I read the following in a critic's review: "Clay concocts a series of. . . Christian Survivor-like challenges. . . designed to test Amber's worthiness as the recipient of his divinely inspired seed." If you've seen the movie, can you please explain what this refers to? I have not seen the movie, so I'm not agreeing with the reviewer; I just want information.
Thanks!
SPOILERS!
Clay doesn't believe in dating. When he and Amber become interested in each other, and she pushes him to date, he tells her he will do so only if she is willing to go about it his way. She agrees. Step one is visiting a minister for pre-marital counseling, even though they are not engaged and have not even gone on a date yet. They are given a book called "Red, Yellow, Green" which seems to be a list of questions they should ask their potential mate. One of the questions involves children. She says she has never had any experience. Next thing you know, Clay has Amber at his friend's house to see if she can take care of a child. It bothered me a bit until she turned the tables on him by having him split logs with an ax on their next date. It was a tongue-in-cheek way to show him he was being ridiculous. I felt that he got the message. The characters both test each other quite a bit, which is part of the storyline. They are imperfect people with painful pasts, like most people. They don't always handle things the right way, which is also pretty human. They find their way through their unique courtship and into a relationship together. I can see how a reviewer who was looking for something not to like could get hung up on Clay's intense beliefs about relationships. But this stems from his past, and as part of the story, he is shown that he is wrong and has to change. I found it to be very heartwarming and real. It made me wish that I had gone about courtship the way they did instead of the way most people do these days.
Really? Because the only way Clay changes in this film is by accepting that everyone else isn't as 'Jesus' as he is that he has to live with that. He doesn't change his horrible views, he's perfectly fine with the terrible way he treated her, and is still admitting at the end of the film that he doesn't care about her for HER; he just wants her to make babies. Lovely.
These characters aren't human: she's just a naïve, wide-eyed innocent in an EVIL world who desperately needs to be ingratiated into his cult and brow-beaten until she no longer has any independence and relies entirely on him for her views and opinions. Yeah, she kinda 'turned the tables' on him, but he immediately started brow-beating her again, demanding that she adhere to the strict protocols in the book and when she DARED to question them, he threw her out. His idea of 'changing' because he 'loved' her? Proposing to her, even though they never shared a single conversation about common interests, world-views, points of difference, or hopes for the future. She's a wounded little dove getting out of an abusive relationship into another abusive relationship, where the man strips her of her identity and forces him to follow his rules. The moral of the film: you're being a little ridiculous, Clay, but don't worry, she'll come around.
*beep* THAT noise.