Respond to these rapid questions in our The Shack quiz and we will tell you which The Shack character you are. Play it now.
Since its publication in 2007, William P. Young’s Christian-themed novel The Shack has become one of the most successful literary successes of the last decade, with sales of more than ten million copies worldwide since its release. With those kinds of numbers, it was inevitable that a screen adaptation would one day appeal to the book’s already-existing fanbase while also attracting new audiences who had never read the book before. While fans of the book will no doubt be pleased with the final product, those who have never read the book may find themselves wondering what all the fuss is about as they watch this awkwardly-constructed work. Even though the film “The Shack” intends to be a sincere investigation into the nature of faith and forgiveness, it manages to be both far too innocuous and far too off-putting to be of any use.
Despite growing up in a dysfunctional household with an alcoholic and abusive father, Mack Phillips (Sam Worthington) has managed to overcome a difficult upbringing (Derek Hamilton). With his wife Nan (Radha Mitchell) and three children, teenagers Kate (Megan Charpentier) and Josh (Gage Munroe), as well as the adorable moppet Missy, he has a contented existence (Amelie Eve). When Mack takes the three kids on a camping trip, Nan stays behind to take care of business, and Missy goes missing after being left alone by Mack while he rescues his other children from drowning in a canoe mishap, everything comes crashing down. After discovering that someone is abducting and killing little girls, the police are able to track down the suspect and track him down to a remote, dilapidated shack, where all that is found is some blood and Missy’s torn dress. The investigation continues.
Mack is unable to move on from the tragedy despite the passage of time. It has an impact on his relationships with his siblings and the rest of his family during a period known as “The Great Sadness.” One day, a mysterious note arrives in his mailbox, inviting him to return to the same shack the following weekend. The note is signed “Papa,” which happens to be Nan’s affectionate nickname for the almighty God. As soon as he arrives, he discovers that the surroundings have changed from a frigid wasteland to a lush, lovely environment, and that the shack has been transformed into a swanky home that houses a version of the Holy Trinity in which God—sorry, Papa—is represented by an African-American woman (Octavia Spencer), Jesus (Avraham Aviv Alush) is a carpenter of Middle-Eastern descent, and the Holy Spirit is represented (Sumire Matsubara). Over the course of the next three days, Mack opens up to the three of them in ways that allow him to mend his relationships with them, learn to forgive, and finally find closure in the wake of Missy’s passing.
But you shouldn’t waste any more time and start this The Shack quiz.
Since its publication, “The Shack” has sparked considerable debate within the Christian community, with some claiming that it interprets both the Bible and the Holy Trinity in ways that are considered heretical. Based on my viewing of the film, I would dismiss those accusations as nonsense; to be truly heretical would necessitate a higher level of reasoning than the clumsy plotting and vacuous New Agey philosophies offered up in this film. Granted, attempting to put words into the mouth(s) of God would be a difficult task for even the most accomplished writers, but couldn’t the writers assembled here have come up with something a little more creative than the trite platitudes being presented as eye-opening spiritual truths? I believe that God is ultimately responsible for all that is good, pure, and beautiful in the world but always seems to find an excuse when it comes to the more obnoxious aspects of life, based on the somewhat hazy thinking on display. If one has the audacity to raise this particular point, as Mack understandably does, one is met with a slew of straw man arguments that pretend to answer his questions while failing to do so in any meaningful way. Just as off-putting are the inconsequential details that are thrown in to make God seem more relatable to us, such as the moment when Papa, seemingly out of nowhere, reveals that she is a fan of the musician Neil Young. I could have forgiven Mack if this had resulted in him questioning why she had allowed that hideous album containing all of the songs about his car to exist in the first place.
The Shack Quiz
Anyone who does not already subscribe to “The Shack’s” way of thinking will find little in the way of a coherent narrative in the film, despite the amount of pontificating that takes place on screen. There are plenty of plot details on display, to be sure, but the screenplay is more concerned with merely mentioning them than it is with actually dealing with them. We are told about Mack’s estrangement from his family as a result of Missy’s murder, but aside from one brief scene, we don’t really get a sense of it. Perhaps because doing anything more would draw attention to the fact that it is the older daughter, who was responsible for the canoe accident and is suffering from guilt as a result of it, who should really be meeting with Papa and his entourage instead of him. Mack and his mother are beaten by his father, which culminates in the suggestion that he straight-up murders the old man, only to never bring it up again; not only does Papa fail to bring it up during their conversations, but his own father, in spirit form, also fails to bring it up while pleading with his son for forgiveness, which is also never brought up again.
Also, you will find out which character are you in this The Shack quiz.
After a while, I found myself thinking more and more about “Silence,” Martin Scorsese’s recent religious drama that played in theaters a few weeks ago but has since been removed from the schedule. A spiritual crisis can develop when a person devotes their life to praying to a God who appears more interested in letting you suffer indefinitely than in answering your prayers, and that film dealt with the same subject matter as “The Shack.” While other films have played with spirituality and the nature of God, “Silence” takes its questions about these topics seriously, resulting in a spellbinding film that may be thought-provoking even for those who do not come from a religious background. When it comes to the film “The Shack,” on the other hand, it’s little more than a bunch of nonsense that uses all of the right words but fails to give them any kind of meaning that would allow it to mean anything to anyone who isn’t already predisposed to liking it. Of course, given the popularity of the book, there is a good chance that “The Shack” will gross more money in its first weekend than “Silence” did over the course of its entire run—a prospect that is depressing enough to cause spiritual crises in any number of moviegoers.
For more personality quizzes check this: A Bad Moms Christmas Quiz.
