Updates

A couple of quick hit updates on previous posts:


Willow Creek.  On April 11th, I blogged about well-known Evangelical pastor Bill Hybels, who retired early from his leadership position at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL in the wake of the Chicago Tribune reporting allegations of inappropriate conduct with women colleagues and church members.  Now Christianity Today has added to the story, bringing to light allegations from other women.  Unfortunately, they seem very much in keeping with what was previously reported.  The church's board of of elders has promised to do a better job listening to alleged victims and holding its leaders accountable.  Here's hoping they carry through with that program.

Academy Award for Best Picture.  This is not very fresh news, I guess, but I'm still catching up on my film-watching - for me, a never-ending task.  Over the past weekend,we watched The Shape of Water on pay per view.  It won Best Picture at this year's Oscars, beating out eight other contenders, including Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, about which I had blogged favorably back in January.  A few thoughts on TSoW (in which I'll assiduously strive to avoid any major spoilers):

1.  The Shape of Water is an excellent film.  I highly recommend it.  I had heard a certain amount of chatter that it was a weird film and that some audiences found the strangeness off-putting.  If you've heard that buzz and it has deterred you from seeing it: set that all aside and see it if you're able.  If you've seen La La Land and can digest the fantasy sequence in that film, I don't think there is anything in The Shape of Water that will throw you for a loop.  See it.

2.  The mute protagonist, Elisa Esposito, is played by Sally Hawkins, and she's excellent.  I was surprised at how good she was.  The encomiums for Frances McDormand in Three Billboards were such that I hadn't heard much about Hawkins' performance.  Either I need to pay more attention, or the quality of pre-awards buzz needs to improve, because Hawkins deserved a good deal more of it than I heard.  Had she won rather than McDormand, I wouldn't have objected.  I didn't make the connection immediately, but I had seen Hawkins a few years ago in the feminist labor film Made in Dagenham, which I love and also highly recommend.  Hawkins was great in that one, too.

3.  There are a number of themes in The Shape of Water that I think would lead to interesting conversations here at NewGathering, including racism, sexism, class division and divinity.  And then there is the role of fantasy and science fiction in contemporary storytelling, which strikes me as an important trend both in films and literature in recent years, especially if we include the paranormal in that category.  I hypothesize that, as we become more secular and materialistic, the spiritual keeps seeping into our storytelling, even if it's not explicitly Judeo-Christian spirituality.

4.  As much as I like The Shape of Water, Three Billboards is still the better film.  Some years, the Academy gets it right, some years it doesn't.  This year, it didn't.