Dr. Ted Baehr is the founder and publisher of Movieguide, a family guide to movies and entertainment. A longtime Hollywood insider, he's also the chairman of the Christian Film & Television Commission.
The commission is dedicated to redeeming the values of the mass media by influencing the entertainment industry and informing the public of the impact the mass media has on its audiences. It serves as a liaison between studio executives and the public on issues of family entertainment and faith.
Baehr writes a syndicated column and is the author of several books.
1. You’ve been around Hollywood an awful long time, haven’t you?
Sixty-three years, because my father (Robert Allen) was a star in Hollywood for many years. He did about 80 movies. He won the Box Office Award for Bob “Tex” Allen in the Texas Ranger movies of the '30s. And my mother was a star, so this has been my life. My life really started as a Christian at 28.
2. We’re pleased to see movies that families can take advantage of. There's still some pretty good fare coming out of Hollywood, isn’t there?
"Up" is one of my favorite movies of this year. It’s not only morally uplifting and positive and clean like all the Pixar films, but it’s got a church scene when they get married, a church scene at the funeral, and a redemptive storyline about letting go of your sins and embracing grace and keeping your word. There’s subtle Christian hints throughout the movie. I was with (Director) Pete Docter, so it was fun talking to him and spending time. I’ve known the Pixar people since 1978.
When we started doing the analysis at the box office, there was only about 1 percent of the films with positive Christian reference. It was 44 percent last year. When we started, 82 percent of the films were R-rated; now 39 percent. And when we started, there was only a handful of family films, and now it’s over 40 percent of the films. So the scale has tipped in a very positive direction. I’d like it to get more positive.
3. The stars and voices of Hollywood, oftentimes, are on the liberal side. But I understand there are Christians in Hollywood that are really making a difference, maybe more behind the scenes than in front of the camera.
There have always been strong Christians in Hollywood. In the beginning of the movie industry, in the 1890s, Edison gave William Booth, the founder of The Salvation Army, a camera, and he made the first films with a dramatic story line. So, William Booth sort of set the pattern, and the Pathe brothers were doing Nativity stories and Passion stories. By the 1910s, there were a tremendous number of films. We had people who were really dedicated to doing Christian films — the most notable being Cecil B. DeMille — (and) a lot of others doing films with overt faith and values, especially during my father’s age, the Golden Age of Hollywood, when my father was a cowboy star and you couldn’t kiss the horse let alone the girl. Then they sort of went into hiding.
The good news is there are a couple of groups — including our annual (Movieguide) Awards Gala — that have become a galvanizing point for people of faith in Hollywood. We see a lot of studio execs who have been more firm and strong about their faith. There are a lot of Christian Bible studies. You’ve got film departments. You’ve got fellowship groups. You’ve got prayer meetings. You’ve got churches that are dedicated to supporting Christians.
We hope the wave will translate into other parts of the culture. But at least there are movies coming out that have more overt content and positive Christian content on a regular basis.
4. Does the future of a family-friendly Hollywood look good?
It does look good, but the issues are fraught with great hope and great trepidation at the same time. For some reason, there’s a lot of silliness going on about who the Church is. Part of what we do by doing the analysis of the box office is saying you can make films that are snarky, but they’re not going to do well. If you want to make films that succeed, people want to see good triumph over evil, because they have tough lives and they’re hoping that good’s going to come out of their lives. They want to see redemption, because they need some hope.
But when I look at the scripts I get for the Kairos Prize — we give out $50,000 for first-time screenwriters who use redemptive content — a lot of them are so politically correct that it’s hard to wade through them. They’ve bought, hook, line, and sinker, a view of the world which doesn’t have the sovereignty of God at its heart. And you say, “Why aren’t they doing work that upholds the true, the good, and the beautiful?”
5. I’ve been noticing a lot of press about Christian film festivals. Are they having an impact?
I’m very proud of what they’re doing. I believe we’re supposed to transform culture, which the early Church did; it took over the culture. It’s never too late to transform the movie industry or transform any other part of the culture. We’ve seen it happen with the Great Awakening. We’ve seen it happen with (William) Wilberforce.
It’s very good to make movies and have radio and have television for the Christian community, to nourish and to build them up and to help them. At the same time, we should never give up our desire to change the culture, because we have the hope of the world, who is Jesus Christ. If we’re not out there proclaiming the hope of the world, what good is that?
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