Almost everyone I know at ACU has read Blue Like Jazz, and lots of those people really loved it and will say that it had some effect on their spirituality. I felt an even stronger connection to Don Miller’s follow-up book, A Million Miles In A Thousand Years, where he discusses writing the screenplay for the Blue Like Jazz movie and how it affected his life.

However, Don Miller posted on his blog the Blue Like Jazz movie will most likely not be made, mainly due to lack of funding. Don explained, “The folks who invest in Christian movies were scared to death of Blue Like Jazz. While it has a PG-13 rating, there is language, drug use and a scene where the protagonists put a giant condom on a steeple. To me, it’s the only movie that takes an honest look at a Christian kid coming of age in America, a story experienced by tens of millions of students each year. But students don’t fund Christian movies, older white guys do, and they find it hard to relate to the theme.”

The great news is, there is still a chance for this movie to be made. By going to www.savebluelikejazz.com, you can donate money to this film and learn how to help save it. I plan on donating money and think it is important that you do as well.

We as young Christians complain all the time about Christian media and entertainment, and for good reason. Almost every movie that I’ve ever seen with Christian themes has been incredibly cheesy and unrealistic. I long for a story that shows real human struggle, a story honest about the Church, one that is critical of our approach and yet hopeful about how we, through God, can learn to show his love properly.

We cannot continue to complain about the lack of quality Christian entertainment if we let this movie go unmade. We have to show that when the traditional funding structures let this script down, we stepped in to make it happen.

Sandra Amstutz junior information technology major from La Feria