How does a Christian watch The Wolf of Wall Street? - 2 Feb 2014

"The year I turned 26 I made 49 million dollars – which really p***** me off because it was 3 short of a million a week”

And so begins the trailer for Martin Scorsese’s The Wolf of Wall Street, his latest collaboration with Leonardo DiCaprio and the story of hedonistic and out of control stockbroker Jordan Belfort; a man, addicted to almost every vice on the planet, with the financial means and moral elasticity to grant himself every indulgence...    

The Wolf of Wall Street is a tricky film to talk about. 

These types of visceral, hedonistic movies usually come pre packaged with a moral compass to guide you through your viewing experience; you’re challenged and shocked, and then you’re gently massaged into the position of the moral stance you’re supposed to take for or against it.

But there’s no such clarity in The Wolf of Wall Street. Throughout 180 minutes of wild debauchery, the film refuses to settle in a position of judgement on what we see.  And there are plenty of people; people with very loud voices, who weren’t too happy with that.

But the question of the film's morality, if picked apart by its content, leads to a far greater question. And it’s one not exclusive to this film.

Sex, violence, drug abuse, homophobia, sexism. How do we view art, when this is art?

Whether or not we’re comfortable with it, is what we’re seeing a truth of the modern world? 

"We were all in agreement that we wanted to tell the truest version of this story and not the sanitized version...It’s just holding up a mirror to what’s still going on."

Terrence Winter - The Wolf of Wall Street Screenwriter 

So, does that make it ok? Or is the film revelling in what it’s showing?

Generally speaking, Christians don’t agree with swearing. But what about when we watch Goodfellas? If a Christian had directed Goodfellas, should they have left the swearing out? Would Goodfellas feel an authentic representation of mob culture if they hadn’t been using authentic language? 

All art has something to say - but if it feels inauthentic or untrue, it's intentions, whatever they are, are undermined. And, if we, as Christians, constantly seperate ourselves from films like this, do we become completely irrelevant and unaware of the truth of the world around us?

Living in the Tension

We are not necessarily made bad by the things we are surrounded with. Equally, we’re not people of light just from standing near people of light. We have personal accountability. We are required to be an active audience in the cinema like we’re required to live active lives, making active decisions and actively seeking God. 

If we are weak to certain things, susceptible to influence; we must be intentional about self-certificating the movies we watch, knowing our own places of weakness and temptation. 

We are called to live in the tension between understanding the times and stewarding our souls.

Sometimes what we credit as 'being culturally relevant' comes at too high a price. Just as it is naive to separate ourselves from the harsh truths of the world, it is equally naive to believe that what we watch doesn't effect us, influence us and ultimately change us.

We are called to be in the world, not of the world. We engage with culture, but we emulate God.

We're right to be asking, as Christians, how should we approach a film that displays an excess of sex, violence, drug use, homophobia, and sexism. We're right, in the same way that we need to be asking, as Christians, how should we approach any film? 

As Christians, how do we approach anything?

We watch films, we get jobs, we make friends, we play sports, we join churches, but we keep our eyes on God.