Critique of Christy: the (1994) movie series by Melody

Based on Catharine Marshall’s best-selling novel Christy, the movie series produced in 1994 by Ken Wales, follows nineteen year-old Christy Huddleston (Kellie Martin). Inspired by the middle aged Quaker, Miss Alice Henderson (Tyne Daly). Christy she leaves her North Carolina “sheltered” home against her parents’ wishes, for the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee to be a schoolteacher where she often gets herself into compromising situations.

Arriving at Cutter Gap, the lovely Miss Huddleston begins her position at the mission as schoolmistress. Miss Alice becomes a mentor to Christy, teaching and reinforcing mostly bad theology.

The “little green marshian philosophies” of humanism creep in subtly: feminism, passivism, singleness as better than marriage, the concept of “too many children,” environmentalism, egalitarianism, spurning and flouting of protective coverings, etc.

Christy frequently visits her students’ parents, dividing the families with her plans and worship of higher education and not getting married “too soon.”

When Christy finds out a couple students have a serious crush on each other she says to Dr. Neil McNeil: “These children need to be taught proper hygiene” and how to prevent children.

The episode A Closer Walk gives us a glimpse into the spiritual immaturity of the minister, David Grantland. When asked by Aunt Polly, the Cove’s oldest resident, if she will go straight to heaven or remain in soul-sleep until the last trump, he replies that he doesn’t know, and “The Bible is confusing on this point.” The little old lady responded with Jesus’ reply to the thief on the cross, “This day, you will be with me in paradise.”

When Christy writes home to Ashville requesting necessities, they are sent a surprise: a telephone. Along with school books, shoes, dresses etc. However, the people won’t accept anything free. In desperation she goes to Dr. McNeil, who tells her that this is because of their “Calvinist heritage,” but, they would accept the assistance if they could trade for it. So, Christy sets up a barter store at the mission in charge of Ruby Mae. Meanwhile, Dr. Jacob Ferrand, founder of the mission arrived a month early to discover boxes of goods. In George Muller style, he objected to Christy’s efforts to solicit assistance for the needs of the people there.

As the young pastor and Jeb Spencer work on putting up the telephone line, Miss Alice reminds them that, as she came from a long tradition of equality between men and women, she was determined to help them raise telephone poles resulting in an accident, when she breaks two ribs.

Pastor David told Christy, “I often go on a search to rescue you and you always turn up safe and sound at Dr. McNiel’s.” She is playing both men, not choosing, not assessing each biblically.

The minister, David Grantland, took responsibility for his sister when Clarence Sweetwater showed up, sending David’s sister, Ida, into a swoon. Clarence and Ida had been corresponding, winning each others’ hearts, all without David’s knowledge or consent. So David tests his mettle, working hard with him and asking questions. When his sister asks permission to marry, David replied that he was an utter stranger, and unworthy of her. She protested that she knew his character by his letters. The women of the cove in anticipation, made Ida a wedding trousseau. She then tells David that “I don’t need your permission, but I would like your blessing, and want you to marry us.” Realizing his defeat, David backed down and gave Clarence the ring for his sister which he had intended for Christy who turned down his proposal of marriage.

In a discussion about equality, Miss Alice commented that “Maybe someday women will be equal to men.” All are equal under God, but men and women have different divisions of labor. I Timothy 5:14 says: “I will that the younger women marry, bear children, guide the house, give none occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully.”

While Christy accompanied David to one of his sermons, a man claiming to have a broken arm asked for directions to Dr. McNeil’s. His wife had overdosed on Laudanum after the birth of their stillborn child, and he was about to take revenge on the doctor for “poisoning” her.

David spied him move a branch with his “wounded” arm, and told Christy to go inside on their arrival, and then tried unsuccessfully to take care of the villain himself. He shot David, kidnapped Christy and Sam Houston who came to show the doctor something. Sam was sent to Dr. McNeil with the message that he was to come alone, and that Christy’s life would be sacrificed if Neil didn’t show up, or brought help. He did bring help. The Quakeress, Miss Alice soundly berating the men for resorting to force to rescue Christy, enforcing her entreaties with pacifistic injunctions to not injure Christy’s dangerous kidnapper.

When Christy’s students found a baby, she reconsidered her refusal to marry David. Miss Alice said, “Children are a blessing,” but doesn’t think that giving the little one to a Cutter Gap family is good because “They have too many already.” Alice said Christy isn’t ready to be a mother and deems that she is just “playing house” because she couldn’t save the little girl when she stopped breathing but Opal did. Tom & Opal McHone, whose little girl died earlier in the story, adopt her, and christen her Iris, Christy stood in as her godmother.

The series ends as a cliffhanger, with Christy deciding between the two suitors: The best evaluation of the two men is demonstrated earlier when Dr. McNeil declares to Rob Allen in a lesson on Chemistry that the Bible is not to be trusted on matters of Science and reason and David emphatically defending the scripture, stated that God created the earth in six days. Christy ends their discussion with, Now, gentlemen, in the Bible, how long was a day?

The Christy series has 20^th century characters speaking 21^st century neo-Marxist rhetoric of Humanism.

To understand Christy, you must understand the Marxian analysis. We are taught from Hollywood to worship nature, that marriage is secondary and substandard, that fathers are irresponsible and dopy, that small towns are evil and depraved, that salvation is by education: that if you don’t go to college you are not going to fully live out your potential in life.

“Let us hear the whole conclusion of the matter,

fear God, and keep His commandments:

for this is the whole duty of man.

For God shall bring every work into judgment,

with every secret thing,

whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”

~Ecclesiastes 12:13-14