Gibson Speaker Finds the Sacred in Movies

By Fran Somers

Scott MyersScott Myers got his start in Hollywood the way it usually only happens in the movies. He graduated from Yale University with a Masters of Divinity, took up songwriting, then met someone who suggested he write a screenplay. On his third try, he sold a script.

 

“It was a little unusual,” he said in a phone conversation from Chicago, where he teaches screenwriting at DePaul University. The script was “K-9,” starring Jim Belushi as a cop whose partner is a smart-alecky narcotics dog. It was comedy-action gold and inspired two more scripts for “Alaska” and “Trojan War.”

 

Myers still writes scripts, but these days he’s also passionate about exploring the connection between movies and religion. “Movies are stories and most of the sacred texts around the world are stories. There’s an overlap there.”

 

It’s that topic that brings him to the CSA, courtesy of the Gibson Lecture Series (funded by donations to the Pilgrim Fund). The title of the Aug. 5-9 event is “The Theology of Cinema.”

 

Myers suggests you can think of going to the movies as a kind of religious experience. The “big-ticket questions” — “Who am I?” “Why am I here? What am I to do with my life?” and “How do I coexist with the impending reality of my death” — are confronted in similar ways in movies and sacred texts, he said.

 

The Spiritual Life Committee is offering movie nights showing three of the films that Myers will discuss. The animated film “Up” will be shown at 7:30pm on Aug. 1 in the Assembly Building. At 8:15pm on Aug. 5, “The Farewell” will be screened. “Nomadland” was shown July 16. Each film ties into a theme:

 

Day 1: The Protagonist’s Journey.
Movie: “Nomadland” (“Barbie” will also be discussed)

 

Day 2: Congregation
Movie: “Up” (“Shakespeare in Love” will also be discussed)

 

Day 3: Faith
Movie: “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” (“Slumdog Millionaire” will also be discussed)

 

Day 4: Conversion
Movie: “The Farewell” (“The Holdovers” will also be discussed)

 

Day 5: Redemption
Movie: “The Shawshank Redemption” (“The Silence of the Lambs” will also be discussed)

 

Myers said the theme of redemption is probably the most powerful. “We see that so often in movies.” He gives the example of “The Shawshank Redemption.” “When Andy escapes and comes through the water, he rips off his prison clothing. That’s a baptismal moment.”

 

Another popular movie theme is “conversion.” “If you look at most movies, they involve a character going through a transformation from an old set of beliefs to a new set of beliefs.”

 

Myers began exploring this topic on his blog, GoIntoTheStory.com, and it is likely to be the subject of his next book. His first book -- “The Protagonist’s Journey: An Introduction to Character-Driven Screenwriting and Storytelling,” published in 2022, was based on popular workshops Myers led with writers of all experience levels.