Movies function as Propaganda
Quietly Propagating Anti-God Messages
Many believe that music, art, television and movies are usually neutral in everyday circumstances though each of these have a recognized propaganda value. One simply needs to point to the mid-20th century to see how nearly every major nation used the visual and auditory mediums to broadcast propaganda messages to its population.
America was no exception and became especially adept at hiding its propaganda in the form of training films, informational films to the public and documentaries (“Victory at Sea”). As I have grown in discernment, and also in age, I have become aware of subtle propaganda messages contained in popular modern films and television (I’ll confine my post to several movies). The Bible warns Christians that in these “last days” (past two thousands years since Christ’s coming and ascension) people will not endure sound doctrine but will surround themselves with pleasing teachers peddling their latest myths (2Ti 4:3-4).
Now, I could wax eloquent on the latest Star Trek movie, “Beyond” with its depiction of the main villain as a conservative war hero turned rouge. The movie depicted him as grotesque in appearance and maintaining his life force by stealing life from others. Whereas the heroes are pleasing to the eye, “peace loving” {though they solve their conflicts routinely through violent means destroying their opponents} and thoroughly modern in their values and views. The obvious parallels to current political differences was too strikingly to ignore. In other words, the propaganda message of this movie was very obvious.
Rather, I wish to discuss the latest incarnation of the Marvel Universe, Dr. Strange and its cinematic propaganda message as it is far more insidious and anti-Christian. I do not refer to the obvious such as the use of magic, though many will react to this and miss the more subtle message being inculcated into society. This movie makes the bold step of promoting Gnosticism openly as the guardian of humanity. Let us see how they accomplished this.
Dormammu, the Infinite Evil of Magic
Who Wants to Control Earth
The behind-the-scenes antagonist is Dormammu who is an infinite being existing across infinity dimensions as the source of “dark” magic seeking control of all that is “good”. The problem in the plot is that if he is “infinite” then finite beings cannot overcome him {by definition infinite cannot be overcome by the finite}. He is very obviously a stand-in for the Gnostic Demiurge who is commonly associated with Yahweh of the Old Testament. The Demiurge created us flawed in fallible physical forms because he has limited creation abilities, and he is necessarily the dark as contrasted with the light of those beings who seek to lead humanity to the higher plane of spiritual existence and shed these physical forms.
Kaecilius, and his cronies, steal certain “magic” documents in order to overthrow the watchful guardians of earth to invite Dormammu to take over the earth. That is, they become his disciples to live forever. This thinly veiled plot device links Christians to God to violate the pleasant, peaceful society that modern has created with science apart from God. Now, none of that is true but that is their perception. If Christians would disappear then society could progress upward toward peaceful coexistence. It is the preaching of hate by Christians that promotes the violence plaguing modern societies. The movie ends by Kaecillius and his crew being drawn up to Dormammu and turned into “mindless ones” which is how modern atheistic societies see Christians. Dormammu has deceived them and their eternal life is eternal slavery to him rather than their betterment. Can this be more clear?
Fortunately, there are other forces at work in the world beyond the empirical science of modern societies. Access to these metaphysical forces are available in the East to those who can give up their blind adherence to science and accept the blending of both science and the even more powerful spiritualism elements in the universe. This struggle is the journey of Dr. Strange from arrogant surgeon, is there any other kind, to somewhat less arrogant sorcerer entrusted to protect earth. His struggle lasted a very short time by rewarding his breaking the rules to obtain the power he needed. In fact, this perchance for rebellion is present in most modern movies {and TV} though in real life rebellion is rewarded by unemployment and usually prison, especially if society deems it injurious to the “common good” {a term they seldom define}.
This struggle is highlighted in the relationship between Mordo and Dr. Strange. Mordo is addicted to hard lines between light and dark {good and evil}. When Mordo determines that the Ancient One has been getting her power from Dormammu’s domain, he turns against sorcery, or at least against everyone else who uses sorcery other than himself. Anyone else sense a violation of the Law of Non-Contradiction? The Ancient One embodies the philosophy that compromise is necessary to defeat evil and proceed upward to spiritual enlightenment. This is the essence of Gnosticism and the antithesis of Scripture. The fact that the Ancient One is defeated, advancing Dr. Strange to the position of lead sorcerer though still in training, promotes the idea of struggle against the entrenchment of Christianity.
Finally, Dr. Strange traps Dormammu in an endless time loop until he agrees to leave the earth alone and take his disciples with him. It is never explained how an infinite being, who by definition is outside of time, can be trapped by a time loop or how a person in a time loop can know that they are repeating events continually. The movie does not even bother to explain how the time loop can be broken but movies tend to overlook the details to advance their improbable plots of propaganda. The movies ends by setting up the next couple of episodes in the Marvel Universe.
Now, I am not picking on Marvel specifically because as I have shown this type of propaganda is common fare. I do not think it is some vast conspiracy but the result of people incorporating their worldviews into their activities. Since the natural man is against God all that he, or she, does will reflect this worldview (Ro 8:7-8). The fact that it reaches millions around the world sets the stage for commonality of basic “values” of reality. They establish a fundamental reality consistent across cultural boundaries based on man’s perception of goodness. All are coming together based on this Gnostic-centric value system that blends concrete reality with metaphysical mysticism to form an environment that promotes the suppression of God’s truth. They promote themselves as purveyors of truth and light while actually spreading darkness the degrades people into mindless, violent minions without hope of realizing the truth. They are ensnared in their own philosophy (2Co 11:12-15).
I could easily encourage everyone to avoid these propaganda fares but then how could we expose their insidious errors? When I was in the fundamentalist movement years ago we did encourage each other to avoid the world. The problem: we became ensnared in the world because we did not know its methodologies. Today, much of the fundamental movement is caught up in the pseudo-science of psychology with a smattering of bible thrown in for piousness sake.
Each person must prayerfully decide the best course for their own soul. I am reminded of Romans chapter fourteen. Each person must decide based on their own conscience and spiritual maturity. Some may go and see the true message and not be affected but enlightened. Others should not go because they may become ensnared by the hidden message or damage their own conscience. Only you can decide the best course for your spiritual life based on your relationship with the true light of the world, Christ (Jo 1:1-4). Beware, these themes are played out again and again in movie and television shows promoting their message of hate against the God Who would save and protect them from their sin, making them into new creations of Christ. It is against this that they teach portraying Christians as vile, hateful people whose only end can be death or renouncement of the truth of God. In our own lifetime we are seeing the world turn in adamant anger against anyone who reveals their “truth” as untruth.