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PopcornPopcorn Play currently running at the Apollo theatre in London's West End. Ben Elton's fourth novel (adapted to make his third play) is - like his work on TV's Blackadder - a very funny, very foul-mouthed analysis of some important themes, with arguments that are often very close to Christian apologetic. More politically correct You certainly know what makes him angry, but then that's been Elton's hallmark since he began as a stand-up comic berating political pretensions and environmental disasters. He's a bit more politically correct these days and his three plays and four best-selling novels have presumably kept his TV earnings nicely topped up. But Popcorn is an angry book, like most of the best satire, its disgust is disgusting and its language and humour coarse. Caveat lector. Complex plot The Delamitri siege generates a huge amount of complex debate in the book. There are many brilliant touches. From the beginning, for example, TV advertisements weave in and out of the chat show in which we first see Delamitri about to be interviewed about events we haven't yet encountered. Later, Elton weaves film-scripts into his narrative, paralleling the way Delamitri keeps assessing his horrendous hostage situation as filmic narrative. There's a professor in the early pages who questions Delamitri about the morals of his violence; later the film-maker has to debate with his potential assassin the difference between violence in films and violence in life. And the public's thirst for violence and media savagery is never far from the plot - it plays a crucial role in the final siege, where Elton resolves his complex plot by pulling off a tortuous new twist, and then in a final epilogue forcing you to revise the opinions you've finalised about most of the characters. Far be it from me to give away the plot. Our responsibility . . . But Christians have a responsibility, I think, to come to terms with books like these. Why? Well, there's the utilitarian reason, for example. Christians should be aware of any book that's a best-seller and deals with ideas, if only as a useful barometer of secular thinking. There's the socio-cultural reason. Why is ours a violent society? What ought we to think of Natural Born Killers, Goodfellows, and similar films? Elton's comedy discusses such issues seriously and responsibly. We should listen to him thoughtfully, even if we reject his final views. And there's the educational reason. Elton is a cultural icon, a hero of the youth and thirty-something culture. We need to now what people admire and are influenced by, what their idols believe. What alternatives to the gospel are on offer? Why does Elton, for example, talk so much about 'salvation' in his books? The Simpsons If you can't stomach Popcorn, do something for me. Watch The Simpsons on BBC2. Many evangelicals complained when it started; many later wrote to say they'd changed their minds. Tough, funny, poignant and irritating by turns, it does a similar job of tackling real issues, without the foul language. It's an unsparing mirror for an uncaring society. The plaintive cry of father Simpson to his kids, 'Just because I don't care doesn't mean I don't understand' has entered the Porter family folk-lore. © Evangelicals Now - June 1997 |