A Literary Critic-god's Not Dead.docx

A LITERARY CRITIC OF THE MOVIE GOD’S NOT DEAD 1

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS IN MAED-LL

Submitted by: MS. DANICA D. DUCSA, LPT

Submitted to: MA’AM MAYLANE L. MATEO MAED-LL Professor

May 2018

I. BACKGROUND OF THE MOVIE God's Not Dead is a 2014 American Christian drama film directed by Harold Cronk and starring Kevin Sorbo, Shane Harper, David A. R. White, and Dean Cain. The film was released theatrically on March 21, 2014 by Pure Flix Entertainment. This movie is written by Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman, and based on Rice Broocks' book God's Not Dead: Evidence for God in an Age of Uncertainty, the film follows a Christian college student (Harper) whose faith is challenged by a philosophy professor (Sorbo) who declares God a pre-scientific fiction. It received mostly negative reviews, but grossed over $62 million on a $2 million budget.

II.

CHARACTERS AND CHARACTERIZATIONS 

Josh Wheaton (Shane Harper) He is a great exemplar of a man who stands on his faith. Whatever the persecution he might face, he is willing to fight for what he know is truth. He does not let anyone dictates him on what to do. He has a strong connection to the presence of God.



Professor Jeffrey Radisson (Kevin Sorbo) He is a man full of hatred in his heart who also lives by it and let that hatred changed his whole life. He is the atheist professor who requires all students to submit a signed statement that the "God is dead" and never existed.

 Kara (Cassidy Gifford) She is the girlfriend of Josh. She is a type of person who always goes with the flow. Whatever the bandwagon is, she will follow. She does not stand on her faith. 

Pastor Dave (David A.R. White) He witnesses the incident happened to Prof. Radisson just couple meters away. Reverend Dave finds him and guides him in becoming an evangelical Christian as he dies.



African Missionary Jude The friend of Pastor Dave who experiences humorous incident when they were trying to leave the place. Those incidents were planned by God for a purpose.



Martin (Paul Kwo) He is a foreign exchange student whose father had encouraged him not to convert to Christianity so he can stay focused with the class.



Ayisha (Hadeel Sittu) She is a Muslim student who secretly converts to Christianity. However, when her

brother caught listening to the passage of 1 Corinthians 15 on her iPod, she is ultimately disowned by her infuriated father when he finds out. 

Mark Shelley (Dean Cain) He is a successful businessman and atheist who refuses to visit their mother, who suffers from dementia.

 Amy (Trisha LaFache) She is a left-wing blogger who writes articles critical of Duck Dynasty. When she is diagnosed with cancer, Mark dumps her. 

Mina (Cory Oliver) She was a student and the live-in partner of Prof. Radisson whom he always bully and belittles in front of his colleagues.



The Newsboys Band They are the group of boys singing Christian songs and they sang “God’s Not Dead” during their concert which attended by the casts of the movie.

III.

SYNOPSIS The story started by introducing Josh Wheaton, an evangelical college student who

enrolls in a philosophy class taught by Professor Jeffrey Radisson an atheist, who demands that his students sign a declaration that "God is dead" to get a passing grade. Josh is the only student in the class who refuses to sign and is then required by Radisson to debate the topic with him, with the class members deciding who wins. Every end of the first three lecture sessions, Professor Radisson gives Josh twenty minutes to argue that God exists. In the first two debates, Radisson has counter arguments for all of Josh's points. Josh's girlfriend Kara tries to convince him to either drop out of class or follow Radisson's rules, fearing that standing up to Radisson will jeopardize their academic future, but she eventually breaks up with him when he refuses to disown his belief in God. Ultimately, it comes down to the third and final debate between Radisson and Josh, who again both make compelling points. Josh then halts his line of debate to pose a question to Radisson: "Why do you hate God?" After Josh repeats the question twice more, Radisson explodes in rage, confirming he hates God for his mother's death that left him alone despite his prayers. Josh then casually asks Radisson how he can hate someone that does not exist. In the end, Martin, a foreign exchange student whose father had encouraged him not to convert to Christianity so he can stay focused with the class, stands up and says "God's not dead." Almost the entire class follows Martin's lead, causing Radisson to leave the room in defeat and realizing that he is wrong from the start. The movie has a series of related subplots that relates the story of a certain character to other characters. Radisson dates Mina, an evangelical whom he often belittles in front of his

fellow atheist colleagues. Her brother Mark, a successful businessman and atheist, refuses to visit their mother, who suffers from dementia. Mark's girlfriend, Amy, is a left-wing blogger who writes articles critical of Duck Dynasty. When she is diagnosed with cancer, Mark dumps her. A Muslim student named Ayisha secretly converts to Christianity. However, when her brother caught her listening to the passage of 1 Corinthians 15 on her iPod, her father got very angry and because of their conservative religious belief, her infuriated father ultimately disowned her. When the last debate has finished, Josh invites Martin to attend the Newsboys concert that is in town. Radisson reads a letter from his late mother, and is moved to reconcile with Mina. Amy confronts the Newsboys in their dressing room, only to admit that she wants to get to know God. While Radisson is on way to find Mina, he is struck by a car and fatally injured. Reverend Dave witnesses the incident just couple meters away. Reverend Dave finds him and guides him in becoming an evangelical Christian as he dies. Mark at last visits his mother, only to taunt her; she responds that all of his financial success was given to him by Satan and all are useless and just made him lonely and miserable. Because of this, his relationship to his family is broken. On the final scene of the film, the Newsboys play a video clip of Willie Robertson congratulating Josh. The Newsboys then play their song "God's Not Dead", dedicating it to Josh.

IV.

LITERARY THEORIES

A. CULTURAL MATERIALISM FRAMEWORK This movie's cultural relevance to society today is the talk about religious freedom. God’s not dead is effective in using understanding to convince believers of the rights to religious freedom. The claim that I argue from the film, in order to show the goal they aim towards, is to change society’s views on religious freedom. The underlying cultural issue that this movie reveals is the discussion over religious freedom. How they show the way this movie represents the religious freedoms attempt to change some aspect of the society is by demonstrating the different viewpoints of believers and nonbelievers.

B. MUSCULINITY FRAMEWORK This literary theory is very much observable in the movie most especially on the part of the relationship of Mina and Prof. Radisson. In here, it is shown that the role of men in the society is very notable. They are authoritative in nature and they are the ones who run a family. They will implement the rules that they want in their household. The masculinity framework can also be recognized in the whole plot of the movie. As we can see, the leading characters are men, the band who sang the theme song are men, the reverends are men and some important figures are played by men. We can see there the different roles of

men in the society, their behavior in their chosen field, their thoughts in every struggle and their whole compositions as individuals.

C. FRAMEWORK OF SYMBOLISM The movie revealed important symbolism that obviously symbolized the most important things and matters in life. The characteristic of Josh Wheaton is a good reflection of an ideal person. Through his characteristics, people are reminded to stand firm on their faith and believe. He also taught us to be brave in facing difficulties in life. Through his character, I am reminded that I should not take for granted my beliefs in life. Many will test our faith but we must hold on still to it and stand bravely so others will be inspired too and will be open their eyes and mind to do what is good and right. Because of the characteristics of Josh, many people were inspired and searched for truth. In this way, he helped them to change their lives for the better. Prof. Radisson, on the other hand, is a reflection of hate. He let the situation changed his outlook in life. He let the struggles defeat him and fill his heart with hatred that made his life miserable. It is realized in here that hatred can only bring disaster in our lives.

D. ACCULTURATION FRAMEWORK The movie applied the acculturation framework on the part of the freshmen who entered the University and enrolled in the class of Prof. Radisson. The students who came from different countries with different cultures were somehow shocked by the practices implemented in the class of their Philosophy Professor Radisson which is signing in the paper with “God is Dead” in it. The process of signing in this piece of paper is a simple acculturation in their part because they are being force to be in the same belief of the professor. Aside from being forced to write, they are also put in the situation where they cannot say No because their grade will be on risk if they disagree. Therefore, they are being built to the personality same with the professor, an atheist.