How to Share Your Faith Using Enchanted
You might say that this Culture Commission contains spoilers. But since Enchanted is a fairy tale that draws on several other Disney princess fairy tales, can anyone really doubt what's going to happen in the end? The girl gets her guy. But to leave just a little suspense, I won't tell you which guy...
Enchanted follows the story of Giselle (Amy Adams), a princess in a cartoon world where everything is perfect. One day she's imagining and singing about her prince (James Marsden) when, wouldn't you know it, he hears her singing and comes to whisk her away to his castle to be married. Unfortunately for Giselle, Prince Edward's mother, Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon), is psychotically paranoid of losing her throne to Edward's naïve fiancé. So the Queen has Giselle thrown into a magic well which is a pathway to the most awful of all places imaginable: New York City!
When Giselle arrives in the Big Apple, she is no longer a cartoon character living in a cartoon world, but a real life human with skin that can get dirty and hair that can't be fixed by just a brush of her hand! As she walks around looking for the castle and her prince, she suffers from mockery, theft and...dirt! Giselle's challenges and choices are typical, over-the-top, 100% fairy tale, even included a poisoned apple and the kiss of true love.
Enchanted is clean, wholesome, and treats innocence, purity and faithfulness as something to be desired. There are many themes in this movie which you could used to share your faith with someone, but here are two that stand out from the rest:
- Giselle eats a poisoned apple, which dooms her to die at midnight unless she receives the kiss of true love. The kiss of true love, which is "the most powerful thing on earth" revives her so she is saved from death. This is a perfect lead in to the GOSPEL Journey, as you can talk about the first sin: eating the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That first disobedience doomed all people to die, which means separation from the one who loves us: God. However, rather than a kiss, the most powerful thing on earth in reality is the love of God. Because of his love for mankind, he sent his son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins in order to save us from our impending death, and to reunite us with the true love of our lives, both present and eternal, God.
- Ask your friends if they think the whole 'eating a poisoned apple' fairy tale idea has any similarities to the Biblical story in Genesis about Eve eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?
- Ask your friends if they know that the spiritual death for all mankind that resulted can be removed through the power of love - God's love for us in the form of Jesus' gift of grace and salvation.
- This movie is a classic rendition of Good vs. Evil, with Good winning in the end. Although Giselle had many bad things happen to her (ruined wedding dress, attempted murder, etc.), in the end everything turned out better than it would have originally. Similarly, God promises to take the bad things that Christians go through (suffering, loss, hurt) and turn them into good things (growth, maturity, empathy). The Bible tells us this fact clearly in Romans 8:28. God doesn't promise us that we'll have no struggles, but he promises to bring good from them for those who have asked Christ to forgive them and to be their savior.
- What's your reaction when something bad happens in your life? Do you get angry? Depressed? What do you usually do with those kinds of feelings. Share about your relationship with Jesus and how he promises to walk beside you as your friend and your savior in the midst of hard times.
- Ask your friends if they believe in God. Share what you believe about God taking the tough stuff in life and using it to build good things in us.
So enjoy some good, clean, innocent fun with Enchanted, and use it to share your faith with your friends!
