Posted by
Thomas Lasher on Wednesday, March 14, 2007 8:52:33 PM
As a parent I have become increasingly aware of moral content in movies, television, music and other media. I can still handle “adult” subject matter when presented in the proper context. However as a father I realize that young children’s exposure to such material should be closely monitored. Since the entertainment industry is generally more concerned with turning a profit than the cultural impact of its product, parents must be ever more vigilant about their children’s viewing and listening habits.
The constant barrage from the modern culture can make a parent’s job of filtering content an overwhelming challenge. Amid this confusion it is tempting to sterilize a child’s intake in such a puritanical fashion that, in an overzealous frenzy to eliminate all of the bad messages and twisted morality of Hollywood, parents risk missing valuable opportunities to teach children moral lessons. A child that is never exposed to moral dilemmas or grows up ignorant of the evil that exists in the world will be ill prepared for the conflicts he or she will inevitably face. I would not suggest sitting a four-year-old in front of the next episode of an adult drama or taking your pre-teen to an R-rated movie. But age-appropriate material is available that can both entertain and instruct.
One of the chief parental concerns in film and television is violence. Violence is inherently destructive and negative. Our natural impulse might be to rid our children of this evil entirely. And some parents do shield their children from even the most cartoonish slapstick routine. But violence plays a key role in so many significant events (wars, individual acts of heroism, etc.) that shape our society and are considered morally justified. Knowledge of violence is necessary to understand the world in which we live.
Violence in movies and other story telling media often pits forces of good against evil in a symbolic morality tale. When the good guys always win and evil is inevitably defeated, children learn to make important moral distinctions and see goodness as the most desirable and rewarding choice. I recently witnessed my preschool-aged son experience Star Wars for the first time. The stark contrast between the evil Empire and the forces of good championed by the Rebel Alliance are easy for him to discern even at his young age. He wants to be Luke Skywalker because he wants to be the good guy. And he knows that being the good guy sometimes means taking a stand against forces of evil.
A child who is never exposed to any violence (even violence done in the name of justice) will likely grow up ignorant of the complexities of our turbulent world. Such a child might never realize that good must sometimes violently resist evil. We witness this very phenomenon today among many on the left who reject war (even just war) and do so in large part because they cannot distinguish between good and evil. They live in a world that has been de-mythologized. The mythical battles between armies of light and armies of darkness, between good guys in white hats and bad guys in black hats, have been erased from their psyches, and with it they have lost the will and the ability to fight for any cause.
Hollywood does not think of all this as it churns out its usual fare. If anything Hollywood prefers the tearing down of myths as much as anyone else on the left. Which is why, as I said before, parents must be vigilant. But this does not mean we must settle for butterflies and flowers and big purple puppets singing candy-coated songs. Eventually every child must learn how the world works. Selecting a movie or watching television with your kids can become a dynamic teaching opportunity if you take the time to learn the moral complexities of issues and discuss these topics as a family. Certainly we fight an uphill battle against the amorality of Hollywood, but our power lies in what we choose as consumers and the values we instill in our children so that they may someday make wise moral choices.