Sins of our fathers
The first time I watched “The Arbor” I had a difficult time figuring what the Christian perspective within this movie was because there was no mention of God or any sort of religious views plainly mentioned throughout this documentary. Also, I was rather distracted with trying to figure out where the whole story was going, since there were many different parts to pay attention too, as you may have noticed. So, I decided to watch the movie a second time, and within the first fifteen minutes the phrase, “The sins of our fathers” came to mind and continued to nudge at my heart throughout the rest of the film. Exodus 34:7 says “He shows his faithful love for thousands of generations. The Lord forgives people for the wrong things they do, but he does not forget to punish guilty people. Not only will he punish the guilty people, but their children, their grandchildren, and their great-grandchildren will also suffer for the bad things these people do.” This same statement is repeated two more times in the Bible in Numbers 14:18 and Deuteronomy 5:9.
Family Dynamic
As we look at the family dynamics that are portrayed in “The Arbor” we get a better understanding of the home life that, Andrea Dunbar comes from, which inspired her to write the play “The Arbor” in high school. We can see in the reenactments of the scenes in her play that Andrea’s family was rather dysfunctional. There was a big emphasis on the negative way her family spoke to one another, alcoholism and a clear lack of respect that Andrea’s family had for her father. Later in the film we see Andrea become pregnant by a Pakistani man and then she had two more children from two different men. Andrea was involved in abusive relationships, multiple sexual partners and she had a clear addiction to alcohol, which eventually contributed to her death at a young age.
Andrea’s Choices
Throughout the course of this film, we see the impact Andrea had on Lorraine, her oldest daughter. Lorraine felt that she wasn’t loved by her mother after hearing Andrea say that she “wished she never had her because her father was a Paki.” At a young age, Lorraine felt hatred toward her mother and even blamed her for a lot of the hardship she faced in life. Much like her mother, from age fourteen, Lorraine had multiple sexual partners, did drugs on a daily bases and even found herself in some very abusive relationships. Lorraine said, “I use and abuse men because I felt used and abused by them.” We see through the use of her sexual partners she could fulfill her sexual desires and her partners would feed her addiction to drugs. Unfortunately, her addiction became so strong that it caused her infant son to be born with a drug addiction, which later, at age two, lead to his death, and Lorraine spent time in jail for the death of her son.
Lorraine Tragedies
http://www.avclub.com/articles/the-arbor,55194/
It seems very evident that the sins of the father or even mother had a lasting impact on each generation in the Dunbar family. It took the death of a child for someone to finally realize their behaviors needed to stop and that they needed to make a change for the better. Lorraine said at the end of the film, “Anytime I want to use (drugs) I think of Harris, my son, and it is enough to keep me away from it.” I know that death and tragedy in a family can happen, even in the most God fearing homes, but I do also believe that our actions do not affect just ourselves, but also affect our future family members. Once again in Exodus 34:7 it says, “He shows his faithful love for thousands of generations. The Lord forgives people for the wrong things they do,” the sins of our fathers’ can be forgiven as long as repentance takes place, and I think by the end of the film we do see repentance take place in Lorraine’s life. I truly hope she remains clean from drug, alcoholism, and permissive sex throughout the rest of her life, so a new generation won’t have to experience the same addictive and destructive behavior that past generations of the Dunbar family has had to endure.
I think this page is well done. I can make the connections between the movie and the Bible. Good job with including the verses so everyone will be able to make the connection and maybe read up on it if they want. Good use of visuals, it helps break up the text and allows for the reader to be brought back into the movie so it is easier to make the connections. The only thing I would consider changing would be making the links open up in a different tab, and the last like is not a hyperlink. Over all well done.
ReplyDeleteThank you! and thanks for catching that the links were mainly to show where I got the pictures from
DeleteThe opening paragraph was the same feeling that i had. I would have never guessed on where to even begin with this topic. But you did a great job and i enjoyed the reference you have from the Bible as well. Through out the rest of the page i liked how you had a heading and a picture to show what you were going to talk about next. Seeing pictures and headers grabs the readers attentions and makes them want to read more. So you did a good job there! One thing i might add is links to more sites that maybe can show more information or back up what you are trying to say. Makes what your saying even more powerful and stronger.
ReplyDeleteSamantha Soeder
Yeah it was hard to figure out where the Christain perspective was in all of this, but i think that was the fun in it all was trying to think deeper and figure it out.
DeleteI also agree with the comments above. This page was well done and I loved the Bible verse as well as Samantha and Kelli did. I too thought this would be a hard topic to discuss for this movie but you did an excellent job. The only things I thought could be changed were stated in th comments above. Thank you very much for your thoughts!
ReplyDeleteJessica Wormald
http://www.greatbiblestudy.com/generational_curses.php here is a website that you all can visit it supports my Christian perspected illistrating generational curses that fall upon families... Thanks for the comments!
DeleteI believe you did a very good job relating this film with the Christian perspective. I,too, would not have known where to start with this film. The sins of the father is a very good point. I did not realize how well this connected with the film until I read this! The people in this film definitely need Jesus! I liked the visual aids as well they helped prove the points :)
ReplyDeleteOh thanks! And i agree with you they really do need Jesus and I hope that somewhere along the lines of their life they find him!
DeleteI like the Bible verse that you put in your blog. I think it applies well to the film. You worked hard to find information to put onto this page. It really gives me a better perspective of the film.
ReplyDeleteThis comment is from Katlynn Stoll, Your family dynamic section was really good because I think that this was an aspect that explained a lot of the issues in this film. The picture that you included of Lorraine was really cool as well. I think knowing about her tradgedies which were a huge part of the film was really helpful as well. I think you did a great job at picking up on what the main topics and problems were of this movie. These were huge themes and you did a great job at pointing them out and explaining their influence on the rest of the movie.
ReplyDeleteThanks guys for all the comments, I really glad that my Christian perspective came across well. You were also helpful in giving me good ideas to make the page better, but overall I am glad you enjoyed it and maybe it gave you a new perspective into the Dunbar family
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your insight on the movie. You did a very good job of expressing how Christian perspectives was involved in the movie even though it wasn't completely clear. I like that you incorporated visuals. I really like what you said about Lorraine and the remorse that she feels for the loss of her child. Very well done!
ReplyDeleteCandice Anderson
Lorraine really stuck with me through much of the film and I am glad that I protrayed her remorse well in this blog. Thanks for enjoying this blog!
DeleteI really loved reading your page. It was nice to see how you viewed the movie, especially though a Christian Perspective. I never really thought about the movie in some of the ways you talked about. Unfortunately, bad things do happen. A lot of the time many bad things have to happen in order for people to learn. The positive aspect is that Lorraine did change. Your visual aids and links really added to your page as well. The biblical citations helped. I liked being able to relate it to that since I never really thought about the biblical side until your page. It is a little hard to see the light through the darkness that this movie portrays. Great work!
ReplyDeleteAshley Hafer
I loved your connection with the movie to the passage in the Bible. I think that is a great connection and great example, because it really was the sins of her mother that led her to do the same sins.
ReplyDeleteRachel Keim: Wow, great job on covering the Christian perspective of this movie! I noticed that you caught many of the things that stood out to me when I was watching it. You said, "It seems very evident that the sins of the father or even mother had a lasting impact on each generation in the Dunbar family." I couldn't agree more, and what's important to note is that this isn't only true of the Dunbar family but is true across the board. It's actually a really great reminder that your actions have consequences not only for you, but also for generations to come. It's kind of convicting. I learned a lot through that one small idea. Thanks for sharing!!
ReplyDeleteI love your last point that "its a great reminder that your actions have consequences not only on your, but also generations to come." That was the main point i was trying to make and I am glad you caught that as well.
DeleteWow. Powerful stuff! I appreciated your honesty at the opening of this page. It all flowed very nicely. You tied the Bible verses from Exodus into the film in a way that was easy for readers to understand throughout the whole page. I loved your closing paragraph as well. It had great redemptive qualities.
ReplyDelete-Abby C.
Thank you! I felt that the verse really do support my point well and this whole thing really taught me something as well, so i am glad you were able to take something away from my bolg, especally becuase the film was difficult to view at times.
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