Following on from my recent features on screenplay writer, Caleb Brown, on his recently released full-length feature, Blue Ridge, I wanted to do a post on one of his film criticisms. Caleb, who teaches the course Christian Humanism in Contemporary Cinema for Pontifex University’s Master of Sacred Arts program, made his name initially through his Short Cuts series of film criticism. This is his analysis of the power of the Breaking Bad pilot episode.
When I saw this short I immediately asked Caleb to teach a course for us at Pontifex. The first point to make is that Caleb is not justifying the plot of Breaking Bad or its themes as something that Christians should be happy with. They should not. Rather, he is explaining how the filmmakers use their craft to tell the story. Understanding the subtleties of how non-Christian filmmakers have communicated their message is something that Christians should understand in order to influence the culture. He discusses character design, plot design, and insightful style choices in cinematography and direction.
Caleb credits many of his insights into human nature to his studies in Thomistic philosophy and theology at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley, California. He took their double Masters program in order to understand film making better.
