Left Behind: The Movie: The Dissection
.slacktivist, author of a colossal serial annotation of the first novel in the Left Behind series (here’s the first entry), has begun a series of comments on the movie.
In case you didn’t know, the Left Behind books are a stunningly popular (over 65 million books in the series have been sold) set of premillennial dispensationalist “end times” thrillers. They’re set after the “rapture”, God teleporting to heaven all the world’s believers at once, occurs, with the those remaining engaged in a struggle between the Antichrist and those good people who weren’t quite believers enough to have been yanked out.
The slacktivst series on the first book in the series makes quite clear just how awful it is, both stylistically and in terms of the messages it’s getting across. And it has quite the first line, which might not strike you as a likely first line for a book that Jerry Falwell claimed had a greater impact on Christianity than any modern book excluding the bible: “Rayford Steele’s mind was on a woman he had never touched.”
And yes, that really is the name of one of the main protagonists.
While the book and the movie are clearly pretty easy targets for critique (or ridicule), I think that the slacktivist series is quite important, because so many people regard those works as Significant and Great, and having an excellent reference for criticism is useful. (Even if most of the people who revere might not be amenable to rational discussion…) Also, the commentary is quite amusing to read.
18 Dec 2008 at 09:45
Alas, people who might benefit from a well-reasoned critique of Left Behind are not only unlikely to be persuaded, but are not even likely to come across this article. There are at least two, virtually non-overlapping cultures in this country, with distinct ideology, media and aesthetics.
08 Jan 2009 at 13:48
Hey I saw you mentioned the Left Behind series by Tim LeHaye? I know they are trying to build a community of us fans of the series. If you want to join the group we are at http://www.foundthisbook.com
17 Aug 2009 at 13:18
is there going to be another left behind movie?
19 Aug 2009 at 07:15
Nathan: I have no idea, but probably. To both Nathan and John: I strongly suggest you read the commentary by slacktivist.
15 Oct 2009 at 17:12
I really want their to be a 4th movie!