Art Every Wednesday (34)

Art helps us remember what it means to be human, which raises the question: what does it mean to be human? For the Christian that answer grows out of the fact that we are created beings made in the image of our creator. Certain things we don't share with God (omnipresence, infinity, perfect moral character) but certain things we do, and what it means to be human is derived from the shared aspects. God thinks. We are rational beings. God creates. We are creative beings. God works. Work is part of what it means to be human (not an aspect of the fall). God is relational. We are beings that need to be in community and we wither when we are isolated. We are finite. We need to eat and rest and take care of ourselves. We have bodies. The list can go on.

But there are still deep questions. What does it look to "de-humanize" a human life? What does it look like to become more human. Art can step into this mystery and offer answers. Here are two movies that offer answers that a congruent with the Christian perspective and help to begin to ask the question of what it means to be human.

"Stranger than Fiction" is the story of Harold Crick, an IRS agent whose life is devoid of color, flavor, passion, and intimacy with others. He counts the number of brush strokes in when he is brushing his teeth in the morning and ties his tie in the single windsor rather than the double because it saves time and makes him more efficient. He meets Ana Pascal who is in touch with everything Harold is not. She has tatoos. She is sensual. She is a baker and serves homeless people baked goods for free. She cares about the world around her. The two characters collide and the movie is the story of how Harold Crick regains his humanity. Makes for great discussion.




"The Lives of Others" is an incredibly poignant movie that tells the story of another man's regained humanity from a historical, more serious perspective. Gerd Wieseler works for the state security in East Germany before the Berlin wall fell and he is assigned to surveil two young artists. He listens to their every word and watches their every movement. Like Harold Crick his life is devoid of color and he is little more than a cog in a beaurocratic machine. Also like Harold Crick his encounter with people whose lives are full of life leaves him changed. He listens from their apartment above them as they fight, make love, grieve, long, and live out lives that are rich with the full range of human emotion and he is drawn in.

I won't ruin the endings, but I give these movies a huge recommendation. It helps give images for how to think through what it means to be human, which is often all we need to begin to ask the questions of our own lives. And the questions are often all we need to begin to make change.