When I
set up this blog, I posted the Seven
Principles I use for engaging
popular stories. Over the course of these various posts, I have tried to
offer examples of what it looks like to apply them. This time, I would
like to offer an example of the principle that is often the most challenging of
all:
#7: Knowing When To Let Go
a) Just because it has meaning, doesn’t mean it will ultimately
be good for us.
b) Even the
meaningful things are only as good as their capacity to lead us to live
well in reality with Christ.
After the first season of
Daredevil, I was extremely impressed and hopeful about the future of, not only
that show, but the other Netflix and Marvel Studios collaborations.
Nonetheless, I still had my reservations about the intensity of some of
the content. However, given that the good far outweighed the bad, it was
not done outside of a context which continually called it into question, and
there was a rather hopeful tone running even through this very dark show, I
remained optimistic. In fact, I was so optimistic that I had intended to
cap of the summer with a post inspired by season two. However, as I
worked my way through season two, earlier this summer, I grew to like the show
less and less, as my reservations increased and the positive
elements gradually decreased. The final straw for me was one particularly
gruesome scene which was so excessively violent that I realized the decision I had
to make. I finally decided it was enough! After seeing scenes so
explicitly violent that it is degrading to the human person, I knew that it was
time to put principle seven into effect: It was time to let go. The show was not completely
devoid of its value. In fact some really interesting things were still
happening with the plot, character development, and thematic content (generally
the three things I appreciate most about a good story). But, there comes
a point when I must say, "I don't need this in my life personally, and
furthermore, I want to have no part in it. I won't entertain it (or worse
yet, allow it to entertain me) and I won't support it." It was
then that I realized why I had been planning all along to make a post inspired
by season two. So, please understand, my goal in making this post is not
to badmouth the show or disparage it. Rather, it is an opportunity to
give an honest and personal example, from my own life. of what it looks like to
practice this very challenging, but also very important principle. It is my hope that considering this example will assist all who read it to grow into more mature decisions of responsibility and integrity, with regard to where we look for entertainment.
This is the difficult
predicament we find ourselves in. We may find all of the right reasons,
sometimes, for continuing to watch, read, or otherwise enjoy something that we
know is not good for us, or for others who may be influenced by us. Sometimes,
we are simply justifying a decision that we know runs contrary to the decision
we know we need to make. We must be honest about that. However, it
can also be the case that it just really is a decidedly mixed bag. It
could be that there are legitimately really good, positive, meaningful things,
which are honestly our motivation for continuing to enjoy something... but,
that doesn't mean that we always should continue to do so, in the end. Just this summer, at
World Youth Day in Poland, Pope Francis spoke of the paralyzing nature of what
he has termed "sofa-happiness," which can easily make one think of
the addictive nature of things like Netflix, Hulu, video games, or any other
thing that can keep us comfortably on our sofas for hours upon hours at a time.
The whole reflection is well-worth your time and can be found here.
However, as his description of the paralysis of
"sofa-happiness" continues, he seems to raise the stakes. It
begins to become clear that he is not simply making young people feel guilty
for spending too long on the couch, but rather calling them and empowering them
to a higher standard, one which refuses to allow themselves to be controlled and
manipulated. He claims that "sofa-happiness" makes us "drowsy
and dull, while others - perhaps more alert than we are, but not necessarily
better - decide our future for us... For many people, that is more convenient
than having young people who are alert and searching, trying to respond to
God's dream and to all the restlessness present in the human heart. I ask
you: do you want to be young people who nod off, who are drowsy and dull? [No!]
Do you want others to decide your future for you? [No!] Do you want
to be free? [Yes!]." This concept is extremely striking and
thought-provoking for me. It soon made me call to mind the famous scene
in the movie Gladiator,
when Maximus screams at the crowd, "Are you not entertained?! Is
this not why you are here?!" He says that right after killing
multiple people, because he has been thrust into this situation that forces him
to either brutally kill or be killed, all for the entertainment of the
masses. Yet, there is something powerful about his cry, because it not
only invites them to think critically on what they consider as entertainment,
but to think deeper about the question of why it is that they are there. This
brutality was a sickening form of entertainment which was used to keep the
masses dull, satisfied, pacified. They kept the people satisfied with
"bread and circuses," with food and entertainment. As long as
the people remained satisfied in this way, they could be controlled.
Incidentally, The Hunger
Games is, in part, a
dystopian parody of this same concept (more on that here), to offer a more recent example. In
the words of Pope Francis, "when we opt for ease and convenience, for
confusing happiness with consumption then we end up paying a high price indeed:
we lose our freedom... There are so many people who do not want the young
people to be free... who want you to be drowsy and dull, and never free!" 
But, as both Gladiator and The
Hunger Games try to
demonstrate, the people have more power than the corrupt powers that be would
like them to believe. Likewise, Pope Francis challenges us to recognize
that, even when we don't expect much from ourselves, because we have allowed
the culture to make us drowsy and dull, "God expects something from
you, God wants something from you. God hopes in you... God comes to break
open everything that keeps you closed in. He is encouraging you to dream.
He wants to make you see that, with you, the world can be different.
For the fact is, unless you offer the best of yourselves, the world will
never be different. This is the challenge. The times we live in do
not call for young 'couch potatoes', but for young people with shoes, or better
boots laced... History today calls us to defend our dignity and not to let
others decide our future." This notion of defending our
dignity is very important. When I speak of content that is tastelessly
graphic, whether of a violent or a sexual nature, as being degrading, I do not
merely mean that it is degrading to the human persons depicted. It is
also degrading to us. It offends our dignity, by offering us something
that implies that we are easily entertained by gross and offensive distortions
and mutilations of human nature, of the glory and beauty of the human body, of
the sexual act, and of other things that God made to glorify himself. The
question of whether we can be entertained so easily directly correlates to how
easily we can be satisfied, controlled, manipulated. The Holy Father is
not simply being overly dramatic when he speaks of "sofa-happiness" robbing
us of our freedom. The stakes are truly far higher than we know, or
perhaps simply than we like to admit.
How often do we say to ourselves 'well, you have to expect that
from Hollywood,' as we make lite of offensive and degrading content in the
things we enjoy? Why do we expect this? Because it sells. Why
does it sell? Because we are buying it! Consider Maximus crying out
to you: Are you not entertained?! Is this not why you are here?!
Why are you here? To be satisfied,
controlled, manipulated. How often do we allow the media to tell us what
is popular, relevant, and even what we should hold to be true? Will we allow the
media to determine the values of yet another generation? Or will we be
free? These are the questions that are at stake, when we finally make the
choice to say, "Enough! I don't need this in my life and I want no
part in it!"
And yet the predicament remains. "These are not the
reasons I watch it," we tell ourselves. And the hard part is that we
might not be simply lying to ourselves about
this. It may be that we have all the right reasons for enjoying what we
enjoy. And in many cases, there may not be a universal answer that applies for everyone in every situation. Certainly, there are shows - for example, Game of Thrones comes to mind - that really do require sincere hearts to own up to the fact that it is not good for anyone to watch. However, most involve a bit of gray area. For example, it is very hard to find even relatively well done portrayals of
Catholicism in television and film. It is hard to find a show that has
good writing (great dialogue), directing and acting, with characters that are not
two-dimensional, in which the character(s) actually attempt to live their
Catholic identity faithfully. It is hard to find a show, in which their
living of their faith actually impacts the genuine human struggles the plot and
character development revolve around, in a manner that is real, positive, and
meaningful. It is hard to find a show in which the characters actually
consult their priest in these struggles, and furthermore, that priest is
neither unrealistically and un-relatably "wise," nor aloof and out of
touch with reality. It is so rare to find a portrayal of a Catholic
priest that is both positive and human. Season one of Daredevil was all
of these things.
The first season provided a thought-provoking and in-depth
reflection on what authentic justice really is, and Matt Murdock's attempts to
discover the true nature of justice and to be a servant of that authentic
justice was deeply intertwined with his Catholic upbringing. Most surprising
of all was that, in this search for authentic justice, the role of what is
commonly called "Catholic guilt" was dealt with in a manner that was
nuanced and not superficially and thoughtlessly critical, as most popular
treatments of the topic seem to be. This is why I was intrigued when the
quote from the priest offered up (no pun intended) in the first season two
teaser trailer had him saying: "Guilt can be a good thing. It's the soul's call to action... the indication that your work is not yet finished." This alone is a powerful statement. It is a rather bold move for a popular show in our culture today to place guilt within a positive context, showing that it is not always something destructive, but can be something that moves us to action. However, the full context of that quote is far less praiseworthy than the quote itself at least has the potential to be.
At this time, I would like to discuss the advice of the priest early in Season Two, as I believe it contributes to my larger point, and also contributed to my personal decision. There are actually a number of things wrong with what the priest says in this whole scene (a big step down from his scenes in season one), but I won't go into all of them now. Most importantly, the priest tells him "the only way to rid your heart of (guilt) is to correct your mistakes and keep going until amends are made." With those words, the priest left Christianity on the shelf and traded it in for dime a dozen self-help advice, bordering dangerously on the heresy of Pelagianism. The Christian response would not attempt to speak of ridding the heart of guilt, without speaking of the Mercy of God, without speaking of Jesus Christ who died to give us that Mercy. Now, this Mercy calls for a response and that response is called repentance. Matt himself feels a pull toward genuine repentance, as evidenced by the fact that he says he is seeking forgiveness. And the priest steers him away from seeking this forgiveness, instead telling him that simply making things better on his own is enough. Still, the question remains of what precisely Matt is in need of forgiveness for, if anything. Nonetheless, this is simply not a Christian response. Granted, repentance involves more than simply seeking forgiveness alone. It also involves a change, a turning away from that for which we are seeking forgiveness. This is the call to action, which the priest is highlighting. And he is not wrong to do so. He is wrong in suggesting that this 'taking action' alone is the 'only way to rid your heart of guilt,' when in fact the action we take alone will never be enough. We are always in need of God's Mercy. And He is always ready to give it to us.
So, the call to action emphasized by the priest remains incomplete, because he is not offering a complete image of repentance, because He chooses not to speak of God's Mercy at a crucial time. Ironically, this scene was the first moment that I began to consider my own call to action, calling me to turn from watching this show. I guess this is part of what doesn't sit well with me about the priest's advice. He does not offer any guidance in what action should be taken. Perhaps that is because there is not an easy answer to that. But, this is still crucial. This is what maturity calls for: not only freedom to act, but also responsibility - the responsibility to act rightly. And this is what brings me back to my general point.
There is an urgent need to recover the notion that we cannot understand maturity without emphasizing responsibility. Yet, it is often the entertainment industry that has helped so greatly in losing this sense. It has helped our culture to develop a warped sense of what it means to be an adult, to be mature. What our TV ratings system, and our content advisory call "Mature" and "Adult" tend to actually mean "unrestrained in our immaturity." Like the young adult who is recently emancipated from the boundaries established by their parents or guardians, there is no one to prevent us from showing things that distort and abuse our human nature, to treat sacred and beautiful things as things to be abused however we see fit for our amusement. This is the opposite of maturity.
So, this is my one final "call to action" to all readers of good will. It is twofold. First, put the seventh principal into effect, by being honest and courageous about what changes need to be made in what you look to for entertainment. Second, call things what they are. Do not refer to pornographic content as "adult content," or to something that is outrageously degrading in its depiction of violence as "mature." These things are simply unrestrained immaturity and they will not help you to grow and mature into an honest and responsible adult. Honesty is an important step toward responsibility. Responsibility is something that goes hand in hand with integrity. Integrity causes us to strive to ever more consistently live our deepest identity. That is what enables us to rise beyond "sofa-happiness" and hold ourselves to a higher standard, which enables us to "give the very best of ourselves," and contribute to building a better world. That is maturity.
For more perspectives on this, check out a couple of videos from Fr. Mike Schmitz (here) and Chris Stefanick (here).
At this time, I would like to discuss the advice of the priest early in Season Two, as I believe it contributes to my larger point, and also contributed to my personal decision. There are actually a number of things wrong with what the priest says in this whole scene (a big step down from his scenes in season one), but I won't go into all of them now. Most importantly, the priest tells him "the only way to rid your heart of (guilt) is to correct your mistakes and keep going until amends are made." With those words, the priest left Christianity on the shelf and traded it in for dime a dozen self-help advice, bordering dangerously on the heresy of Pelagianism. The Christian response would not attempt to speak of ridding the heart of guilt, without speaking of the Mercy of God, without speaking of Jesus Christ who died to give us that Mercy. Now, this Mercy calls for a response and that response is called repentance. Matt himself feels a pull toward genuine repentance, as evidenced by the fact that he says he is seeking forgiveness. And the priest steers him away from seeking this forgiveness, instead telling him that simply making things better on his own is enough. Still, the question remains of what precisely Matt is in need of forgiveness for, if anything. Nonetheless, this is simply not a Christian response. Granted, repentance involves more than simply seeking forgiveness alone. It also involves a change, a turning away from that for which we are seeking forgiveness. This is the call to action, which the priest is highlighting. And he is not wrong to do so. He is wrong in suggesting that this 'taking action' alone is the 'only way to rid your heart of guilt,' when in fact the action we take alone will never be enough. We are always in need of God's Mercy. And He is always ready to give it to us.
So, the call to action emphasized by the priest remains incomplete, because he is not offering a complete image of repentance, because He chooses not to speak of God's Mercy at a crucial time. Ironically, this scene was the first moment that I began to consider my own call to action, calling me to turn from watching this show. I guess this is part of what doesn't sit well with me about the priest's advice. He does not offer any guidance in what action should be taken. Perhaps that is because there is not an easy answer to that. But, this is still crucial. This is what maturity calls for: not only freedom to act, but also responsibility - the responsibility to act rightly. And this is what brings me back to my general point.
There is an urgent need to recover the notion that we cannot understand maturity without emphasizing responsibility. Yet, it is often the entertainment industry that has helped so greatly in losing this sense. It has helped our culture to develop a warped sense of what it means to be an adult, to be mature. What our TV ratings system, and our content advisory call "Mature" and "Adult" tend to actually mean "unrestrained in our immaturity." Like the young adult who is recently emancipated from the boundaries established by their parents or guardians, there is no one to prevent us from showing things that distort and abuse our human nature, to treat sacred and beautiful things as things to be abused however we see fit for our amusement. This is the opposite of maturity.
So, this is my one final "call to action" to all readers of good will. It is twofold. First, put the seventh principal into effect, by being honest and courageous about what changes need to be made in what you look to for entertainment. Second, call things what they are. Do not refer to pornographic content as "adult content," or to something that is outrageously degrading in its depiction of violence as "mature." These things are simply unrestrained immaturity and they will not help you to grow and mature into an honest and responsible adult. Honesty is an important step toward responsibility. Responsibility is something that goes hand in hand with integrity. Integrity causes us to strive to ever more consistently live our deepest identity. That is what enables us to rise beyond "sofa-happiness" and hold ourselves to a higher standard, which enables us to "give the very best of ourselves," and contribute to building a better world. That is maturity.
For more perspectives on this, check out a couple of videos from Fr. Mike Schmitz (here) and Chris Stefanick (here).
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