What’s Wrong and Right?
o Using at least one specific example, how was “sin” treated within this film? Was it glamorized/glorified, or did it receive more of a biblical treatment (redemption, justice, mercy, grace, forgiveness, reconciliation, resolution, etc. etc.) Try to use different examples than the ones mentioned in previous posts. Feel free to disagree with other peoples’ ideas.
o God says we should put nothing “worthless” in front of our eyes. What is good, excellent, redemptive about this film? What was worthwhile? Was anything worthless about it? Can you wholeheartedly recommend this film? To anyone? A pastor? A friend? A sibling? Teacher? Why? Why not? Who would this film NOT be appropriate for and why? Biblically explain and draw your conclusions.
I think 1 example would be when John Carter was trying all his life to find gold. Gold was basically his idol. But towards the end of the movie he could go back to his normal home on earth, or he could stay at mars and help the Princess live free. He ended up making the right desision by staying on Mars. By doing this he found that living on Mars was his true home.
ReplyDeleteI think that I could recommend this movie to any Christian because just as John Carter eventually knew that he had a lust for Gold, the Christians would understand what they lust for, or what their idols are.
ReplyDeleteIn 1 John 2:17 it says that the world and its desired are passing away, but the will of God abides forever.
This verse is saying that if you worship anything but God then you will not go to Heaven
This movie was all about fighting. Their were people fighting all kinds of people/things for different reasons. At the beginning of the movie John Carter ran away because he didn't want to fight in the war on earth. Somehow a gadget thingy found him and transported him to a different planet. This planet was also having a war, and he didnt really have a choice wether to fight or not. Although murder and fighting is not a good thing I dont think it was used wrongly in this film. it was not praised upon or trying to tell us that if we all fight each other then things will turn out perfect. EVen though that is what happened in the film. I do believe that it was trying to emphasize to fight for what you love. That might have not been the major theme of the movie, but it was something that i found important.
ReplyDeleteWhich war was on the earth?
DeleteThe civil war was going on at the same time as the war on Mars.
DeleteYou know how it said i the movie that they have a duplicate. Well is mars have the same thing going on at all times. Does the wars end at the same time? Does everything just happen except on a different planet?
DeleteYes, I totally agree with A.kempen, John Carter did have a lust for gold and he didn’t realize that there was a true purpose for him in life. When he went to mars he found out that there was a greater purpose for him, that he could actually save live(s). Though was also fraud committed by the shape-shifting person who said he was one person one minute and another person the next minute. The shape shifting could also be viewed as witch craft, going from one body to the next, just to make a person leave the planet, so an ally could destroy everyone who knew one fact.
ReplyDeleteI think that almost everything could be found worthless in some ways and then we could also find worth in it in other ways. There are many good points made in this film, but there were times that if someone didn’t see a scene in its right context it could look like there was completely different plot to the movie. You need to see the whole picture not just a preview, because it look like there was only one way to find what John Carter was looking for. I think it would depend on the person if I were to recommend it to someone.
ReplyDeleteSeveral of you have mentioned the lust for gold and how John Carter was making it an idol. What brought him to that point? Does the movie suggest that something happened in his life to make him desire gold/wealth? If so, what?
ReplyDeleteI dont think the movie ever came right out and made it clear of why he wanted gold so badly. However, i think it might have been because his wife and daughter were killed. When bad things happen sometimes people turn to earthy things to make them feel better again. It could be alcohol, work, money, drugs... I think that Carter was turning to gold because he felt like it would make him happy again once he found it.
DeleteI agree. I saw how he always had flashbacks, and that made me think that he was trying to hide from the pain of his loss. As the movie went on, I saw how he stopped trying to avoid his pain, and did what was right.
DeleteI think that a sin that was in the movie was violence/murder. In some ways, that was portrayed as evil, but in some ways it WAS praised. For example, when John Carter was in the arena, he was praised and praised for killing and slaughtering the animals. But, he was also praised in killing the bad guys, but that type of murder is okay, Because he was fighting for a GOOD reason. This shows in the movie and the Bible in that just like John Carter killed the bad guy, God is going to crush Satan.
ReplyDeleteI think that John Carter was making an idol of his cave of gold. What I think brought him to this point in the movie was when he found his wife and child died. I think that he thought maybe if he found his cave of gold it would make up for the loss of his family.
ReplyDeleteThe sin I personally think was in the movie a lot was lust. In some of the movie it was good and praiseworthy but other times it was evil. For an example when John Carter was trying to rescue the girl from her being married he wasn't doing it to take her away from him he was trying to protect her from evil. An example of lust in an evil way is the girl marrying the bad guy instead of loving John Carter. In a biblical view I think potipher's wife was lusting after Joseph but he wasn't liking it so he ran away from her because he knew that God didn't want him to be with her also even though he was incommand and she wanted him to he didn't have a command to be with her. Lust could be good in both good ways and evil ways.
ReplyDeleteI think that one sin in the movie was lies and trickery. One example is when princess Dejah lied about not knowing what the hieroglyphs mean. I don't think in the movie it was praised, but I think that people in the movie lied to get what they wanted. Like princess Dejah she wanted John Cater to come to Heliem and fight for them.
ReplyDeleteI saw that as well. I saw how the Thern were using the king of the other city to get what they wanted. They tricked people into doing what they wanted by making it look appealing, like when they gave power to that one guy, saying he would be very powerful.
DeleteI completely agree that they were not praising it. I think that the directors purposefully added these examples from the movie in so they could get the movie more exciting.
DeleteAlexandra can you define for me how you are using lust? I am not sure I am understanding your point.
ReplyDeleteFor everyone else:
OK, so we know some of the sins. But what about the good? Is there anything praiseworthy in John Carter? What?
Mr Scott- personally how I am using lust is I mostly lust over things other people have. For an example I desire to have it so then I will become cooler. Or when it is really hot outside and I don't have anything to drink I lust for water because I am thirsty. Is that what you are looking for?
DeleteFor the first one, I think that a sin that was they have their each groups like earth peoples countries, and in this movie they killed each others to get their own good things. They had war all the time, killed other groups, and even they killed others that in the same group. One more example was the mars people tried to kill Jone carter to the bad way. They put Jone Carter in the stadium with monsters, and all people watched them. They enjoyed to watch Jone Carter fought with monsters. I think this section was really bad. Because they liked to watching kill someone.
ReplyDeleteTo be perfectly honest, I think one of the major sins was manipulation for selfish purposes. After watching it I felt immediately that the Thern (those freaky bald guys with the weird robes) where behind the whole thing. Whenever a character seems to be trying to make an important decision, the Thern were always there sneakily explaining what they should do, and manipulating them into doing whichever decision benefits them best. In one of the first scenes we see them giving power toward the main antagonist of the movie, and another scene they try and stop John Carter from doing what he feels is right by weaving doubt into his mind. The movie did not exactly glorify the sin, but it didn't confront it either. I feel as though it was really weaved in the background of the movie, and that it was that invisible stand that holds the plot together. I'm not sure if anybody else even noticed it but it stood out to me. Although, the Thern do seem to be defeated, one of them actually dies at the end (I think), so the movie did show how it fell apart on them in the end.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you carson! that also came to my mind when i was watching the movie. But i saw the Them differently. i saw them as satan almost. They were invisible like he is and always telling the people the wrong thing. Many times the movie was happy and good. But thats not how the Them intended it. So, they would spice things up a little bit.
DeleteSatan does that to us all the time! he manipulates us and tries to make us do the wrong thing. Sadly, he usually succeeds. Like the Them were Satan is invisible, and when our life is going good, or we are feeling really close to God Satan gets angry and doesn't like it. So, he decides to make things difficult for us. We need to be aware of Satan around us and be strong in the Lord, so that we can stop him.
I agree with A.Johnston. Satan manipulates us and tries to make bad things look good like when he found all the gold in the cave he left the guy shot lying there. When Satan makes bad things look good and we figure it out that we know something is wrong we need to pray constantly to protect us from Satan so that we can stand firm against him with the full amor of God
DeleteI just found this verse and i think it applies really well with what we are talking about.
DeleteMatthew 26:41~
"Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."
We are so weak! we cant stand up to Satan on our own. We NEED God's help. and the best part is that he willingly gives it to us! He is excitingly waiting for us to come to him and tell him that we cant do it on our own and that we need Him.
We like to believe that we can do it by ourselves, and thats why it is so easy for Satan to attack us. I once heard that we are like little 2 year olds always wanting to "do it by ourselves". Its so true!! We don't want to ask for help, but God is waiting for us to come to him, because he knows that we cant do it by ourselves. Just like as 2 year olds you were so dependent on your mom we must be just as dependent on our Father.
Its just like what we talked about in bible. How David stood up to the giant goliath with the physical armor on and mocking God and the Isralites. David went out with spiritual armor and i think he prayed to God and defeated Satan and Goliath.
DeleteOne sin that I saw was betrayal. Its like what C.Coffee said, they didn't glorify it or confront it. One way of betrayal was one of the Thark dudes with the broken horn who thought he was being the good guy by trying to kill the real king the one who helped John Carter a.k.a Virginia. He threw the King in jail after he almost killed him i think that was betrayal against the king. It reminded me of how Satan Betrayed the true high King and took 1/3 of his angels just like the bad dude took the whole society of the Tharks.
ReplyDeleteI think that John Carter had made Gold an idol in this movie. Im thinking that the reason that he was searching for the gold was for his family. They showed this gold as a bad thing at some points in the movie. One for example is when he would rather find the cave than help his country or help the people on mars.
ReplyDeleteWhy would he be obligated to help the people on Mars? John Carter didn't live there why would turning his back on people he didn't know be a sin?
DeleteHe didn't know he was on mars till half the movie was over, he decided to fight in there war so that the green guys wouldn't kill Dejan. When he fought they also showed flash backs from when he found his family dead, and then him burying them. That gave him the motivation that he needed.
DeleteWhen he had flashbacks, he saw how he had failed in the past. He saw how he had a second chance to make things right with the people of Mars, so he did.
DeleteJ.curry has the right idea saying he failed his past by not saving his family and Deja was sort of becoming family so he felt obligated to help her people.
DeleteI definitely agree with what Chris was saying about gold being an idol to John Carter. John Carter, multiply times in the film, wanted to find a way to get back to his cave of gold instead of helping the green things that saved his life multiply times. These moments in the movie made me think of how we often think about wanting to go live in the past or go search for something we don't need when what we really need is right there in front of us. This is like how John Carter is always trying to search for a way to the cave of gold and a way back to earth, but what is actually important is that he lives on mars where he truly belongs.
ReplyDeleteOops I meant to say multiple not multiply.
DeleteI think the two main sins in this movie are lust and murder. John Carter is deeply hurt after his wife is brutaly murdered. Trying to get through his troubles he looks to earthly possesions for refuge, in this case gold. He has the drive to get this gold as we should have to find God, and live for Him. This in a way can be seen good from a Christian stand point. Although it is gold that he wants, it can relate to our relationship with God. I doubt this is what the director was going for in this film though. God calls us to seek Him in our time of grievience. Much like how John Carter searched for the gold. That was all that was on his mind and all he wanted. God calls us to do the same for Him! The second key point where I saw sin was in murder. In Exodus 20:13(Part of the 10 commandments) it says, "You shall not murder". It wouldn't be bad if the murder was displayed as a bad thing, but I believe it is not. The people on Mars are having a war. They are displaying this war as the solution to thier problem. Murder is a sin. It is not the solution to a problem. I can't speak for God, but i doubt he would want us to run around stabbing eachother with swords to figure something out. This movie overall was very confusing and hard to follow, but i could see redemption trickling through the parts i could get a grasp on.
ReplyDeleteOK, so we have dealt with the bad. What a bout the good? What is praiseworthy/good about the film?
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what Jack is saying, but I also think there was a lot of good in the movie too. I think that John Carter thinks of Deja, the Mars princess, as a representation of his earthly wife. I think that since his wife died on earth he thought that he needed to protect Deja as if it were like having a second chance to be there to protect his wife. I think that this shows that John Carter is willing to protect the ones he loves. I also think that Tars gives John Carter a lot of mercy and grace when he doesn’t do what is right, and I think that he is very loyal to John Carter. In my opinion, Tars is like Jesus in some ways because he receives many punishments that he doesn’t deserve because he is trying to protect John Carter and he continued to care for John Carter even when others didn’t. I think that John Carter fights for what he believes in because he was willing to fight the bald bad guys in order to free Helium and prevent Deja from marrying the bad king guy. I also thought that there was a true friendship between Tars and John Carter in the end of the movie, and the father, daughter relationship between Sola and Tars slowly grew stronger throughout the movie. I could really see that Tars really loved his daughter and he really wanted to keep her safe.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you, Gabby! I never really thought about John Carter's relationship with Deja that way! That's really good!
DeleteThere are a couple things that were in the movie that I didn't understand, though. For example, how did John Carter gain the second body and Mars? Why? Had he already had it before, or did he get it when he was transported to Mars?
Also, what exactly were the flashbacks about? I mean, was it just him remembering his wife in the past, or what it like symbolization of what was happening in mars? I don't know, but that part just confused me.
Sorry, I meant how did he gain the second body ON Mars!
DeleteIn this movie, John Carter killed a lot of people/aliens. In the Ten Commandments it says not to murder, but God had Israel destroy many nations. Was John sinning.
ReplyDeleteI don't think he was sinning because he was fighting for the right cause. If the people he had killed lived, then they may have killed others
DeleteYeah, I agree with what Josh said. It depends on the reason. Ultimately, violence should always be counted as a last resort. But in some cases, like for self defense, you may not have any other option. Still, you should avoid it at all costs. In the movie, the killing reminds me of war in real life. In war we have soldiers fighting to protect what they love, and while we should dislike the need to even consider violence, in a broken world like ours it may become necessary.
DeleteI agree with carson and josh that it was not a sin. If he would have been fighting for the red people instead that would of been. The red people were fighting to take over and that would be considered a sin.
DeleteSo if you kill someone is not a sin?
DeleteAgain, it all depends the reason. Overall, yes it is a sin. But sometimes it becomes necessary for protection. Now if you just went up to someone and killed them, that would be a sin.
DeleteGood thing is, John Carter loves the Mars princess, so he protected her and saved her. When they got married, John Carter wanted live with the princess. He wanted to protect her, because he loved her. I think, love made him different. Because he was a bad guy, but he became a good guy.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Julie, the good think is that john carter start getting love to the princess, so he don't want to leave from mars.
DeleteYes, E.Guzman. John carter knew that the mars is danger to him, because some mars people wanted to kill him. Also he doesn't have earth friends and families in mars, too. But he chose mars, not the earth. Because, the princess lives in mars. Love changed John Carter. God's love makes us diffrent too. He always loves us, and He makes our hearts clean from the sins.
DeleteI agree with Josh Curry that he wasn't murdering because he was fighting for a good cause. He was fighting a war and war is not murder. War is fighting against a group of people that is endangering your country or people you love. John Carter was fighting for people on Mars that he loved, people that he really cared about and that certain group of people was endangering the people that he got to connect with in a way. Therefore he is fighting to protect them and that means that he is fighting for a good cause.
ReplyDeleteI don't under stand that though, you are still taking the life of a human being should it be a sin.
DeleteThanks Griffin, I think I understand. So war is alright if it for a good cause. Like in the Bible when God wanted Saul to destroy an entire nation that was sinful.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Josh said. I agree sometimes war is necessary, because say people are bombing the country we aren't just going to sit back and watch it happen. I also agree with what Ethan said, because there are many times in the Bible where God sends his people into battle. I think war is necessary if it means restoring peace to the land, so I think the war in the movie was necessary because the people were trying to restore peace to the planet. I think this film didn't make war look glamorous. I think it made it look like it crushed people's homes and the planet as a whole while trying to restore peace.
ReplyDeleteJohn Carter is a film about one man's abuse of power, which leads to destruction, betrayal, and murder. Although this is the main plot of the movie, redemption is at it's core. I believe that the film did a excellent job of showing that selfishness can quickly get out of hand, and lead to more and more sin. Sab Than, the leader of Zodanga, took advantage of the power he was given, and became obsessed with controlling Mars. This eventually lead to his downfall and ultimately his death. The movie certainly does not glorify sin, but shows us the damage that it causes.
ReplyDeleteI would recommend this movie to people. There may be sin in it but it does not praise it and it is necessary to the plot. Like violence in this movie it is a little praised but the movie would be pointless without it.It did not have to much cussing and they did not praise or say it was wrong but I dont think it was necessary to the plot.
ReplyDeleteWow...that was very well said Molly! I definitely agree that this movie doesn't glorify the sins, but instead I think it shows us how they are fixed throughout time. The bad king guy with the blue arm thingy misused his power by trying to destroy everything, and eventually he was killed because he had been doing evil with his power.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Alivia! I viewed the Thern as Satan. The way they went around and used manipulation to control various people throughout the movie reminded me of Satan. When things don't go his way, he get furious and tries to get us away from God. As Christians, we have to be prepared for that to happen in our lives, and depend on God's strength and wisdom to guide us in everything we do.
ReplyDeleteMr. Scott's Bible Class is finished with the project.
ReplyDeleteI think that the film, John Carter, is not worthless. I think it is a good movie, and shows reflections of the Gospel in many ways.
ReplyDeletePsa 119:37a says, "Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things;"
I don't think that this movie is worthless, becuase not only does it not glorify sin, it has John Carter reprensenting Christ, which shows us even more about his love and saving grace. Even though John Carter was, unlike Jesus, imperfect in the movie, he still does represent Christ in those ways.
Psa 119:37b continues to say:
"give me life in your ways."
I think that this is a good movie to recommend to anyone, even nonchristians, because it absolutely does NOT glorify sin, but despises it. It also shows God's ways and how He wants us to conquer sin. "give me life in your ways."
I also think it is good because of showing John Carter as a Christ figure. This might even bring nonchristians to beleif.
fighting and wars seemed to be glorified at some points, but then also frowned upon at other times. I didnt think the movie was worthless, but It confused me big time! it just didnt really make sense to me most of the time. it doesnt raise up sin, because you would see the green aliens punishing the people that were sinning against their way of life/culture.
ReplyDelete1 sin in this movie would be murder. IT wasn't glorified in most parts like when he killed the gut with the midalian we wanted that to happen and he waas evil and he got justice.
ReplyDeleteThis movie problem is probably not to good for kids under 10 because they are not quite muture enough or ready for some of the scenes like murder, clothing, language. Because God dosn't want eyes that can't process or is not murture enough for it.
ReplyDelete