Be Authentic: A Closer Look at The Emoji Movie

“How are you?”

“I’m great and you?”

“Can’t complain.”

“Awesome.”

Each and every day, millions of hardworking men and women, boys and girls, go to work and school. Then each and every day, they all have short surface level conversations like the one above, not because they care when they say such things necessarily, but more because such conversations are a part of their daily lives. Besides, who would ever want to know what’s really going on, and not just the good, but the bad as well?

The Emoji Movie, released this weekend, is currently the worst reviewed film of the year. It now stands at a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. Yet, with all its low-brow PG potty humor and its poorly formed plot, this film dives heavily into the topic of authenticity, through its main character Gene, a “meh” emoji.

The Emoji Movie takes place inside the phone of a teenage boy named Alex. Deep within Alex’s phone, in the city of Textopolis, lie numerous emojis who stay true to their emoticon or symbol. Those that laugh, laugh. Those that cry, cry. And those that do other things, well they do those things too.

Gene is a new emoji and is going to spend his first day on the job, hoping to be used by Alex, the owner of the phone that he lives inside, so that Alex can send a text to a girl he likes.

However, when it comes time for Gene to make his expression and be sent in a text, he panics, so that when Addie, the girl Alex likes, sees the text Alex sent her, Gene comes up as an odd, contorted emoji that is unclear as to what expression it wants to show.

Needless to say, that displeases everyone else, and for the rest of the movie, the head emoji of Textopolis, a manic dictator named Smiler, does everything she can to destroy Gene, all that so Textopolis can stay afloat, with everyone doing their job, showing one expression each and one alone.

By the film’s conclusion, however, it becomes clear not just to Smiler, but to the rest of the emojis as well, that Gene being able to have multiple emotions, does not mean he has a handicap or a “malfunction” as they say, but a gift and a gift to be cherished.

Far too often, whether it’s in our workplaces, our homes, our churches, or with our families and friends, we may feel we have to have it all together. We have to be responsible, do our jobs, go to school, and smile, even when we do not feel like it.

Yet, I have found, in my almost twenty-eight years of living on this earth, that no freedom can be found there. Freedom and growth can only come through community and being real and authentic about the brokenness in all our lives, while cherishing our strengths and giving over to God our weaknesses, so that He can work in and through them.

And, you know what? I’m not the first person to say that.

1 John 1:7-9 (NIV)

⁷ But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all^[a] sin.

⁸ If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

So, moving forward, may we all live authentically, finding freedom through not just through community and family, but ultimately through Jesus. And maybe take a hike, a walk outside, and not get caught up in this temporary artificial world, in our phones, or any other thing, that will one day pass away.

Until Next Time,

Jacob McGowen