Useless Beauty: Ecclesiastes through the Lens of Contemporary Film [Paperback]

The writer of Ecclesiastes seems to struggle with faith. Nothing is certain. To the contrary, all is useless. Life is finite, short, and its meaning is beyond comprehension. Fortunately, he was not the only one to recognize that the meaning to life is elusive. Robert Johnson illuminates the struggle of eight film makers to find faith in a hopeless place. Johnston's interpretations of their movies showcase the film makers as perceptive and thoughtful people. The movies selected by Johnston tend to focus on gloomy subject matter. The characters struggle with the awareness that there is no meaning to life but, through their struggle, characters achieve self-realization. Each movie maker has their own approach to making the gloomy subject matter more tolerable. For example, Woody Allen's movies are lightened by the spice of wit. Others focus on suspense, mystery and intrigue. Johnston uses these stories of doubt to illuminate the counterbalance that keeps religious faith effective and suitable for thoughtful human beings.

Johnson states that the purpose of this book is to "put Ecclesiastes into conversation with recent movies not only to help clarify the deeper intentions of these films but also to bring the biblical text to life again (p. 72)." Johnston allows the movies and scripture to speak for themselves. No dogmatic answers, one way or another, are included. Unlike many approaches to applying the Bible to modern events, which do little more than teach the passage, Johnston seeks to apply the passage. Ecclesiastes provides challenges in its application because of its Existential themes, specifically, the overwhelming awareness that there is no meaning to life at all. Far from depressing, his work focuses on how one develops meaning and purpose in life. Life is an adventure without final meaning, but still worth experiencing. Since there is nothing else, life should be lived to its fullest and we should derive meaning from our very existence. In a section called "Let `the preacher' respond," Johnston breaks Ecclesiastes down into nine basic themes. He provides scripture to support each theme as well as illustrations from the movies. In the end, I believe Johnston succeeded in providing the reader deeper understanding of each of the movies as well as bringing Ecclesiastes to life.

Robert Johnston, long time professor of theology and culture at Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, is one of a small number of Christian scholars who has made a serious effort across the years to engage the world of film and relate it to the life of faith. In this book he interfaces the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, with its paradoxical outlook on life, with eight important film makers and their work: Akira Kurosawa (Ikiru), Woody Allen (Crimes and Misdemeanors) , Alan Ball (American Beauty) , Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia), Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) , Marc Forster (Monster's Ball) , M. Night Shyamalan (Signs), and Alexander Payne (Election and About Schmidt). Johnston honors film makers as those voices who give us "our read on reality, our informing visions, our stories and myths." After unpacking these artists, their visions, and their works, Johnston looks at the apparently paradoxical message of Ecclesiastes, that life is beautiful, enriching and good, but at the same time often ugly, demeaning, and evil, a vanity of vanities in which we do little more than chase the wind. Yes, there is beauty, but at times it feels utterly useless. So, the films inform the Biblical text and the text the films.Three short appendices conclude the book, including one called "Christian Film Criticism." I would have wished for a whole chapter on this topic from Johnston.

Fascinating look at how the themes of Ecclesiastes are portrayed (knowingly or not) in certain modern films. Covers some foreign films (Ikiru, Run Lola Run) as well as more popular American movies (American Beauty, Magnolia, etc.). This book fleshes out his essay "Confessions of a Workaholic" on Ecclesiastes which is also a good read. Unfortunately it may be difficult to follow some of the chapters without seeing the films under discussion, but I could not recommend most of the movies. Although Johnston doesn't mention it, I would add Babette's Feast to the list of movies teaching us to enjoy the good things that God gives us.