The Plugged In Show, Episode 72: Bigfoot vs. Big Oil: A Movie Worldview Case Study Paul Asay
The Bigfoots didn’t just star in their own animated film. They brought an environmental message with them and one that some in the Canadian oil industry took offense at. “Folks who drill for oil aren’t inherently bad!” they said. And while our team did debate whether the movie really did make the oil industry a blanket bad guy, there’s a broader thought worth discussing, too.
Movies and other forms of entertainment are powerful, persuasive message machines. Every film we watch wants to influence us in some way. Sometimes, it’s simply to make us laugh or cry. But often it’s to make us think about a particular issue and think about it in a particular way. That can be good, of course. But when a movie’s message runs counter to the truth we understand as Christians, it can be deeply problematic, too.