In his essay “Sometimes Fairy Stories May Say Best What’s to be Said,” C. S. Lewis proposes how one can “steal past a certain inhibition” in others by telling them truths about, say, “God or about the sufferings of Christ” through the medium of fairy stories: he can cast those truths “into an imaginary world, stripping them of their stain-glass and Sunday school associations,” and make them “appear in their real potency”—and thus “steal past those watchful dragons.”1
Commenting on this “watchful dragons” phrase, Dane Bundy writes the following in his booklet Engaging the Trojan Horse: Watching Movies with a Christian Perspective:
Through delight and intrigue and humor, stories put our defenses to sleep, so that a messenger can dance right in and deliver its message, taking root in our hearts and minds.
Sneaky? Yes. Sinister? Depends.
As Bundy points out, “sneaky” doesn’t always equal “sinister.” But such an idea needs explanation, especially for those suspicious of it. Toward that end, I’ve written an article for Christ and Pop Culture, entitled “Are Stories Trojan Horses? Being True to Life without the Bait and Switch.” Here’s an excerpt:
Stories provide an excellent medium for illustrating and contextualizing ideas that might otherwise stay in our heads rather than travel down to our hearts. That is likely part of why Jesus spoke to the crowd in parables (Matt. 13:34-35). That is why Nathan confronted David’s adultery with a story (2 Sam. 12:1-13). That doubtless is why much of Scripture itself is in the form of a story—i.e., a grand, overarching narrative. Stories are excellent vessels for carrying ideas.
Of course, stories can also carry ideas inefficiently or improperly. It all depends on the message being communicated, the motives of the narrator, and the methods employed in telling the story. As such, there are at least three ways in which stories can act as Trojan horses: unethically, accidentally, and organically.
In this piece, I list a small handful of movies as examples, including The Passion of the Christ, Redeeming Love, and Nefarious.
You can click here to read the article in its entirety.
C. S. Lewis, Of Other Worlds: Essays and Stories (1966), p. 37.