Why Film?
The new season of the sci-fi thriller Battlestar Galactica is coming out in late March and I am so excited about it. I’ve followed it religiously for the first three seasons and have been completely blown away by the intricacy of the plot and character development. Every time I have it figured out, and I think they’ve finally found their way to Earth, another twist unfolds that connects things from very beginning to the present. I sit on my couch shaking my head, knowing I should have seen it coming. If even the smallest detail is missed, I find myself completely lost. It’s because of this show that I installed a TV in my kitchen and I was shopping for a flat screen to go on the wall of my bathroom opposite the toilet. Not even nature could cause me to miss a second of the action! My fiancée says I’m obsessed, but it’s no different for her. Sure, she doesn’t watch the sci-fi thrillers that I watch, but she can’t miss a single episode of What Not to Wear. If she does, she won’t know how to dress herself the following morning. In the end, she’s just as addicted as I am.
Because the masses of Americans watch an exorbitant amount of television each day, it stands as a perfect medium for reaching them with the Gospel of Jesus Christ through Christian films and programs. According to the online article by Herr, over sixty-six percent of Americans own three or more televisions, while ninety-nine percent of the population owns at least one. Being from a missionary family didn’t make me an exception to the rule. Though my parents have only purchased two televisions over the course of twenty years, friends often gave away their old sets as they upgraded to newer, more advanced models. Four out of five rooms in my house had working television sets in them. As I grew up, it was my room that lacked the TV. This didn’t stop me, though. All I had to do was turn on my computer and do a little typing and in no time I could have nearly any channel known to man broadcast right on my computer monitor. From experience, I can tell you that the Japanese shopping network is just as easy to sleep through as its American counterpart. It would appear as though I couldn’t escape this form of mass communication even if I wanted to. “TV has become as indispensable in the home as a bathtub or a refrigerator, and probably garners much more attention than either of those appliances” (Miraz). It was this knowledge that drove me to make a decision that has since altered the course of my life.
During my junior and senior years of high school, although my teachers were relentless in their questions as to what my future career would be, I was never prepared with an answer. Their questions were driven more out of the school board’s requirement to prod us onward to our eventual “great” futures in the adult world rather than an actual concern for us. Their questions did get me thinking and, over time, brought forth a passion. I had always enjoyed the concepts of film and had, by my senior year, created several glorious films that will forever remain matchless and stand the test of time. I loved film. I loved making films. It was as simple as that. I was going to launch myself into a career in which I made the most spectacular films ever to be seen at the box office. I would be wealthy beyond comparison and be renowned worldwide for my talents. Though the idea seems fantastic from a human perspective, it didn’t take long for God, my Lord and Savior, to change my path. I was to serve Him. Thankfully it was the Holy Spirit who changed my perspective on things. I was not being called away from my passion for film making, but instead was being called to use that gift, not to bring glory to myself, but to my Heavenly Father.
I began to reflect on my own addiction to television and I had an epiphany. Here is a door into every house, into every room, and ultimately into every mind in America. The Devil figured this out only moments after the first television signal was broadcast. Doctor Norman Herr, a professor at California State University, showed the statistics on violence, and by the time a child finishes elementary school, he or she will have seen over eight thousand murders. By the age of eighteen that same individual will be witness to over two hundred thousand acts of violence. These statistics, while disturbing, fail to include the sexual promiscuity, drug use, alcoholism and countless other socially demoralizing issues that are so gloriously promoted through our favorite box-office hits. My life was affected just as much as anyone else’s.
The violence never had as much of an impact on my psyche as did the overwhelming sexuality encouraged on the national networks and high budget cinematic film. When a study was conducted by three professors, Hasantha Gunasekera, Simon Chapman, and Sharon Campbell, eighty-seven of the top two hundred films of all time were analyzed for sexual content where sexual intercourse was depicted. The study concluded that “There were 53 sex episodes in 28 (32%) of the 87 movies reviewed” (Gunasekera). Another study done by the same professors showed the percent for television shows depicting sexual intercourse to be around fourteen percent. This study fails to include the common practice of airing films on broadcast networks.
As I would casually flip from channel to channel trying to find out if the Forty-Niners were playing that Sunday, I would pass a channel where something quite questionable was taking place. It wouldn’t take long for curiosity to take over and for the score of my football game to become entirely insignificant. More than likely I received more sex education from television than I did from my own parents. Most of my views and opinions on sex – the degradation of women into nothing more than objects of desire or being able to engage in intercourse without reaping any consequences – were formed before I was even fourteen. Studies into film and television showed clearly that “comments made by characters during the movies reinforced promiscuity and ridiculed monogamy and celibacy” (Gunasekera). Over the next few years, I was witness to dozens of couples in the act of sexual intercourse via the television networks and films, all the while my perceptions on sexuality were becoming more and more distorted.
My views on intimacy were rocked and shaken at their foundations and, even today, I still suffer the aftereffects of my choices. My future wife will also be forced to come to terms with my actions. Though my parents commendably tried to filter such distorted views on sex and battled against the tide to bring the godly perspective back to the issue, the filter was inevitably overwhelmed. The scars I have now are permanent and will take more than a lifetime to heal. There is so much damage left in the wake of a simple button on a TV remote.
Because I am a believer in the one true God and have been made a new creature in Christ, I am bound to follow the commandments of my Savior. In Matthew 13, Christ tells me what I am to be – “You are the salt of the earth…” (Matt 5:13) – and in verse fourteen He says I am “…the light of the world…” In plain English, I am to set forth to present a different message, God’s message, through what I say, what I do, and even what I think. Because I am called to be salt, I am called to influence my world.
My senior year of high school I made a promise to myself that I would influence the influence. If you suggest that Americans watch less TV, you are going to be laughed at. Since the average American household watches “6 hours, 47 minutes” (Herr) of TV each day, turning it off might be comparable to a self-induced cardiac arrest. It’s pretty clear that the TV isn’t going off anytime soon, but this shouldn’t be seen as a problem. Just as the Roman Empire and its elaborate network of roads was the perfect catalyst for swiftly spreading the gospel message throughout the known world, so the television could act as a vehicle to carry the message of saving grace into nearly every home in the modern world. The TV is not evil. The television itself never had an impact on my life. The programs and commercials that were broadcast across it, on the other hand, influenced me in ways I can barely begin to comprehend. Even though I was raised in a Christian home, surrounded by those who wished to carefully guard my purity, I was still molded and manipulated by TV programming. How much more will those who have no protection be influenced? Children will grow into adults with minds so warped by what they have seen that their entire lives will be spent recovering.
The tools are available for engaging the public with the gospel, but believers must be willing to use them. People are willing and eager to watch films that depict religious or Godly things. The Passion of the Christ was one such film that proved that. According to statists taken by the Barna Group, one out of three Americans had seen the film within six months of its release while eighteen percent claim to have had changed their lifestyles because of it. While it may not be the desire to watch specifically religious films that draws viewers, the fact remains that Americans are watching a lot of films. When the availability of quality Christian media broadens, there will already be an eager viewing audience waiting to see what is offered.
TV in and of itself may not be the cause. Man is, in the end, responsible for his own actions. My life changed and continues to change by what I have seen and continue to see on the tube. I will never attempt to remove TV from the home, but I will challenge the things that are being viewed through it. God has given me gifts, and it is my responsibility to use those gifts; it is my mandate to reach the lost. Christ called me a light. Therefore, because I see the need, I must stand in the midst of this fallen world, beaming a beacon of hope across the greatest form of mass communication in existence. If, at the end of my days, only one person has been brought to a saving faith through my efforts, then my life will not have been a life wasted.
Work Cited
Gunasekera, Hasantha, Simon Chapman, and Sharon Campbell. “Sex and drugs in popular movies: an analysis of the top 200 films” Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. PubMed Central. Oct. 2005. 27 Feb 2008
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1240103
Herr, Norman. “Television and Health.” Source Book for Teaching Science. California State University, Northridge. 27 Feb. 2008
http://www.csun.edu/science/health/docs/tv&health.html
Miraz, Barbara. “Burma Shave To The Beatles: Television Media Influence in the Golden Age” Media Literacy: Toward Youth Empowerment in Mass Communication. University of New Mexico. 1 Jan. 2006. 27 Feb. 2008
http://www.unm.edu/~abqteach/media_cus/01-04-06.htm
“New Survey Examines the Impact of Gibson’s ‘Passion’ Movie” The Barna Group. 10 July 2004. 27 Feb 2008
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdateNarrow&BarnaUpdateID=167