Yes, congrats on baby Theo! She’s lovely.
I think the fundamental problem in this discussion is that we are addicted to entertainment, and that addiction is an extremely powerful force for evil. I really don’t think we take seriously how corrosive it is. We don’t take seriously how corrosive commercials are, let alone the movies and TV shows and music and, yes, books, we consume. As I mentioned recently in another thread, if our thoughts and feelings are dominated by secular entertainment that is evil, then our religion is really just an interesting hobby we keep in the garage and work on on the weekends.
A healthy Christian (mind, heart, and body) needs good food to live, and the sooner Christians take the off-ramp from secular entertainment, the better.
So, then, let me start in my response with some encouragement. I admit up front that, unlike you, I don’t love the medium of TV. If all TV went away I would not shed a single tear. But you and I both, @nathanalberson, do share a love for the written word. And I have appreciated the Bookening. I have read books because of your recommendations and have been helped by your discussions. In fact, Remains of the Day is now one of my favorite novels. As cheesy as it sounds, I think it helped me grow as a person. And I could list other books that I read and was helped by because of you guys.
But I don’t feel the same way about Sanity at the Movies. I’ve mostly ignored the show because I don’t want to watch any of the movies you guys review.
You say in your response,
I wish you had said, “Process, deprogram and show them where to take the first exit.” After all the analysis, the most helpful thing we can say to people about Marvel or Star Wars is, “at the end of the day, just skip it.”
You make a distinction in your response between the medium itself and the garbage content that gets produced. That’s good. You should make me and other legalists like me think about the medium more carefully. I shouldn’t be able to get off so easily.
But then you need to actually help me see that there are movies I can watch with my family that don’t make me gnash my teeth. And I do think that’s your job - you’re the one who knows the medium and loves it.
Recently, you reviewed The Philadelphia Story and My Neighbor Tortoro. Those may be the first movies I’ve seen in your list that I feel I could watch with a clear conscience. I’ll watch The Philadelphia Story sometime with Hannah and check out your review.
Here’s another angle to try to demonstrate where I’m coming from. The Daily Wire has made a name for itself in the conservative world, and Andrew Klavan is a writer who has had a fair bit of success in the secular world producing content. He became a Christian, and now he wants to help Christians to fight back in the culture war with content that is compelling (i.e. not trashy Christian imitations of Hollywood). But this is the first film they chose to distribute: Run Hide Fight. Parents guide to the film here.
When I see that, I just think, I’m done. This is how we are going to win the culture war? Check please. I’ll head back to my fundamentalist camp now.
Love you, brothers.