Care for a Brownie?

I like movies. Who doesn’t like movies? The only problem is movies are not always that great. I’m not talking in terms of plot, characters, and the rest of that—well, those can be an issue too—but what I mean is that they’re not always that helpful in trying to help me live like a Christian.

My dad once likened it to a pan brownies: “Brownies are good, but what if they’ve got even a little bit of crap in them? It’s only a little, but are you still going to eat that brownie?” My response? “Eww. No.” Then we think about the little bit of crap in movies. It’s only a little, but it’s still there, and it still gets inside your body and affects the way you behave. Are you still going to watch it?

It’s difficult to say "no" because movies and televisions shows are kind of a big part of our lives. It seems a movie can’t be a success unless it has destruction, profanity, nudity, and/or sexual content. Destruction may not be all that much of a hindrance in trying to live a holier life; it’s just one of those things necessary to most successful movies. Finding a movie or TV show without those other three can be quite difficult.

I used to sit with an 80-year-old lady with Alzhiemer’s Disease. Whenever we wanted to watch television, we’d be stuck with orangutans and cooking shows because those were among the few that we could be sure were “safe.” Whenever the show would break for a commercial, I’d have the remote in hand ready to flip the channels if they started advertizing soap.

Oh my gosh! The soap commercials. What happened to the soap commercials that would just show people washing their hands or a mirror? Now we’ve got women caressing themselves as water drips down their bodies. Don’t need that. It makes me want to buy your product even less.

So you’ve heard my rant about it. What are you going to do? I’m still struggling through it, and I’m by no means perfect with any of this. I still watch my occasional Lethal Weapon and Friends episode. Is it that we must realize the bad that comes with the good (or entertaining)? In recognizing the bad, we can set it aside more and make it less likely that the show will affect us subconsciously.


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Candy Bar Brownies. 2009. Chica and Jo: Tackling life one project at a time. Web. 6 Dec. 2011.

Giulia. Bathing Hedgehog. 2009. Furry Talk: Let's see cute animals' opinions! Web. 6 Dec. 2011.