I lent Avatar: The Last Airbender to James, and psychically knew to bring the second season to him just as he finished watching the first. His mother was less than pleased, and she told me, "Can you tell that his head is lighter? All those brains just dribbling away in front of the TV. Now he can lose more!" I laughed along with her, because really, that's a funny (gross) image.
But later I thought about it, and I have to respectfully disagree.
Entertainment can be mind-numbing, for sure. But most of the time people don't engage with media that turns their minds off. At least I don't. I can spend an entire day watching my favorite TV shows, and at the end I don't feel empty. I feel full.
A good book, a good TV show, a good book--they fill my mind with new ideas and complex plots and provoking characters. It's been years since I've watched the season 6 finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but I can still fall all over myself remembering the Jesus parallels and the power of friendship. It's been even longer since I watched Return of the King for the first time and was so moved that I honestly believed that I could die happy and fulfilled. It hasn't been that long since I've seen The Avengers, but obviously, that movie kept putting thoughts in my head weeks after I'd fallen in love.
Sure, I've spent days in college zoned out in front of an America's Next Top Model marathon, and did I come away fuller? No. Although I did usually spend the next day standing in various poses whenever I found myself in a line.
I hope it is obvious that spending all day every day camped out on a couch is generally not a healthy idea. But I completely disagree with the idea that every once in a while, a full day of story absorption is a bad thing. Learning to lose yourself in someone else's story teaches empathy. Living in another world teaches imagination. There is so much good out there, told through various entertainment mediums. I would hate to lose that, and I would hate not to share it with others.
So, blog readers, go watch Avatar: The Last Airbender. (The TV show, not the movie, oh please.) It's fantastic.
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