The Theology of Screenwriting, Part 14: Doubt

This week I continue to explore theological themes in relation to screenwriting, considering them metaphorically because in my view, we see these themes in movies all the time. By understanding them, we can use these theological themes to enhance the meaning and depth of our stories.

For background on the general subject, you may read my introductory comments in Part 1 here.

Today in Part 14: Doubt.

We can not know Light without Dark. Nor can we know Good without Evil. Likewise we can not truly understand Faith without Doubt.

We may tend to think of religious faith as being about certitude, an unbridled confidence in what we believe. Yet even a cursory reading of sacred texts including the Old and New Testaments convey a wholly different picture.

The saga of the Jews wandering in the wilderness for forty years after escaping slavery in Egypt is filled with episodes of doubt, physicalized most notably by the people crafting ‘graven images’ to worship in complete defiance of the clear edict from Yahweh: “You shall have no other gods before me” [Exodus 20:3].

The Psalms are filled with lamentations filled with questioning. For example: “My heart mused and my spirit inquired; Will Yahweh reject forever? Will He never show his favor again? Has His unfailing love vanished forever? Has His promise failed for all time? Has Elohim forgotten to be merciful? Has He in anger withheld his compassion?” [Psalm 77:6–9].

This calls to mind perhaps the most compelling moment of doubt in the Bible wherein Jesus hangs on the cross in his final moments of human life cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” [Matthew 27:46].

And yet in each of these cases, sorely tested as the believers are, they are vindicated in their faith.

Stripped of the religious overtones, we see this Doubt/Faith dialectic in movies constantly:

* The initial Call To Adventure is often one the Protagonist initially refuses to accept, doubting the veracity of the call, doubting the necessity of embarking on a journey, doubting their ability to survive let alone succeed.

* During the early part of the Protagonist’s transition from the Old World into the New World, they exist in a reactive mode, flailing amidst different faces and places, causing them to doubt their capacity to move forward.

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* At the end of Act Two, there is often an All Is Lost moment whereby the Protagonist’s response to a mighty reversal is to question the entirety of their venture.

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* Even during the Final Struggle, there must be at least a sliver of doubt for there to be any sense of true drama as to whether the Protagonist will prevail or not.

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In other words, we — the audience — can not participate fully in the joy of a Protagonist’s success unless all along the way there has been the possibility of failure and the expression of doubt.

Faith without doubt is flaccid and cheap.

Faith in the face of doubt is strong and noble.

In our writing, we should opt for the latter.

Tomorrow: Grace.

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