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The Red Hot Christian Blockbuster
Kirk Cameron stars as a porn-loving fireman in the evangelical drama Fireproof that's taking the red states by storm.
American evangelicals have a habit of speaking in an insider jargon they call Christianese—a combination of theological shorthand, faith-based small-talk, and awkward slang. In that last category, you might hear a youth pastor ask his charges, “Are you fireproof?” Meaning, If you died today, are you sure you wouldn’t burn in hell? The Christian rock band Pillar had a hit song called “Fireproof,” and the codeword is emblazoned on Christian t-shirts and bumperstickers.
Last month, an independently-produced movie called Fireproof opened in a handful of theaters, mostly far from big cities on the coasts. The $500,000 film stunned Hollywood with a $6.8 million opening weekend, putting it fourth at the box office, and earning more than $8,000 per screen. It has since made more than $20 million. The success of Fireproof has little to do with its artistic merits, and everything to do with religious message. Created by the church, for the church and heavily marketed through the church, Fireproof is itself a form of Christianese—a visual depiction of evangelicalism’s self-congratulatory internal conversation.
The film tells an uncomplicated tale of a failing marriage. Fans have taken special note of Fireproof’s relatively high production values, which, along with its championship of suburban domesticity, call to mind a Lifetime original movie. The producers maximized their budget by not paying actors, virtually all of whom are amateurs. The only exception is the star, Kirk Cameron, who compensates by doing more than enough acting for everyone. Known to most of the country as the kid from Growing Pains, Cameron is a superstar inside the Christian bubble: the hero of the Left Behind movies and of The Way of the Master, a kind of evangelical reality show in which Cameron ambushes strangers on the street and witnesses to them.
In Fireproof, Cameron plays Caleb Holt, a firefighter who “will rush into a burning building to save a child, but won’t do anything to save your own marriage,” as his preternaturally wise and inevitably black best friend tells him. The flames threatening the Holt’s marriage are eminently relatable. Caleb expects his wife, Catherine, to make his meals and do his laundry, and never shows any gratitude when she does. Catherine wants affection and appreciation, but communicates solely through sarcasm and nagging. Also, Caleb selfishly extinguishes Catherine’s cherished scented candles—although I’m pretty sure that excessive use of scented candles is itself grounds for divorce in 12 states.
But the overriding problem is Caleb’s Internet porn habit. “That’s the kind of man you’ve become,” Catherine shouts at him. “There is nothing honorable about it.” Caleb can save lives every day, but he will never be a decent human being as long as he follows the Way of the Masturbator.
After Catherine makes an appointment with a divorce lawyer, Caleb turns to his father for advice. To Caleb’s surprise, the older man reveals that there was a time when he and Caleb’s mother were on the verge of divorce, until “the Lord did a work on us.” Caleb is an agnostic and has no patience for Christianese. Still, he accepts as a gift a book of spiritual advice called The Love Dare, which his father promises can save his marriage if he follows it for 40 days.
Since real men never back down from a dare, Caleb finds himself checking off the book’s marital-rescue boxes: “Say nothing negative,” “Do one act of kindness.” Halfway through, he gets to “Watch out for parasites”—addictions that can hollow out a relationship from the inside. Chastened, he not only deletes his Explorer bookmarks but smashes his entire computer with a baseball bat, just in case God hates spreadsheets and Minesweeper too. On the now empty desk, Caleb leaves Catherine a note that says, “I love you more.” If he hadn’t destroyed the computer, he could have instead sent her a real-life pornography addiction e-card.
Eventually Caleb learns the real lesson of The Love Dare, which is that you can not truly love your spouse until you love Jesus. He learns this in a park where there happens to be a giant wooden cross under which to fall on his knees. In the Christian movie racket, this is known as the Billy Graham scene, having been codified in the films Graham produced in the 1950s. This is followed by a montage of Caleb praying in various light-infused settings.
But in making evangelism—and acceptability to the most insular Christian audiences—a priority, Christianese films all but guarantee artistic failure. Art demands an honesty that the evangelical bubble would find intolerable.
Cheesy? Heavy-handed? Yes, and intentionally so. In films like this, an evangelistic and ministerial mission do much more than a good script to assure commercial success. Not only has Fireproof made a handsome profit, but The Love Dare, a book which did not even exist until it was created as tie-in to the movie, is now at the top of The New York Times bestseller list. A Fireproof Your Marriage study kit and other products are also selling briskly.
But in making evangelism—and acceptability to the most insular Christian audiences—a priority, Christianese films all but guarantee artistic failure. Art demands an honesty that the evangelical bubble would find intolerable. Committed to promoting an unambiguous message that God solves all problems, Fireproof never portrays Christians doing anything untoward, or even experiencing any sorrow. Caleb’s parents’ marital struggles pre-dated their Christianity. When Caleb’s best friend reveals that he divorced his first wife, he not only says it was before he found the Lord, but adds that after he did, he would have gotten back together with his ex had she not already remarried. In the perfect world of Fireproof, good Christians do not have bad marriages, any more than they drink, gamble or swear.
And unlike in real life, when Christians in Fireproof share the Gospel they never search awkwardly for the right words and they always find a fertile target. In this respect, the film validates every pep-talk promise of The Way of the Master. At the end of Fireproof, after Caleb has been transformed by Jesus, he no longer even needs to open his mouth to proselytize. “Something has changed in you,” Catherine tells him, “and I want what happened to you to happen to me.” They are words straight out of every starry-eyed fundamentalist’s wet dreams.
Indeed, it’s possible Fireproof is so obsessed with stamping out pornography because it recognizes the competition. Fireproof is a porn version of Christianity—a ludicrously contorted, heavily airbrushed fantasy of the real thing, and ultimately every bit as unsatisfying.
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Benjamin Sarlin is a reporter for The Daily Beast. He previously covered New York City politics for The New York Sun and has worked for talkingpointsmemo.com.
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Daniel Radosh is the author of Rapture Ready! Adventures in the Parallel Universe of Christian Pop Culture and a contributing editor at The Week magazine.
I'm sure the movie is every bit as cheesy and insular as portrayed. Nevertheless, it's just a movie and I'm not sure
it's goal was to be "art" as opposed to entertainment. This
review was more mean-spirited than meaningful. It certainly
was not "art."
"...fantasy of the real thing, and every bit as unsatisfying" This implies you know something about being a christian - which the very statement you make outs you as someone who doesn't. You remind me of the journalist type that makes a living being critical of things they really have no knowledge of. Howard Cosell being the text-book example. The guy would pontificate endlessly about how Robert Newhouse really wasn't a good running back with all kinds of "observations" - that had nothing to do with playing football. Only a football player would recognize his folly, the ignorant audience would laud Howard's insight. A more recent example is Rush Limbaugh. Another loud-mouth who tried to package himself up as a football commentator. ABC kicked him out because his comment about Donavon McNabb seemed raciest. Lost in all the controversy was that Rush clearly knew nothing about playing football at the professional level. Anyone - I mean anyone - who has ever played the game would recognize the incredible skills of McNabb and never made commentary that he was "over-rated." A therapist would probably conclude Howard and Rush probably had some psychological wound as a kid tied to never being picked play for the sandlot team.
Here's my observation; you have an ax to grind against Christians. I don't know why but you do. My guess is you have some hurt inside of you tied to Christianity. Please consider that just because someone characterizes themselves as "Christian" doesn't mean they really are. If someone or some church hurt you - under the label of Christian - please don't make the common mistake of universalizing Christianity. This is the same type of universal labeling that leads to a common practice today of characterizing that all Muslims are terrorists - just because a statistically miniscule number of people who call themselves Muslim, are.
Being bombastic about whatever subject you write about and whatever group you chose to criticize may help you climb the journalistic ladder but at what cost? So you can be labeled as another load-mouth in the tradition of Cosell and Limbaugh? Try to seek true knowledge and be great. Humanity will be remember you with a warm heart.
I agree, you seem to be trying too hard to be critical of this movie. There have been movies made with 10 times the budget and equally as bad a plot and acting, but you aren't taking a stand against those (James Bond, Indiana Jones, Die Hard, etc).
Just because you don't like the movie or the premise of Christianity being allowed in mainstream media, doesn't mean you should tear it down and make others feel it shouldn't be there.
I loved the movie and have heard numerous stories about how this movie and the book "The Love Dare" have brought couples closer together.
Unfortunately, some people can't look under the surface and see the deeper message of commitment, honesty and selflessness when it comes to a movie like this. I saw the movie and agree that pornography is toxic to a marriage. This is an extremely relevant topic, especially with the internet.
Folks like you complain that Christian groups don't focus on marriage among Christians and not same-sex relationships, then a movie comes along focused on that very thing, and you bash it for not being "artsy" enough, not having Scarlett or Tobey as the stars or that the story didn't take place in the 'hood.
I am a Catholic, not an Evangelical. I don't use "Christianese." I didn't even know such a thing existed. But I found this movie to be very moving. It far from portrays Christians as not having marital problems. It shows that when you focus on God and the absolute love for your spouse, the issues in your marriage do not become entrenched and edemic.
My advice Mr. Rodash, is to review movies, not advance a Christian-bashing agenda. The folks making this movie are trying to help people from being selfish in their marriages.
Admittedly, I have fundamental beefs with the evangelical movement's insistence that we all jump on the Jesus train. But as far as this movie goes, even though it was REALLY cheesy.. I see the point of trying to get guys to be faithful. But where the film lost me... pissed me off is probably more appropriate.. was with the whole come to Jesus moment (pun intended) at the end.
Can you just please stop trying so hard to sell me on the Jesus thing?. Proselytizing sucks.
I think you make a good point about art and message. When did the Christian community decide it could glorify one at the expense of the other? As a Christian, this has long been one of my complaints about Christian music/movies/books, that they lack the realism to appeal to an audience that is not already warm to them. The movie does have its strengths and at least it does touch on sexual sin in a marriage, but I wonder if it would have been as well received if the couple were already Christians?
Though Dan, it's a real two-edged sword...the media is all too willing to castigate Christians who are outspoken about their beliefs (i.e. Sarah Palin). If the couple in the film was a Christian couple, I can readily see critics pointing their fingers and crying "Ah-ha!" the same way they did when news about Palin's daughter's pregnancy broke. The church already discusses these issues in private, but the filmmakers were probably sensitive to the fact that an honest portrayal of a Christian marriage would have been thrown back in their faces as proof of some deeper fallacy.
Oh please! I have serious issues with any discourse that states that there is only one way to live. The fact that it's idealistic is even more of an insult. People have relationships in all faiths and fetishes. Granted this film and the entire genre is literally preaching to the choir, but the more disturbing thing is that it encourages a narrow mode of thought, that doesn't consider that there are multiple ways to live and love.
To help balance the amazing amounts of umbrage being taken here, I'd like to thank Radosh not only for this article (which I would hesitate to call a review, unlike previous commentators) but for the open-minded look he's taken at Christian popular culture. I was raised in an evangelical household, so I've experienced a good deal of it first hand (for example, I've been to more Ron Luce-related events than I would care to remember). Radosh has done an even-handed and thoughtful job of analyzing this peculiarly American phenomenon. I also just wanted to add that I am a happily married agnostic.
I'm a Catholic Christian, and I have to say, the idea of Christianity that movies like this promote is pretty misleading. Portraying Christ as a miracle cure for all your problems is actually contrary to scripture. Christianity is about resolve and trial, not about trying to make everyone shiny happy people.
I appreciated your article, Mr. Radosh. More than you may possibly ever know. I am literally close to tears because you share viewpoints that are very similar to my own frustrations with the church and Christian art in general.
I, too, am a "born-again" Christian, to use that tried and true Christianese phrase that has become something more of a cliche than an actual profession of faith in many Christian circles. Simply put, though, I love Jesus. I believe Him to be my Lord and Savior. I believe and confess that He has redeemed my life. However, that doesn't by any means make me perfect, nor do I try to present myself as such.
As an artist myself, I have found myself more and more dissatisfied with "Christian" art in general. I am sick and tired of Christians' attempts to paint a hokey smiley face on everything and say "golly gosh, Jesus loves me, this I know!", as if this in itself will attract non-believers to a life of serving Jesus.
I am not saying that Christians should stop sharing with people. But I think our hearts need to change. And sometimes it takes people like you to make us look at ourselves in the mirror and face up to our self-righteous, Christianese ugliness.
Because it won't take films with bigger budgets or B-movie stars to attract people. Audiences can get that anywhere, and more often than not, for better entertainment value. It will take people who are broken before God, and daily reminded of the fact that they're ONLY saved because of Jesus' death on the cross and not by their own feeble, self-righteous works.
I can see you at the large millstone grinding your axe .... sparks flying. Relax. It is just a movie.
I find it interesting that so many people were offended by an opinion piece. I think Radosh raises interesting points that should be a spring board for discussion and further thought. I don't understand how that is being perceived as mean spirited or anti-christian.
All media is subject to evaluation why should christian media be any different?
Radosh's review hit all the notes one has come to expect of an anti-Christian rant. But he missed the real subject of the movie, a movement within evangelical Christianity to bring back marriages based on traditional gender roles along the lines of a ministry called "Love and Respect" that has become one of many strategies to deal with divorce and the breakdown of the family *within* the Christian community. Yes, this might lead to it seeming insular, but as a journalist in a rather smashing vehicle like the Daily Beast, I would have expected Radosh to be a bit more familiar with his subject. Might I recommend a bit less padded vitriol and a bit more homework.
It would be easier for me to believe in God than believe that Mr. Radosh actually gives a shit whether or not a Christian movie has artistic merit.
I saw more black actors in the 45 second clip than I do in most mainstream movies. And none of them get killed in the first 15 minutes. I'm not an evangelical, but thank God for it.
So many people criticize Radosh's criticisms. In doing so--when his review was just as even-handed and criticial as any good movie review--they very brightly put on display another tenet of said evangelical bubble: that of zero tolerance for dissent. Radosh is dead-on when he states, "Art demands an honesty that the evangelical bubble would find intolerable."
... are we finally catching on now?
wasnt there a Rescue Me episode with a similar theme?
Thank you.
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