On to this business of Sex and Violence.
While I don't remember which book brought it to my attention, but in my past readings I came across an interesting statement. The writer basically pointed out the fact that Christians are gun-shot quick to point out sexual situations in movies and television, but not so quick to gripe about the violence in television. This caught my attention because it's definitely something I find true of myself: I'm pretty quick to let my brothers know if there is a sex scene with frontal nudity in a movie that I had the chance to see before them, and basically tell them to look out for it and guard their eyes. Not a peep of a warning will come out of me about violence, to anybody and I look it over.
As a believer, I know that God does not take delight in the glorification of sex outside of marriage, nor does He take delight in the glorification of violence. And yet, some of my favored movies have got violence coming out all over the place. Shaun of the Dead and Kill Bill are on one extreme, being overly ridiculous and fake; Fight Club is on the other end, though not as violent as what I've heard about The History of Violence... a movie I want to see, but almost sounds like it's more than what I can take.
Perhaps Christians get more agitated by the glorification of sex because it's something we know we can experience and hold as sacred... Not only that, but we know we can easily fall into the temptation of lust through sexual sounds and images. Violence, on the other hand, is something we can separate ourselves from. We figure we aren't tempted to be violent after seeing such material. I know for myself that I can think, "I could never do that and no one who is stable would really want to." But, did you know that overtly violent films still put garbage in my head...?
Yet I struggle knowing that violence is a part of every day life. Life is not meant to be filled with violence, but we live in a post-Fall world and I appreciate it when serious movies keep it real and don't brush off the rough parts of life.
Another book that I'm currently reading gave fuel to these thoughts.. actually the church history book I'm reading. Let me quote something for you that is in the context of early Christians rejecting pagan lifestyles:
"Other social events Christians rejected because they found
them wrong in themselves. Gladitorial combats, for example,
were to the Christian inhuman. In amphitheaters all across
the empire, the Romans forced prisoners of war and slaves to
fight with each other to the death, just for the amusement of
the crowd. The excitement was seductive. As late as the early
fifth century, Augustine tells the story of his friend Alypius, who
agreed to attend a spectacle to please a friend, but resolved to
keep his eyes shut. When the shouting began, his eyes popped
open, and he was yelling aboved the rest."
Alypius didn't want to watch in the beginning, and found no delight in the idea of men fighting to the death... but, "the excitement was seductive," and the rest is supposed-history. And that was over tangible life and death violence; what I speak of is simply theatre. I have to wonder at what point is it okay to be entertained by violence, since it seems so obvious that it is never okay to be entertained by watching other people have sex. It has the appearance of a double standard, doesn't it?
Then a whole other question comes into play that I won't even touch on because I don't even know how to answer it: How do you keep connected to contemporary times through movies and television, without compromising certain values?
Another point of interest is the fact that horror flicks basically couple violence and sex in the same breath. Figure that one out.
Anyway... enough of those thoughts from me. More uplifting thoughts to come later centered on unrelated topics.
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