Jason Albertson

In Terry Pratchett's novel, Equal Rites , there's a scene that illustrates a thread I keep seeing in his writing.  An older woman, a mentor-figure, is trying to teach a young girl how to use magic effectively. One of the things she teaches the girl to do is "borrow" the mind of an animal, like an eagle or bear, to use the animal like a periscope - see what they can see, sense what they can sense.  The older woman warns the girl not to take control of the animal's mind, only to ride alongside it, but the girl ignores her warning. She seizes the mind of an eagle and flies away with a triumphant screech while her human body falls into a coma. But because she doesn't know the limitations of the eagle's body, it gets tired and falls to the earth on a remote mountain. But the older woman tracks the eagle, brings it home and warms it again. Patiently she coaxes the girl's consciousness out of the eagle and back into her human body, and it passes from a coma i...

Across the canon of Andy Griffith, there’s a type of episode that pops up again and again.  “The Bed Jacket” is an example that illustrates the type. It’s Aunt Bee’s birthday, and she insists that she doesn’t want any frivolous gifts. She’s a Very Sensible Person, after all. Then she sees something frilly that she really wants, and she’s in a bind—she can’t tell Andy and Opie, because that would mean she’s actually not a Very Sensible Person. The usual hijinks ensue, and Andy finally discovers what Bee really wants through one of her friends. He gets her the gift in such a way as not to reveal that he knew she wanted it. She’s happy, and he’s The Good Guy that we all knew he was.  That’s the type of episode I’m thinking of: Andy becomes aware that another person’s self-perception is just plain wrong, and then he bends over backwards to keep them from being confronted with that reality, and therefore he is The Good Guy. The problem-person is usually Barney (e.g., “Andy Saves Ba...

A Reconciled Life… Paul’s message in 2 Cor. 5:14-21 exhorts us to be reconciled to God through Christ. It’s easy for me to truncate that reconciliation—to think of it only in terms of my guilt being taken away, and not to consider what kind of life flows from that reconciliation. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. What is it like to live that new kind of life? How could you describe it? From my own experience, I would describe a reconciled life with God as deeply satisfying. There are a bunch of things that go into that satisfaction. For example, The experience of walking in step with the Spirit (Gal. 5:16-25). We get a hint that this is a little bit like life with God in Eden (Gen. 3:8), which is just astounding to me. Living without the shame of unconfessed sin. I don’t thin...

Humans seem to be fascinated with superheroes.  Nowadays we have the Flash and Captain America, but it's bigger than America—think of Finn MacCool in Irish folklore or the Greek demigods delivering humanity from monsters. And it's not just comic books: consider Sherlock Holmes from detective fiction or the many “long-prophesied chosen one” characters in fantasy, like Harry Potter or Percy Jackson. By superhero, I mean a character who is both human and gifted with superhuman ability to solve the problems regular humans can't solve.  Sherlock Holmes is good at noticing stuff. Hercules is really strong. The Flash is the fastest man alive (except when his latest nemesis steals his speed). Why so many superheroes? I think it's because we recognize that humanity faces problems too big for us on our own. I think it's because we long for a Savior, someone like us but better than us, too. But here's the weird thing: when we tell stories about superheroes, people equipped...

  Frozen II says that calling, loss and ambiguity can all lead to transformation. Calling It’s easiest to see the first, right? That’s Elsa’s arc in this story, as I’ve written before : hear the call, respond with courage, return a changed person—fill a void, but leave one behind too. Loss Loss is harder, I think partly because loss takes your norm but doesn't give you anything in return—if you want a new norm, you have to make it yourself. That’s Anna’s arc in Frozen II . She knows her place in the world: she supports Elsa. They’re an inseparable team, and together, they can face anything. But then they’re not together anymore. When it comes down to it, Elsa’s powers let her go places Anna can’t. Elsa’s path diverges from Anna’s, and Anna has to find her purpose without Elsa as lodestar. Both Elsa and Anna have to push through something to find their purposes (another way to say that: to live in congruity with their identities).  For Elsa, it’s fear of the unknown .  F...

Frozen II (2019) is an animated Disney movie and the sequel to Frozen , whose praises I sang last post because of its potential to lead kids toward life with God in the church—that is, its potential to lead kids toward a good life. Frozen II did not disappoint me as a sequel. In Frozen II , Disney made a movie that teaches kids how to have a good life, and they did so well that they painted a picture of the Holy Spirit and His work through His people on His fallen earth. I write to parents who are uncertain about whether to show their kids Frozen II , because I don’t want you to miss the helpful messages in this film. Wealth and power attract the worst elements of humanity, yet despite Disney’s wealth and power, they’re teaching kids wisdom for life. I write to grandparents who are concerned that the society their descendants will inherit is becoming more wicked, because I want you to know that God’s grace still shows up, even in the most popular kids’ movie of last year. And I writ...

In my last post , I argued that when an artist makes something, they can intend it to mean something, but they can’t keep it from meaning something other than they intended. I also said that when I engage with art, I don’t actually care what the artist intended to create; I care more about what they did create. When Disney released Frozen  in 2013, some Christians and Mormons  protested what they saw as a gay agenda concealed within a nice story. They may be right; the artists who made Frozen may have wanted to communicate a pro-gay message. If that’s the case, I would argue that they didn’t do a great job. In fact, Frozen is a fantastic story about how Christian discipleship addresses our fallenness. The Gospel of Trying Harder A quick review of Frozen ’s essential characters (in case trivia about pop culture from last decade isn't your thing): Elsa: a princess who has magical cold, ice and snow powers ( cryokinetic if you want to impress somebody) Anna: a pr...

In a 1999 interview with journalist Bill Moyers, George Lucas said that Star Wars is “a thin base for theology.” Lucas never intended for  Star Wars  to have a coherent theology; he didn’t want to evangelize anyone to some Force-based religion. Instead, he says, his intention was for  Star Wars  to have a theology in which anyone could see their beliefs represented. In another interview , George Lucas called himself a Buddhist Methodist. I know people who won’t watch  Star Wars  because its theology is fuzzy. For them, the author’s intentions (to portray an ideal religion as a sentimental mix of ideas about compassion and working together against oppression) spoil the whole thing. I want to provide another way of approaching art and authorial intent. I think Christians can get a lot of good from art even if the artist's intended message contradicts Christianity. Here’s the assertion I want to defend:   In general, artists have control over what their...

Kung Fu Panda 3 (KFP3) is a 2016 movie from Dreamworks Animation. It’s the third movie in the Kung Fu Panda series (surprise!), a continued story about a panda bear, Po, who learns kung fu. KFP3 has three villains. Only one of them gets a “villain” name tag (and music cue ); the other two look like good guys, but are abusive authority figures in Po’s life. That’s what this movie is about: how to recognize abusive behavior and how to escape an abusive relationship. One of the nice-guy villains is Po’s adoptive dad, Ping. He’s a goose. When Po’s long-lost biological dad, a panda, shows up early in the movie, Ping is jealous. Because he’s a smaller animal and looks nothing like Po, it’s easy to imagine feeling inadequate in his shoes. It’s easy to relate to his jealousy. Instead of considering what will be best for Po, Ping uses every means he can to prevent Po from going back home with his biological dad to the hidden village of the pandas. It’s more important to Ping to kee...

How to Train Your Dragon  is an animated movie released in 2010 that tells the story of Hiccup, a troubled Viking-ish person who finds that he's unable to carry on his culture's tradition of hunting and killing dragons. On the contrary, he befriends a dragon and tames many more. Hiccup's people are enraged that he has abandoned their ways, but when a crisis comes, their old ways of thinking endanger their lives, while Hiccup's innovative way of approaching dragons provides the only hope for their lives to be saved. It's all about who is good, who is bad, and how bad people become good. Theology Who is good? Surprise: it's the protagonist! In the morality-system of this movie, Hiccup is good because he is kind. This shows in his nonviolence, his gentle approach to the dragons, and his willingness to give the dragons a chance. He is kind to everyone in a society that doesn't value kindness, and he is kind to dragons he has only ever experienced to...