First off, let me apologize blog followers- things have been chaotic this past month. I spent a week in Korea and another week camping with Middle School students on beautiful Tioman Island in Malaysia. Needless to say, things have not been quiet around the casa de Thomas, and my blog has been neglected. I plan to remedy that now.
I have a man-crush on Brad Pitt. There, I admitted it. My wife knows, my close friends know, and now you, my faithful readers know. It’s an odd thing to admit at the beginning of a faith-centered blog, but I just had to be honest.
If Seinfeld’s man-crush on Keith Hernandez started from watching Mets games, then my man-crush with Pitt began by watching Legends of the Fall. Even years later, when people ask me what my favorite movie is, Legends immediately comes to mind (along with Tombstone, but I’ll have to do a blog on that one later.)
What is it about that movie that I love so much? For starters, the Montana scenery- after that, it’s a toss up between Pitt’s performance, Anthony Hopkins as the father, or the epic scale of the film. Covering the Ludlow family in rural Montana from World War One through the height of Prohibition, the movie captures a fascinating piece of American history. But for me, the movie has always struck a much deeper chord. It is without a doubt the most visual representation of the parable of the lost son that I have ever seen.
The parable of the lost son- more commonly known as the Prodigal son, is one of the most popular and controversial Biblical stories in the entire New Testament. Not only is it a great story of God’s grace, but it is a slap in the face to religious institutions and the cause for the biggest conflict between Islam and Christianity. While some have fought about the meaning or the symbolism, I’ve always wondered- who is the story all about?
Perhaps the answer is in Legends of the Fall.
I’ve seen the movie hundreds of time (about as many times as I’ve heard the parable), and I always thought the movie was about Tristan’s (Brad Pitt) character. But as an English teacher, that doesn’t make any sense.
Literature, or at least good literature, is based on the idea that the protagonist (i.e. the main character) will grow and change over the course of the narrative. (Note- there are a few minor exceptions- namely Holden Caulfield of The Catcher in the Rye, but this is not a discourse about the literary contributions of JD Salinger.) The idea of a narrative story is that the events of the story should change the character’s personality. This is why movie critics often complain about one-dimensional characters.
That’s what makes Legends of the Fall so interesting. It has always been seen as Brad Pitt’s movie (it was his first major Hollywood success), but his character- Tristan- doesn’t change at all in the movie. He is what we call a static character in literature.
So if it’s not Tristan’s film, then whose is it? Moreover, if the Prodigal son was not told to highlight the youngest son's sin and repentance, then why was it told?
In Legends of the Fall, it’s simple. The only character that does grow in the course of the story is the eldest brother- Alfred, played by Aiden Quinn. And if we look at his character closely, we just might see who was the primary goal of Jesus’ parable as well.
Alfred is the perfect son. He works hard, stays home to take care of his father, and even becomes a US Senator. There’s just one problem- he doesn’t feel loved. In fact, he comes to hate his brother because of unfounded jealousy.
Sound like anyone in the parable of the lost son?
But I know what you’re thinking- if the story of the Prodigal son is not about, well, the Prodigal Son, then what’s the point? And, why has everyone always focused on the younger son?
Let me be clear- I am not saying that the very moving story of the younger son returning from his self-imposed exile and receiving God’s grace is not important. In fact, it is one of the hopeful passages in the bible- especially for non-Christians.
However, Christians should note that the younger son does not represent them anymore. We are the older brother in the story.
Look at the context of the story- first of all, the parable of the lost son is actually the third part of trilogy of stories told to answer a question the Pharisees asked of Jesus (i.e. why does he hang around with sinners?) And in order to understand the end of a trilogy, you have to have understood parts one and two. Would Return of the Jedi make any since without the first two Star Wars films?
The first story in the trilogy is the story of the lost coin- Jesus tells the Pharisees that if someone had 100 talents (gold coins) and they lost one, they would go look for it. Duh. The second story is the story of the lost sheep, in which Jesus tells the story of a shepherd who has 100 sheep and loses one. So, he goes to find it. Again, duh.
But then Jesus ups the ante.
Instead of the father losing something, his son leaves him. And instead of 100 sons, he only has 2. If the Pharisees understood looking for 1% of the coins and the sheep, they would surely understand looking for 50% of the children, right?
No. Just like Alfred in Legends of the Fall they could not fathom a “Father” who could forgive and love the younger son. And considering that the Pharisees were Jesus’ audience (they did ask him the question), I think pointing out the Pharisees selfishness and jealousy is the purpose of the story. Perhaps the “lost” son in the story was not the one who ran away, but the one who stayed at home.
In Legends of the Fall, Alfred comes through in the end. He saves Tristan’s life from the very problems that his jealousy created. Unfortunately the story of the lost son ends before we have time to see if the older brother repented and welcomed back the prodigal. We will never know if he did the right thing? Would I?
As much as I hate to admit it, I am just like the Pharisees. I constantly judge and question God’s decision to love others in addition to me. In fact just this week, I spent four days being bitterly jealous of God blessing another couple with pregnancy. I was exactly like the eldest brother in the story of the lost son- instead of being happy that my Father chose to bless others, I was angry that I didn’t receive the blessing I felt I had earned.
God’s love is a mystery. We cannot control that. The only thing we can control is our reaction.
There are two sinful ways to react to God’s love. The first, which I will call the Tristan syndrome, is to fail to believe that God loves you. The youngest son knows his father loves him, but he doesn’t believe it. There is a difference between belief and knowledge. I know I should eat healthier, but I don’t really believe that an occasional McDonalds is bad for me.
The Tristan syndrome tends to affect Christians who come to Christ later in their life. Like the youngest brother in the story of the lost son, they come to God with the expectation that all they deserve from Him is to be one of His servants. These people tend to be obsessive perfections and incredibly self critical, both in an attempt to make up for their past wrongs and to somehow prove to themselves and others that they are worthy of God’s love. In Legends of the Fall, the character Tristan travels the entire world, fighting, killing, searching for some sort of worth in his life- wanting to prove to himself and everyone else what his capable of. He doesn’t understand that his father’s “grace” (that is underserved favor) is enough.
The Alfred syndrome is much harder to detect. These Christians, like myself and the oldest brother in the story of the lost son, have often grown up in the church or been around Christianity their entire lives. These are the people who take God’s love for granted- using it like an ATM machine to get what they want. These Christians sit in churches and glare at the Tristans, who come in with their tattoos and immodest clothing, wanting to change the music and do away with “Sunday School.” These Christians are modern day Pharisees.
Every time I read back through the Bible, I realize that Christ never criticized or condemned a prostitute. He never yelled at a homosexual. He never turned his nose up at a drunkard. The only people He criticized were the Alfreds. He criticized those of us who thought we and we alone deserve His love. He criticized the church officials- the “eldest” brothers- who did not welcome the Tristans home, but instead cried in jealousy that they got a fatted calf (or money, or babies, or the promotion, or insert anything you want here) when we didn’t even get a goat to party with our friends.
I suppose that no matter how many times I watch Legends of the Fall, I will always wish that I were more Tristan than Alfred. But that’s the joy of movies- we can escape into a character that is different than us. The reality is this- God’s love, just like the pride and favor of Colonel Ludlow in the movie, is always there. Tristan had to accept it, and Alfred had to accept that it was not his alone to hoard. The same is true of us- we must acknowledge that at one point of time, we all were Tristans, far away from God and welcomed back as His children. We must too accept that far too often we become Alfreds, jealous older brothers who forget that while God may now be showering favor on our sibling, we have had His love the entire time.
