumptions we share are invisible to us, but they will be perceived, and questioned, by our grandchildren.”
Mathewes-Green warns all Christians of the need to get a hold of some older books—preferably 50 years and older—in order to really get a perspective on how our culture is today and how the cultures of our grandparents were.
We may discover that we are closer to our so-called cultural enemies today than to our grandparents. Likewise, we might gain a whole new perspective on the problems of our day by looking at how these elders of earlier generations faced the world and interpreted it. Or, we may simply find nuggets of truth that we were unaware of or had long-ago forgotten about.
Mathewes-Green cites C.S. Lewis who wrote, “Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books.”
I for one am happy that Upton Sinclair’s works have made a return to Hollywood.
Sinclair’s 1920s book, OIL was made into a well-done film just last year. During his lifetime, Sinclair’s fictional works were translated into 75 languages by the 1930s—yet most Americans living today have never read a single one of his many works.
Sinclair tells an American multi-cultural story that is very reminiscent of the world we face today.
In turn pacifist and counter-culture Americans have not read classics, such as Daniel Berrigan and Robert Coles’ THE GEOGRAPHY OF FAITH. Others have not read Ghandi or other classic thinkers of faith, progressive action, communities of sustainable development, and peace.
ENCOURAGING DISCUSSION
I’d like to encourage readers now to take time, comment, and share below in the comments section which classic books, film and media should be known today—i.e. recognized as a corpus of classic materials that people of this and subsequent generations need to know about in our struggles—whether cultural struggles, activist oriented ones, or more introspective in nature.
Simply, state the genre, the material or media’s name/title/author/director and to whom it would be beneficial!
NOTES
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