certain slant of light

I still find it belittling to the diversity of the Body to have such marketing in the first place. Art should just be good. We don't need Christian art but to stand behind 'good' Christian artists. We can't change culture unless we are a part of it. But I get way on a soap box about this.

I totally agree with you, Hope, but at the same time I don't think it's the marketing itself that's belittling. Rather, we Christians belittle ourselves by what movies we see and how we respond to them (e.g., The Passion...not an inherently bad movie, but not a great one either, and most American Christians responded too enthusiastically and thoughtlessly). The people at Fox are not a bunch of Christians saying, "We want to do something different!" but rather, a bunch of film executives saying, "Wow, here's a niche that likes to see certain movies! They bring in a lot of money! We better address that." And Christians who like mediocre movies are the ones suckered in simply because of the "overt Christian content." That's why we need good Christian artists, as you say, to make good movies, whether there is Christian content involved or not. (I'd like to see a good movie made about the Apostle Paul.) The point here is that, if Fox is going to make movies based on Biblical stories or Christian narratives, why limit them to epic dramas? That narrowmindedness belittles the diversity of Christianity.

To be honest, I can't think of many Christian authors (not to mention filmmakers) who had a good grasp of comedy, except G.K. Chesterton. Well, Charles Schultz, if you count him.

I think it is legitimately hard to make a comedy that reflects the Christian worldview (much as I'm sick of using that word, it's the best one I've got). I find it to be true what Keri said - life is more serious for us than most people.

If there were still a market for screwball comedies a la the Golden Age of film, then I could see Christians making good film comedies. But nowadays comedies are pretty much the sleaziest of (mainstream) film genres, appealing to the lowest common denominator.

I'll go to see most R-rated dramas. But I've only seen a few R-rated comedies, and I think they were all by Wes Anderson.

I think that we find the most honesty about what we really feel when we are laughing i.e. Arrested Development.I've been watching a show called studio 60 on NBC. I am enjoying seeing TV poke fun at itself and the incorporation of the fear of the Christian Right and a Christian character is perfect. It is because I take life seriously that I have to laugh.
Another reason I find the Christian market so belittling is that it forces us into the high/pop culture war. Give me a break, its about doing all things to the glory of God and one can't do that if we are always making lines. If its good I'll watch it. If it bad then I don't.

Don't forget that I read trashy romance novels and daytime TV when I am having a bad day. Perhaps I do take it in when it is bad too.

Dorothy Sayers was a funny author, in a zany sort of way. I agree with Hope that comedy lets us see ourselves as the ridiculous beings that we are. I don't mean to downplay the fact that we are made in God's image, but we hold that truth in tension with just how farcical the things we do in everyday life are. It's interesting to note that Jews have a very serious religion and have produced some of the funniest people on the planet.

As for Christians, I know a lot of funny ones, including a retired Covenant professor named Chuck Anderson who is sort of a spokesperson for Christian humor, arguing that for us we know that it all ends well (the definition of comedies in Shakespeare's day was that they had happy endings). When it comes to making humorous films that reflect a Christian worldview, I agree that it would be difficult to do, but humor in general is hard to pull off (much harder than drama, IMHO), and plus there are probably many Christians who are a part of comedies out there, including several writers for The Simpsons. I guess my point is that I am being somewhat facetious when I say "Christian comedy," since I believe, like Hope does, that we ought to be a part of culture, not creating our own subculture. That said, it would be interesting to see what would happen if a bunch of funny Christian filmmakers got together and decided to make a good comedy, even if there doesn't seem to be a market for that. Who knows, maybe there is one and we just don't know it. Part of the problem might be that a lot of comedy today is based on stereotypes and making fun of social and ethnic groups, which might be unacceptable for Christians to do. However, there are still plenty of other things in life that are okay to make fun of, which would help us not to take ourselves TOO seriously.

Hope, I've also been watching Studio 60 as my weekly "TV on the Internet" break (that would be a good name for a band...oh wait...)

I think I have a good sense of humor - I just think that the idea of holding seriousness and humor in tension is one that the culture at large doesn't embrace. They really only want a quick laugh.

Hmm...comedy versus nobility...I've had discussions of this sort with a friend of mine from back home. We often find ourselves differing as to what we truly enjoy becuase of a silly hierarchy we are always trying to determine between which is "better" (tragedy or comedy)--he listens to heavy metal extensively because of its serious-tragic-noble-mythic themes and I like indie music, because quite often it is imbued with a playful, ironic, humourous tone. My friend thinks comedy is fun, but somehow lesser than tragedy because, I suppose, a laugh is somehow more fleeting or less "universal" than pain, melancholy, or disaster. I kind of think too much emphasis on tragedy is a bit pretentious and ultimately silly (comic) in the end. And it's not that making light of something is an invitation to forget about it. I think some of Oscar Wilde's most biting social commentary is found within the funniest of his lines.

Evan, I think there is still a market for screwball comedies, else Napoleon Dynamite would not have obtained such celebrity status. I passed by a gift shop not too far from McMaster that was selling ND action figures. So, apparently enough people are interested in it to make selling action figures in a smaller residential area a viable market option.