Make-believe on screen

By Submitted Article on June 13, 2020.

Deception

Last of three parts

Jacob M. Van Zyl

One kind of business that benefitted from the lockdown is online movie suppliers. Most of us have probably spent more time on television entertainment during the pandemic than before.

Whether it is newscasts, talk shows, documentaries or fiction, all movement on screen and sound from loudspeakers are actually illusions deceiving our vision and hearing.

Movement on screen is produced by projecting up to 30 still pictures per second on the screen, each picture differing slightly from the former, creating the illusion of movement.

In the production of movies, there is a lot of deception, too. Wide-angle and close-up shots are mingled to make the viewer believe that the episode happens at a specific place, but many of the nearby views were filmed in studios, not at the geographic spot it presumes to be.

The same event is usually filmed several times with different cameras from different angles. Later, the best shots are carefully stitched together to give the impression of a smooth succession of views.

Everything looks very real, but it is only actors performing before cameras. Crafty cinematography shows how swords and bullets pierce bodies, blood splashing against walls, and the sounds making it even more dramatic and gruesome. When filming stops, the “dead” stand up and prepare for the next scene.

Today’s computer animation enables moviemakers to make explosions, collisions, masses of warriors or animals, and things flung through the air even more dramatic. With these apps they can make it look as if something was said or done that in reality never happened. It opens the door to deliberate distortion of facts, fake news that misleads viewers.

The great deceivers of the end-time, the Antichrist and false prophet, may use this technology to deceive unbelievers to follow and idolize the Antichrist (Rev. 13, 2 Thess. 3:9-12).

When Christ prepared his followers for the end-time, he started off by warning them against deception (Matt. 24:4-5, Mark 13:5-6, Luke 21:8).

Christians must depend on the Holy Spirit to lead them in truth (John 8:32, 16:13), help them discern distorted facts from truth, and not to gobble up everything on television as factual.

Mass media and social media are already misused to sway public opinion, especially during elections. This phenomenon will expand over time. It may be done so subtly that people do not recognize how they are influenced.

Satan uses human needs to get our attention. He used Adam and Eve’s need for knowledge to lead them into a trap. He used Jesus’ hunger to tempt him. He used Peter’s fear of arrest to make him deny Jesus three times.

The Antichrist will use economical needs to lure people into his trap (Rev. 13:16-18).

Jacob Van Zyl of Lethbridge is a retired counsellor and the author of several faith-based books.

Comments are closed.