Thursday, November 22, 2007

Entertainment

The television has changed the culture so much. When I was growing up, I didn’t have a TV until later in elementary school. It took a little while. But our family would go outside and play. I grew up playing kick the can and tag and outdoor games like that. Then my brothers and I always played different sports outside. Instead of watching the TV or playing video games, we would play basketball, baseball, hockey, football, and soccer. We had a ping-pong table and pool table as well. The TV is a cause for a lack of an attention span in children. This is a cause of ADHD that the world rants and raves about.
There are many interesting movies out there to watch. Lots of my friends are all up to date on their movies. They spend their time and money making sure that they do not miss any of the best movies. Now, I do not have anything against these movies. But I think it says much about our society and the importance of entertainment. Instead of it being something to do on the side, it has turned into something that consumes us. The amount of time spent learning and reading has been transferred to the amount of time we spend on entertainment. We no longer seek knowledge, but rather struggle to not drown in the ocean of entertainment. I am often clueless in conversations about movies because I have not spent the time watching these movies. While movies can educate quite a bit and do have positives to them, I do question the overall help of them to society.
No longer are Christians actively seeking wholesome entertainment that will grow them in the Lord. There is pressure on the entertainment industry to produce movies that exploit all the problems that the Bible teaches against. The reason there is pressure is because that is what people watch and so if they want to make any money, filthy movies is what they must produce. Movies are a reflection of our society’s desires. Now, I will say in the last couple of years there have been hit movies that were clean and good. I hope that the demand for those goes up.

1 comment:

Philip Carrel said...

Oh Dave, Movies can be used for good. Like bringing to light issues that ordinary people like you and I face everyday ie death,growing old,faith,hope,. Movies are a powerful medium that can reach an enormous audience. Now, do not I repeat do not misinterpret that statement with the thought of winning people to Christ with movies. That in itself is not wrong, but if you sacrifice the art for the cause, to push propaganda, you destroy the art form. This is where Christians go wrong, and people know when there getting pushed and they don't particularly like it. We probably disagree on the higher calling (witnessing or artistic calling) (I had a class on the Artists Vocation, from a devout Catholic teacher who converted to Catholicism after highschool.)

Now I know I was hard on Christians, but non-Christians in Hollywood also do this. And thats where you get some filthy movies. When a movie is made for the wrong reasons, usually money, and the Art form of filmmaking is destroyed, the movie is crap. Not all movies are crap because of there filth. Boondock Saints by any southern baptist standards, is a movie straight from the pit of fire and brimstone, but when you get past that, you find a movie that has a strong message and great story. Any movie that makes you think about it in the shower the next morning has done its job