Last week I attended a MediaLit course at college, and very interesting it was too. We studied all sorts of areas relating to Christianity and the media. The evening sessions included watching episodes of popular TV shows and commenting upon them from a Christian viewpoint.
One of the shows we watched was Glee, the episode involving a grilled cheese sandwich with the image of Jesus on it. I confess that I had never watched Glee and approached it with a certain amount of apprehension but I actually found the programme had slightly more depth than I thought it would and addressed faith issues without being either preachy or condescending. I'm not saying that I'd rush to watch it again, but wouldn't automatically turn it off either.
The same, unfortunately, cannot be said of The Simpsons, a TV show I have watched and enjoyed for many years but have decided I can no longer watch. I have always thought The Simpsons to be very clever, a close to the bone satire commenting on all that is wrong in American society (and, to a degree, British society too) and have found it very, very funny. After we had watched one episode, though, people questioned whether it was suitable viewing for Christians, because of the violence content (especially Itchy & Scratchy) and language. I was initially quite defensive, but determined to watch the second episode of the evening through the eyes of somebody who had never watched The Simpsons before. The episode in question was the one where Lisa becomes a Buddhist. I found myself agreeing with the critics. There was unnecessary and gratuitous violence that added nothing to the narrative; there was language that some could find offensive and the central theme of this particular episode, criticising Cristianity whilst promoting Buddhism was also offensive to me as a Christian believer, especially since it was a gross exaggeration. I now feel i an no longer watch The Simpsons as entertainment.
The discussion about The Simpsons lead to a wider discussion as to whether there are some TV programmes, films etc that Christians simply shouldn't watch because their content is unsuitable for Christian believers. This self censorship is something I have always shied away from a a Christian, thinking it too close to the legalism of the Pharisees; now I am not so sure. I'm coming to think that a steady exposure to gratuitous violence, objectionable language, questionable morals and even on screen nudity has a desensitising effect; we become used to it and instead of seeing it as sinful we tolerate it, not just on the screen but in the real world too!
As Christians we should perhaps be careful about what we allow our eyes to view; whether that be TV, films or even words on the pages of a book, not to mention the internet. We only have a limited amount of time and whilst we must not loose touch with popular culture we must not allow it to influence unduly either. There is a mass of Christian media content out there just waiting for us to access it; so perhaps we should be reading those Christian books more, watching those Christian TV shows, listening to Christian radio and supporting and encouraging our brothers and sisters in the media who work to spread the good news of the gospel of Christ. I'm not saying we should abandon secular media, but that we should perhaps be more responsible and selective as we consume from different media.
Finally we need to remember that we are, to an extent, shaped as people by the media we consume; it affects our thought processes and opinions to a much greater degree than many of us realise. If we are to think and live as Chritians then surely we should be accessing mainly that which is noble, that which is right and that which is true!
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