Laying Down the Arms of the Culture War
How Spike Lee's 'Da 5 Bloods' illustrates a path forward
Image from Spike Lee’s Netflix film Da 5 Bloods.
I’m a man in search of an exit plan. The numerous fronts of the culture war have dominated the discussion of the Christian public thought and discussion for years, largely advising on where we should draw the battle lines, and who the enemies are.
That has bothered me for some time, although it has been hard for me to quantify why, exactly. Then, some time ago, apologist Nate Sala from A Clear Lens (full disclosure: I’m also involved in this ministry and Nate is a friend of mine) wrote this:
if you’re “punching back twice as hard” because you think that’s the best way to get your message across to these people… then the Bible says you’re doing it wrong, ladies and gentlemen. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:19-20, “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law… that I might win those under the law.
Notice what Paul is NOT saying here: To the Jews I became a troll so that I could destroy Jews and win the argument! To the Greeks, you know what, I hit those snowflakes with a truth bomb -- because I’m all about that Thug Life apologetics. No, friends. He said the exact opposite. And he said it for a reason.
Now to be clear, the culture warrior ranks are not packed full of “hit those snowflakes” foot soldiers (neither are they devoid of them). But the use of the word “war” itself presents a certain posture - one that seems to indicate we’re here to draw battle lines and attack enemies, rather than persuade and attract fellow image bearers.
Christians should clearly explain how the Christian worldview differs from that of the outside world, and why that difference is important and meaningful. But the purpose with which we enter these conversations needs to change. We should be encouraging nuance, a give-and-take discussion and relationship. This in sharp contrast to the way some Christians have analyzed culture, simply watching or reading long enough to determine if the artist is red team or blue team, and thus whether I should blast the work or praise it.
Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods is a good example of this principle in some ways. While Lee is no expert in nuance (see the closing montage of his last film, BlacKKKlansman), the film itself is surprisingly so. Centering on black Vietnam veterans returning to the country decades later, Lee leaves little doubt as to his view on the war. Sharp editing intercuts real wartime footage of atrocities, including naked children, victims burning alive, and actual human carnage.
And yet.
Despite Lee’s views on the Vietnam War, the veterans themselves are remarkably human. Lee also places black people squarely in the midst of American history, starting with Crispus Attuck’s death in the Boston Massacre. And his characters, though in Lee’s view participating in an unjust war, had their own complex set of motivations and interactions with the Vietnamese people. The central character is perhaps the most complex: Delroy Lindo’s Paul.
Paul does several things in the film that are pretty terrible. He’s revealed to be a largely bitter and neglectful father, and frequently defaults to brashness, violence, and above all, control. It’s a bit unfortunate that Lee associates his character with conservatism in particular (the others chide him for being a Trump supporter), as though to score cheap political points. But Paul is not a caricature. He wants to do right by his son and his comrades, but he’s saddled by untreated PTSD, as well as additional trauma that occurred after the war. One particular plot twist allows you to say “ah, that’s why he’s that way.” This does not leave you to conclude everything Paul does in the film is morally justified - not by a long shot. But to understand and empathize is not necessarily to justify and condone.
That spirit is something we need in our cultural conversations. The desire to be heard and understood is perhaps one of the most overlooked aspects of Jesus’s command to “love your neighbor as yourself.” We judge ourselves by our motives, and others by their actions. Seeking to understand another’s motives can bring us a long way toward the human connection that goes hand in hand with loving humanity as Christ did.
Of course, there are limits to the principle of empathizing with one’s motives. Sometimes one’s motives are irredeemably bad - the sinful nature of humanity is very real and we are deeply flawed people. But just as Paul tempers a long list of sin with “and such were some of you” in in 1 Corinthians 6, we ought to extend the same posture of listening and understanding to others that we wish to be shown to us.
That’s not war. But I dare say it is Christlike.
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