A Hollywood View of Christian Mis-Education

Abstract

Saved! is the first Hollywood movie to focus on private religious education and is therefore a significant milestone in popular culture. The movie is critical of the school along the very dimensions of concern to Brighouse (2006): undermining personal autonomy, fostering social divisiveness, and promoting anti-democratic values. This article is a close reading of the film's illiberal representation of Christian education, including a discussion of whether liberalism may legitimately require traditional schools to privilege autonomy over obedience. The reading focuses on the issues the film highlights (and avoids): gender identity, sexual freedom, and abortion. Finally, the film is placed within the genre of anti-private school films, which valorize individualism over loyalty to group norms.

Acknowledgments

David Resnick is Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, Bar Ilan University, Israel. E-mail: [email protected]

Notes

²Film dialogues are based on the transcription available on the website http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/s/Saved!-script-transcript-jena-malone.html

BBA's librarian: “If I find a naked person, I draw a little bathing suit on them or I put a little dress on, but just in a regular book that doesn't have anything to do with art. But in art, art is art, and if you find a person without any clothes on, that's what they drew.” (Peshkin 1986, 262)

The film In and Out (1997) is Hollywood's portrayal of gay liberation in a public high school, showing how a small, conservative, Midwest town comes to valorize the homosexuality of its beloved English teacher.

Perusing names of all the nearly 350 individual schools listed by the eleven state associations with links off the American Association of Christian Schools website (www.aacs.org, which claims a membership of more than 1000 schools), only the American Christian Academy in Pomona, California, has the word “American” in its title. A separate Web search of the name “American Christian Academy” yields less than ten additional schools, only one of which (of those that portray a logo online) includes an American flag and eagle. That is the ACA of Phoenix, Arizona, whose educational motto is “Everything taught is directed to God's truth. He is the center of all teachings at ACA” with no additional mention of America, patriotism, or related keywords.

The one slight exception is Mary's classroom teacher, although she is a minor character at best. When Cass is doodling pictures of the devil, the teacher deftly confiscates the pencil rather than precipitate a confrontation. More important, she tries to protect Mary by hiding her sonogram from Pastor Skip.

¹Thanks to Susan Handelman and the anonymous readers for their suggestions.