This. Is. Ridiculous.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

I was researching retreat sites for this fall’s church retreat when I came across this bizarre image:

Now, apart from the obvious violation of copyright law, what is going on here? Am I supposed to be attracted to attending the conference which will make me more manly? The movie 300, as much as I like it for its entertainment value, is not exactly congruent with the goal of Christian conferences. It is a movie filled with graphic violence, sex, and primal definitions of manhood.

The line from the movie, “Tonight we dine in hell,” is referenced in the image. But it is altered to state “the cafeteria” instead of “hell.” As adept as I may be at identifying Christian symbols and allegories, I fail to see the cleverness of this reference. Are they referring to dining with God the King at the wedding banquet at the end of time? Is the speaker going to speak in a cafeteria? Is “cafeteria” a euphemism for “hell”?

At the bottom, the title of the movie is altered to “Gideon’s 300.” Ah, so this is the bibically correct reference. It alludes to Judges 7 where God chose 300 men to accompany Gideon to defeat the oppressive Midianites. Still, if you read the story, apart from the number of the soldiers, there are no other similarities. The men were chosen by God because they lapped the water scooped in their hands rather than bending down to drink. They did not actually kill anyone. They surrounded the enemy camp, blew trumpets, broke jars, and shouted “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” Then the Midianites killed each other. No kicking people into round pits of death. No decapitations and dismemberments. Clothing (implied).

I don’t see anything about dining or eating in the passage.

Conclusion: This advertisement attracts attention with its shock value but is otherwise useless. I wouldn't want to be distracted by thinking about the movie 300 while I sit there listening to a sermon. I don’t really want to associate a bloody movie with one of the triumphant moments in the Bible. Then again, the Bible sometimes is bloody and violent. Maybe the gore of 300 contrasts usefully with Gideon’s bloodless victory. Maybe Larry Walkemeyer is a really good speaker. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to think this deeply about this ad at all.

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