(Analysis) Decades later, with soaring box office receipts and four Oscar wins, including Best Picture for producer David Putnam in 1982, Chariots of Fire has become a major influence on Hollywood society. It’s hard to remember what shocked me.
Although the film focuses on two legendary runners, one Christian and one Jewish, it also satisfied believers who rarely celebrate how their faith is treated on film.
The film’s success led Bob Briner to seek Putnam’s private office in London. Briner is an Emmy Award winner and global sports media pioneer who has worked with tennis legend Arthur Ashe, MLB pitcher Dave Dravecky, Michael Jordan and many others. be.
“I was a simple soul who believed that the success of ‘Chariots’ would spark a wave of similar films,” Breiner wrote in his 1993 book “Howling”, which was popular among college students and members of the media. He writes in “The Lambs.” “The biggest names in film seemed to understand that a great, uplifting story, made on a reasonable budget and backed by moving music, was the formula for continued success.”
That didn’t happen. The depressed Putnam had a plethora of potential scripts.
“He was looking for it and couldn’t find it,” Breiner wrote. Throughout his career, Putnam “showed an affinity for making quality, uplifting, affirming, even Christian-oriented films, but no one gave him a quality script.” They didn’t bring it.”
Mr. Breiner, who died of cancer in 1999, was an outspoken evangelical and supporter of Christian education and all kinds of projects in mass media, art, business, and print storytelling. I met him through his efforts to meet journalists from various Christian traditions while working in mainstream news.
Now, the Breiner Institute is publishing a new edition of Barking Lambs, seeking discussion of how the Internet age has changed media markets. The Internet has created new ways for religious believers to reach mainstream consumers, but it has also tempted many to settle for niche media Christian products.
“Our churches are growing. Our universities are full. Our magazine and book publishers are seeing increased subscriptions and sales. And our broadcast media is growing, our unique continues to bring music and education into homes,” Bryner wrote in 1993. “Our subculture is healthy. … It’s the world that needs help.”
The time for a different approach to culture is past, he noted.
“We need to be in the middle of our culture, not wandering around its periphery.”
While many churches today are in decline, others are growing. Religious mass media projects have faced the same challenges as secular media projects in the Internet age. Hollywood is struggling to satisfy consumers in a market sharply divided by the same kinds of cultural and moral issues that divide voters.
In the foreword to the new edition, Cornerstone University philosopher Douglas Groothaus emphasized the need for believers to be candid in rapidly changing times.
“As I write in the summer of 2024, two long-standing evangelical universities have closed in the past three months, and several evangelical seminaries have recently significantly downsized and physically “We went so far as to sell the entire campus,” he wrote. “Popular culture is becoming increasingly vulgar,” “occult spirituality (even Satanism) is glorified,” crime statistics are rising, drug laws are being liberalized, and gender confusion is rising. It’s widespread.
Recognizing all of these realities, Briner would continue to challenge Christian artists and entrepreneurs to do the tough, humble work necessary to reach new audiences.
Take, for example, “The Chosen,” a crowdfunded drama about Jesus and his disciples. The drama reached 200 million viewers through streaming services and some movie releases. Audience surveys show that at least a third of them are non-Christians. theater.
This summer, the multi-year series topped the charts on the Apple TV app store and hit No. 2 on the mobile iOS app store.
“Bob would certainly praise ‘The Chosen’ for reaching a global audience. He praised the high production values and especially the quality of the script. “I would admire the response,” said Steve Taylor, a veteran rock singer-songwriter and filmmaker who teaches at Lipscomb University in Nashville.
Mr. Breiner never “jumped ship” and opposed Christian media efforts. Rather, Taylor continued to insist that preaching to the choir was not enough. “He always wanted to know what was going to happen next.”
Copyright 2024 ANDREWS MCMEEL Syndication
