The Wages of Cinema

Reviewed by:

G. Connor Salter, Professional Writing alumnus from Taylor University, Upland, IN.

Title:

The Wages of Cinema: A Christian Aesthetic of Film in Conversation with Dorothy L. Sayers

Author:

Crystal L. Downing

Publisher:

InterVarsity Press

Publication Date:

May 27, 2025

Format:

Paperback

Length:

256 pages

OVERVIEW

Since the movie camera was invented in the 1890s, Christians have pondered what to do about the movies. Dismiss them all as frivolous entertainment? Talk about movies, but limit the engagement to only talking about “family-friendly” ones?

Crystal Downing uses a unique lens to consider how Christians can engage with cinema: the thought of Dorothy L. Sayers. While some people know Sayers best for her detective novels, Sayers wrote film scenarios during the 1920s (and later for the 1935 movie The Silent Passenger). She was close friends with actress Sybil Thorndike, and knew several other figures connected to the early English film industry. Her writings about creativity in her classic The Mind of the Maker offer insights about how to interpret art from a theological perspective, insights that prove helpful when applied to film studies.

Downing applies Sayers’ ideas about creativity to discuss important questions about film, such as:

• How Sayers’ exhortations to have an incarnational approach to theology, to care about body as well as spirit, apply to treating film as more than just a vehicle for ideas.
• How Sayers’ involvement in the theatre underlines important questions about the ways film and plays treat content differently.
• How World War II informed Sayers’ approach to theology (with applications of her ideas to classic war films such as Bridge On the River Kwai).
• How Sayers’ approach to gender offers interesting applications for feminist film theory.
• How Sayers’ discussion of love affects our understanding of what it means to portray romance honestly in movies (with examples such as Salmon Fishing in Yemen).

Studies that apply classic Christian authors to new topics can be fascinating or underwhelming, depending on how well the scholars argue their case. Downing makes a great case that Sayers is applicable to film studies, drawing on unpublished archival letters that show Sayers had a stronger interest in film than biographers have assumed. Seeing what Sayers said in those letters about film, and even how some films seem to have influenced her books, proves fascinating. When Downing combines the new material with Sayers’ always pithy insights on creativity (like why bad art for God’s glory is always a bad idea), the result is a book that challenges in the best way.

An insightful combination of literary scholarship and cultural analysis that shows how relevant Sayers’ ideas remain today.

ASSESSMENT

Rating (1 to 5 stars):

5 stars

Suggested Audience:

Readers interested in the life or writings of Dorothy L. Sayers, readers seeking a challenging yet readable discussion about how to approach movies as a Christian.

Christian Impact:

Downing refuses to shy away from Sayers’ ideas about art and faith, even her tart statements about pious-but-boring Christian entertainment. Wages of Cinema makes a compelling case that serving God well means studying deeply before we pass judgments on complicated art, understanding the medium as well as the message.

Note: readers who enjoy this book may also enjoy the other books in the Intervarsity Press Studies in Theology and the Arts Series, available here:

https://www.ivpress.com/studies-in-theology-and-the-arts-series

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