Whether you're an avid reader or not, you've probably, at some point in your life, been so consumed in a book or story that you just could not put it down, or so engulfed in a TV show that you couldn't take your eyes off of the screen. But if you are really aware of what you are reading or watching, you might think a little more about doing just that.
If you've ever been to a fun house, you've probably looked into a fun house mirror. If you're like me, those mirrors probably scared you a little bit because of what they do. They reflect just as a normal mirror does, but they distort it. In the article The Case for Good Taste in Children's Books*, Meghan Cox Gurdon says that adolescent books tend to reflect the world in a similar way. And it seems that the problem affects a much larger group of people than just those adolescents.
The two words 'young' and 'impressionable' always go together pretty well. But the messages that society is sending can affect every individual regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, and religion. For example, you might hear of an unspeakable crime and dismiss it as nothing because it's normal. You might be in the midst of tragedy with no hope but you don't look for more because it happens all the time. "That's how it is," you might say, or maybe, "That's real life."
But what makes it real life? It's probably not something you've experienced close to home before, so why should it seem so normal to you? If you think about it, it's probably something you heard in a song or read in a book or seen on TV or in a movie. What you typically don't realize is that that's just a worldly portrayal of 'real life,' and that it is commonly very distorted.
The creators of these distortions have presented several argument. One of the arguments is that these portrayals really are 'real life.' People suffer through similar problems every day. But statistically speaking, the amount of people going through these novel-worthy problems is a lot smaller than you would think. And for the small percentage of people that really do have similar life experiences, why would they want to read a book or watch a show about it? This argument implies not only that it doesn't frighten the majority of people because they have experienced something similar, but also that they would enjoy reading about it or watching it on TV.
Does a foster child want to watch a show about the crazy life of a foster child constantly on the run? Is it beneficial to them? What about a person with a personality disorder or a physical disability? Why would they want to be in constant contact with the exaggerated, sometimes comical portrayals of people similar to themselves? What about you? Is it healthy to fill your mind with such things? The answer should be pretty obvious. You shouldn't have a distorted view of the world or of real life.
So does that mean that literature and television should be completely filtered and clean? Not necessarily. In real life there really are scary things like pornography and violence. They really do exist, and there is no hiding that. The problem comes when you are inferring from what you read or watch that that's all there is. Gurdon compares this issue to Caravaggios' portrait of David and the head of Goliath. The image would be very dark and grotesque if not for the rays of light. Much the same way, we return the distorted portrayal of the real world back to a clear image with light, which comes from God alone. He shines light into our dark world and he is the good we find here. In order to have the light in your mind, you must fill your mind with good, and not with the distortions of the world.
"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things." -Philippians 4:8
* Imprimis, 42:7/8
