Scott forewarned me during TeamKids that the handout said vampire/witch media is bad bad bad! We laughed about this, as we are similarly in love with magic type media, but he clung to the fact that the example given was a girl who watched those things and also pretended to cast spells.
I cannot cling to that, because I have dressed up as a witch (hello, I AM Hermione) and also I have bought wand aps for my friends with iPhones.
But anyway, it got me thinking about how we're indoctrinating a new generation of kids with crazy cray ideas. Vampires? Metaphor for eternal life, and also, yes, sex. (But who's to say that sex is not something to be creatively analyzed and explored....within reason and with appropriate age levels blah blah, I'm getting off topic.) Witches? Okay, they're just awesome. No, but really, through witches and magic, we can explore all kinds of issues of power and control.
Supernatural stories are fantastic when they bring light to the natural. And they are just plain fun when they throw stuff around and say, "Wouldn't it be so cool if there was a clock that pointed out where every family member was? Or if there were people who could run super crazy fast?" Etc. That's the imagination, and it is awesome.
There will always be people who take something good and twist it to something bad. But I very firmly believe that that is not a reason to give up the good thing altogether. Be smart about media choices, know your weaknesses and your temptations, sure. But to indiscriminately paint a whole genre as evil just pisses me off.
I would argue that chick flicks are far more damaging than supernatural stories (though they tend to cross and blend quite often, it is true). Romance stories of "true love" can kill a person's self-esteem, give false ideas of love, and promote the idea that the love a boy is where true and lasting happiness lies. I have a friend who refuses to watch chick flicks because she knows all they do is make her discontented with her life. I completely admire this friend, and I wish I had her strength.
But in the spirit of seeing past the label, I will also point out that chick flicks show how the humiliating things in life can turn out to be pretty hilarious. And they can show that your first impression of a person is often incorrect. And also love is a good thing to celebrate, even if it is a rare and candy-coated version.
So I wish TeamKid had gone deeper, and looked at what makes media good or bad, healthy or unhealthy. I'll admit that some of the stuff I watch/read/listen to might not be awesomesauce all the time. But I can promise that the problem goes deeper than any genre label.
BTW, you can now draw the spells with the HP app, so it's appropriate to use anywhere because it's not quite so attention drawing. :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, we've been doing a Bible study on heaven, which Dusty is leading. He has been doing research on lots of different topics concerning heaven, and one was whether or not we'll have supernatural powers once we're in heaven. Some of the scriptural references he has noted are that we'll have no constraints on time, nor physical barriers. I mean, when Jesus was resurrected, he was able to travel vast distances in seconds, and he walked THROUGH the wall. Also, he has the ability to heal people physically. Not saying we'll have any abilities in comparison to the Christ, but we can presume we'll have some of the abilities with our resurrection bodies, as well. What are your thoughts on that? If we do, that would be AWESOME!!!
Agreed. Vampires with souls kick butt.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking more about this last night and had more to say. :) I think not going deep enough, or just giving "pretty" scratches is what irks me most in Christian children's literature. I believe that children aren't as fragile as some adults sometimes believe. They have the ability to grasp concepts that we don't think they can and do it without being scared. One thing that sticks out to me was once for VBS. It was the passover story and the lit said to refer to the blood as red paint, so we wouldn't scare the children. What?! No! It was blood. Red paint doesn't cut it or Jesus wouldn't have had to bled and died for us. He could have just covered himself in red paint. I have no tolerance for lying to children about Biblical truths and then later telling them the "real" story. :)
ReplyDeleteTo Jennie's Comment:
ReplyDeleteI see no reason why those things won't happen. I am personally very much in favor of walking through doors but still being able to eat food. :)
Did Dusty study much about heaven itself? Recently I've been thinking that heaven is something that we're supposed to be starting--as Christians, we are making this world into God's kingdom, and He will finish the business by making this into a New Earth. So I guess what I mean is I think after I die, what we call heaven will look like Earth, but the way Earth was supposed to be, without death, and in complete obedience to God's will.
Thoughts?
To Nellene's Comment:
ReplyDeleteYES. I hate reading a Bible story and thinking, "Waaait, that's not how I remember it." One of those moments was when I read the story of Jonah for the first time, and realized he was a jerk straight through to the end. I think I was always taught that he didn't want to go to Ninevah, but I definitely never knew that he sat above the city and waited for them to be destroyed. There's so much to learn from the story of Jonah, but all I got as a kid was, "How cool is it that he was in a whale for three days!"
I agree that kids are way smarter than we give them credit for. Sheltering them or coddling them is not the answer. Telling them the truth, then giving them hope and love is the best way, I think.
All this reminds me of a Chesterton quote. "Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed." Same applies to Bible stories, I think.
Addendum to Comment to Nellene's Comment:
ReplyDeleteMaybe some Bible stories can be saved for maturity (like the prostitute being cut up in Judges or the whole book of Song of Solomon), but when you take a Bible story and CHANGE IT, no. That's pretty awful.
And with waiting until a later age, that maybe gives more weight to stories, or helps us avoid watering them down. Like people who try to make Song of Solomon about anything other than sex. I'm sorry, but no. It's a beautiful story of sexual love, and I think it's awesome that the Bible includes something like that. Principles can be taken from it to apply to other situations, but let's not run away from topics we find "unsavory."