Transformers: Rise of the Beasts with Paul McDonald and Jaime Jo Wright
Coming up on the Men at the Movies podcast, we dive into the world of Cybertron with Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. We see characters in a hopeless situation, overlooked and at the end of their rope until the Transformers get involved. Even though we might have different shapes and different places, we are a key piece of the puzzle, and have a role to play in a battle we may not even realize is happening. Join us as we discover God’s truth in this movie.
Quotes
Movies that we love tell us something about us, and if they tell us something about us, they tell us something about who God is and the reality of the world we live in.
The movies end with resolution of the issue, but you still have the feeling that there’s more coming.
We are all pieces of the puzzle, different shapes, different places, but all necessary to complete the picture.
Themes
Each movie has a human character who feels “less than,” doesn’t fit in, helpless, and they need someone or something to step in to change their situation. They are stuck in a situation they can’t escape. They are nobodies until the Transformers get involved.
The movies make more sense and have more depth if you know and understand the back story. The context helps make the battle make sense.
We compare ourselves to other people who are in different situations, and diminish our value.
Looking at ourselves as puzzle pieces—different shapes, different roles, different images, but necessary to complete the puzzle and touching the pieces around us.
Noah has been watched, and invited to a battle many people don’t even know exists.
Resources
“It's like the great stories, Mr. Frodo, the ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger they were, and sometimes you didn't want to know the end because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad has happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing this shadow, even darkness must pass. A new day will come, and when the sun shines, it'll shine out the clearer. I know now folks in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going because they were holding on to something. That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for.” - Samwise Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
Questions
Who is your favorite Transformer?
Where do you feel like you don’t fit in?
Where do you feel helpless?
Who do you usually compare yourself to? Does that lead to a sense of diminishment or achievement? How are those comparisons dangerous?
Where do you feel tempted to turn around and give up?
More info
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Edited and mixed by Grayson Foster
Logo and episode templates by Ian Johnston
Audio quotes performed by Britt Mooney, Paul McDonald, and Tim Willard, taken from Epic (written by John Eldredge) and Song of Albion (written by Stephen Lawhead).
Southerly Change performed by Zane Dickinson, used under license from Shutterstock.
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