{"id":6075,"date":"2010-04-16T17:16:27","date_gmt":"2010-04-16T17:16:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jesuscreed\/2010\/04\/friday-night-at-the-movies-how.html"},"modified":"2010-04-16T17:16:27","modified_gmt":"2010-04-16T17:16:27","slug":"friday-night-at-the-movies-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/04\/friday-night-at-the-movies-how.html","title":{"rendered":"Friday Night at the Movies: How to Train Your Dragon"},"content":{"rendered":"

Friday Night at the Movies: How to Train Your Dragon<\/h2>\n

by Bob Robinson<\/span><\/h2>\n

 <\/h2>\n

\n

\"HTTD.jpg\"<\/a><\/span>In a thoroughly enjoyable, family-friendly movie, Dreamworks<\/i> Animation has created a wonderfully entertaining, visually exciting movie. With How to Train Your Dragon<\/i>, directors Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders provide thrills and laughter for all ages, but underneath the dazzling 3D effects hides a deeper, much more profound message.<\/p>\n

The story is about a village of vikings who are terrorized by dragons. The film is filled with battle scenes where dragons destroy the vikings’ village and steal their livestock. The vikings have been fighting the dragons for generations. It has gotten to the point that the very identity<\/i> of being a viking is tied directly to killing dragons.<\/p>\n

\n

The young hero of the story, Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel), is a wimpy kid trying to prove his worthiness as a viking to his father and leader of the vikings, Stoick (Gerard Butler), as well as to the dragon master Cobber (Craig Ferguson).<\/span><\/h2>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n

The most frightening and most despised dragon is the “Night Fury,” a dragon that has never been seen, who streaks over the village in the darkness and shoots deadly firebombs at buildings. Hiccup manufactures a gun in order to shoot down the Night Fury. It works, and after a search, he finds the Night Fury injured near a crater lake, trapped and unable to fly away.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n


<\/span><\/font><\/h2>\n

He slowly gains the trust of the Night Fury dragon, names
\nhim “Toothless,” and even flies on the dragon’s back (in 3D, this was a
\nmarvelous ride!). Hiccup finds that the most feared dragon, the Night Fury, is
\nactually as loving as a tame puppy.<\/p>\n

The underlying message begins to shine through as Hiccup
\nbegins to doubt the endless war against the dragons. He begins to wonder if the
\nvikings have been battling the dragons for so long and are so sure that they
\nare heartless terrorists, that the vikings are perpetuating a war that may not
\nbe necessary. When Hiccup tells his father what he is discovering about this
\nreality, his father is repulsed not only by the idea, but by his own son.<\/p>\n

This movie brings our current “war on terrorism” into a new
\nlight. How have we so dehumanized our enemies that we see them as no more than
\nanimals – dragons – streaking across the sky with the intention of doing us
\nharm?<\/b><\/p>\n

I don’t want to give any more of the story away, but there
\ncomes a moment in the story when Hiccup understands the real reason why the
\ndragons are doing what they are doing. With that realization, he is better able
\nto think of and implement solutions to the conflict – better solutions than
\nmerely killing every dragon.<\/p>\n

Jesus’ demand that Christians must love our enemies is a
\ndifficult command to follow. In real life situations, it is emotionally
\ndifficult guts to actually understand what our enemies are thinking, what
\nmotivates them to oppose us, and what we must do to reach out for the purpose
\nof reconciliation. Sure, it is not simply forgiving and forgetting; it takes
\nseriously the sins that were committed and seeks to tell the truth about those
\nthings. But the burden of peace and reconciliation is placed squarely on our
\nshoulders.<\/p>\n

However, the American way has often been to treat enemies as
\nnot worthy of understanding. We take the easy route far too often, simply
\ndeciding to fight rather than to understand, to hate rather than to love.<\/p>\n

We need to ask hard questions, questions that our hardened
\nhearts do not want to ask. What drives terrorists to do such atrocities? How
\ncan we provide possible solutions to these underlying causes? Are we doing all
\nwe can to understand the mind of our enemies? How can we overcome their
\nanimosity toward us? What are we doing to overcome their evil with good?<\/b><\/p>\n

Glen Stassen and many others have been advocating “Just
\nPeacemaking” as a means to overcome conflict. (link: http:\/\/documents.fuller.edu\/sot\/faculty\/stassen\/Just_Peacemaking\/just_peacemaking.html<\/a>
\n) They say that a biblical way of seeking peace is when “adversaries listen to
\neach other and experience each others’ perspectives, including culture,
\nspirituality, story, history and emotion.” To find peace, we are to “seek long-term
\nsolutions which help prevent future conflict,” and “seek justice as a core
\ncomponent for sustainable peace.”<\/p>\n

It wasn’t until Hiccup understood the dragons’ perspective
\nthat he could figure out a long-term solution to the conflict between the vikings
\nand the dragons. It wasn’t until Hiccup engaged his friends to seek justice for the dragons<\/i> that a sustainable peace
\nwas found. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday Night at the Movies: How to Train Your Dragon by Bob Robinson   In a thoroughly enjoyable, family-friendly movie, Dreamworks Animation has created a wonderfully entertaining, visually exciting movie. With How to Train Your Dragon, directors Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders provide thrills and laughter for all ages, but underneath the dazzling 3D effects hides a deeper,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gospel"],"yoast_head":"\nFriday Night at the Movies: How to Train Your Dragon - Jesus Creed<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jesuscreed\/2010\/04\/friday-night-at-the-movies-how.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Friday Night at the Movies: How to Train Your Dragon - Jesus Creed\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Friday Night at the Movies: How to Train Your Dragon by Bob Robinson   In a thoroughly enjoyable, family-friendly movie, Dreamworks Animation has created a wonderfully entertaining, visually exciting movie. 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