Art Paper

For my reaction paper I chose to do New Modern Medium which included a movie. The movie I chose was The Gospel, which starred Boris Kodjoe of Soul Food and American Idols first season finalists Tamira Gray. The movie starts out with a young boy singing soulfully at the church. The young boy David Taylor who's aspirations is to be a pastor like his father. In the beginning David and his best friend Frank are one class away from ministry school when he finds out his mother is sick. When David gets to the hospital he prays to God to help his mother get better and when she dies David becomes very angry. He becomes angry because his father wasn't there because he was away helping the church. The movie then takes you fifteen years later and he is no longer singing for the church but R&B. When his father becomes sick, he returns home to help him and becomes involved again helping the church. The church needs help getting money to make renovations to the church, so David makes a suggestion to have a revival which is an all out Gospel fest.

The movie was very spiritual and had a lot of singing and dancing. The movie displayed enjoyment, escape, and enhancement of life through the praise and singing they did at church. This is also one of the major art functions discussed in class. We also said in class that "art as a ritual or emblem, may serve as a religious symbol", which is what the primary basis of the movie is. A majority of the movie took place in a church setting, where there were huge crosses, pews, and religious paintings on the wall. The surroundings gave a spiritual surrounding to make you feels as if you were in church feeling the spirit as they were. The significance and interpretation of God was definitely present within the movie through the dramatic and beautiful music which was sung by Tamira Gray and Yolanda Adams and other famous Gospel artist.

I thought the movie was great. I often listen to Gospel and since one of my hometowns own pastors (Donnie McKlurklin) was in it made me feel at home. I also felt the spiritual connection as if I was in church. I though the acting was okay because it was hard to imagine Boris Kodjoe as a singer. The songs were incredible they had a youthful feel, because you could actually see your self bumping the music in your car. The music was composed by Gospel great Kirk Franklin, who mad Gospel Rap popular and got a wide percentage of youth back into the gospel sound. It also