"We can go see it; it's only PG -13." That is something I have caught myself and my friends saying about movies. Well, as much as I hate to admit it (because it limits my entertainment options) PG-13 has really changed. In fact, the movie culture as a whole has changed. Hollywood has boiled the proverbial frog in water by getting us accept that having sex with one's boyfriend or girlfriend before marriage, living with a member of the opposite sex, disrespecting one's parents, reversed gender roles, etc. are all right. Slowly these ideas have crept into movies and lowered the standard for movies whose ratings used to mean that they were acceptable to watch. There are a few major problems with the movie industry and it effects: what it does to people's minds, the ideas about romance, insensitivity to violence, inappropriate humor becoming acceptable, etc.
People are very visual, and once an image has entered into one's mind, it will be stuck there. It has become okay to watch movies with half-naked people in them. People actually get ideas about appropriate attire from these movies. In addition, directors try to visually include enough normalcies in the movie set, so that radical ideas become more readily acceptable. As much as we don't like to admit, beauty and familiarity are powerful tools in manipulating, and we have often succumbed to their powers.
I am like most girls, and I love my romantic comedies and chick flicks. But there are some things I have become willing to ignore, and I am afraid I am becoming insensitive to in order that I will be able to keep watching my movies. Things like premarital sex, living together, dressing immodestly to catch a guy, and more general moral failings like lying, cheating, etc. have been presented as normal in the films that I enjoy so much. I tell myself not to throw out the baby with bath water, and I swallow the whole thing - hook, line, and sinker. It is such a tendency with girls to also get the wrong impression about what kind of women they must be in order to get the guys that we're supposed to desire. This is so dangerous when it comes to thinking about one's own marriage, because people are not like the characters in the movies, and the shabby imitations that we come up with are disgusting, earn us the wrong kind of spouses, and often lead to divorce.
Another problem with the movie industry is its promotion of violence (and insensitivity to it) and revenge. I enjoy watching tense action movies, but I have started to just accept the bloodshed as nothing. I did not realize how detrimental this was, until I wondered why the "death" of so many people was not bothering me. Movies make death and murder impersonal. Revenge is also a common theme in movies, and is probably more of a struggle for people. Christians are steeped in a culture that says one’s natural impulses are reasonable guides for one’s actions. Revenge is one of those impulses. But the Bible says, “Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: ‘It is mine to avenge; I will repay,’ says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19) We are called to live supernatural lives – not natural lives.
Yet another prevalent issue in movie-watching is inappropriate humor. Bathroom humor, stereotypes that slander and misrepresent, sexual humor, etc. are all laced throughout the movies that keep coming out. Even children’s movies have hints at inappropriate humor; such that children are being taught at a young age to laugh at what is sacred or sinful. I have often sat in a movie theater and laughed at the funny parts of a movie, only to realize later how inappropriate that was.
Movies cater to people’s strongest emotions and desires: the desire to be loved, the desire to laugh, feelings of anger over injustice, etc. These are not sinful desires/ feelings; in fact, they are what make us human. Because the people in the movie industry are experts are experts in manipulating human emotions, we do not easily realize the moral issues with a movie, unless we really think about it. It is so difficult to find wholesome things to watch or entertain oneself with. But it is worth the effort to not contaminate one’s mind.
