Warnings about sex, violence come to Christian movies

ST. LOUIS (RNS)—To get to the movie section at Lifeway Christian Store in Bridgeton, Mo., customers pass by shelves of books, CDs and greeting cards. The rack of Christian DVDs isn’t huge, but it’s twice as big as it was a year ago and “growing all the time,” manager Francine Evans said.

Some of the Christian titles these days, she said, tackle “touchy subjects” such as drugs, domestic violence or abortion.

“These are movies that deal with issues that real people deal with,” Evans said. “Sometimes that’s what’s necessary to reach people for God. But the seals are needed. They’re a good idea.”

Miriam Davis of Siloam Springs, Ark., sets up the DaySpring Cards, Inc., booth at the International Christian Retailer Show in St. Louis, where filmmakers unveiled a new ratings system for Christian-themed DVDs. (RNS PHOTO/Dawn Majors/The St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

The seals Evans describes are part of a new system developed by the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Dove Foundation to gauge the Christian values in films that contain sex, violence and drugs.

For 20 years, the Dove Foundation has placed a blue “dove” seal on any DVD it considered family-friendly, from “Star Wars” to “Toy Story.”

A new purple “Faith-Based” seal warns of raw images or language in otherwise Christian-themed movies, and a new gold “Faith-Friendly” seal indicates a Christian-themed movie that’s safe for a family audience.

The new seals premiered at the recent International Christian Retailers Show.

Book and music purchases represent a significant portion of the stores’ annual $4.6 billion market. As music sales increasingly go digital, retailers are expanding their DVD offerings to recapture those sales, said Curtis Riskey, executive director of the CBA, formerly Christian Booksellers Association.

In 2009, Christian retail sales of music declined by 1 percent from 2008, but Christian retail sales of videos increased by 26 percent, according to the Christian Music Trade Association and Nielsen Christian SoundScan.

By contrast, general market stores’ sales of all music decreased by more than 10 percent, and video sales decreased by 23 percent. The growth of the Christian DVD market means retailers need guidance for their customers.

“A consumer looks to Christian retail to find family-friendly entertainment,” Riskey said. “The ratings system helps identify for the Christian consumer the kinds of things they can expect in a movie.”

To caution parents that some Christian films also can contain un-Christian behavior or situations, the Dove Foundation’s new “Faith-Based” seal will carry letters indicating the offending content: “V” for violence, “D” for drugs and alcohol, “S” for sex, etc.

“It’s the retailers that really want there to be a rating system to help them serve their customers,” said Bobby Downes, a Christian producer, whose latest movie, Like Dandelion Dust, with Mira Sorvino, will be in theaters this fall.

“If a pastor walks into a Christian bookstore and wants a movie he can show to his entire church, the current rating system doesn’t help him make that determination.”

The Dove Foundation’s new gold “Faith-Friendly” seal will alert consumers that a movie is not only family-friendly, but also contains a Christian message. DVDs of movies such as The Blind Side and The Chronicles of Narnia series will receive the foundation’s gold seal on their packaging.

While the foundation’s purple “Faith-Based” seal will register as a caution for parents, those in the film industry say they’re not worried it will have a chilling effect on Christian writers and directors concerned about DVD sales.

Dave Austin, vice president of sales and marketing for the Bridgestone Group, which distributes Christian films, said the “Faith-Based” seal actually is “a positive step for filmmakers.”

“As a distributor, if we look at a film that’s not approved by Dove at all, we might ask for it to be edited slightly to get that Dove approval,” he said.

The success of Christian films in recent years has inspired a new generation of Christian auteurs who have introduced variety into the Christian film market.

Fans of Christian movies can now choose between squeaky-clean evangelistic efforts like Sherwood Films’ Fireproof, about a firefighter’s marriage, and Facing the Giants, about a football coach’s trust in God, and grittier fare, like this year’s To Save a Life, about teen depression, suicide and bullying; and Preacher’s Kid, about domestic violence.

Austin said the new rating system was “a positive step for the consumer.” He and Downes were part of a team of industry experts who helped Dove come up with the system.

“With some parents, when there’s not gratuitous violence or sex, they’re still comfortable with their 13-year-old seeing some rough subject matter,” he said. “Others aren’t. If every family had identical tolerances, then a system like this wouldn’t be necessary, but there’s a wide range out there.”