Our FInal Draft by Joshua Schulz

Our Final Draft

Joshua Schulz on the Revisionist Narrative of Christian Hope

In the 2012 film Flight, Denzel Washington plays a pilot named Whip Whitaker, who, while experiencing the catastrophic mechanical failure of a commercial aircraft carrying over one hundred souls, does what looks to be courageous: he calmly guides his crew and the mangled plane to a crash landing that saves all but a few passengers. When the wing flaps controlling the jet's altitude get stuck in a position that drives the plane towards the ground, Whitaker inverts the aircraft so he can control its descent until he can put it down in a field. It is an amazing feat of technical prowess.

After the crash, many call Whip a hero. As the film continues, however, we learn that the meaning and value of his actions inthe aircraft are not so straightforward. The movie clearly and painfully portrays Whip as a late-stage alcoholic, a compulsive liar, and an absentee father. We see him deliberately using his friends, family, and lovers as props for his addiction until he has alienated everyone but his coke dealer. His character is incontinent bordering on vicious.

THIS ARTICLE ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
FOR QUICK ACCESS:


• Not a subscriber or wish to renew your subscription? Subscribe to Touchstone today for full online access. Over 30 years of publishing!


personal subscriptions

Purchase Print &
Online Subscription

Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!


RENEW your print/online
subscription

Purchase
Online Subscription

Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives including pdf downloads for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!


RENEW your online subscription

gift subscriptions

GIVE Print &
Online Subscription

Give six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for the reduced rate of $29.95. That's only $2.50 per month!


RENEW your gift subscription

Transactions will be processed on a secure server.

bulk subscriptions

Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.

kindle subscription

OR get a subscription to Touchstone to read on your Kindle for only $1.99 per month! (This option is KINDLE ONLY and does not include either print or online.)

Your subscription goes a long way to ensure that Touchstone is able to continue its mission of publishing quality Christian articles and commentary.


more on christianity from the online archives

28.3—May/June 2015

Dumb Sheep

on the Truth About a Slanderous Accusation by James S. Spiegel

30.3—May/June 2017

Three Trojan Horses

Insider Attempts to Disorient the Orthodox by Alexander F. C. Webster

32.4—July/August 2019

A Case of Win-Win

on Probability, Death & the Existence of God by Graeme Hunter


more from the online archives

33.5—September/October 2020

Killing Homicide

on Missing Fathers & Redemption in Prison by Bob Perry

32.4—July/August 2019

Pastor Prime

on a Steady Presence in an Unsteady World by Preston Jones

18.3—April 2005

Lions of Succession

on Being a Free Narnian & the Joy of Subordination by Donald T. Williams

calling all readers

Please Donate

"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand

"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor

Support Touchstone

00