Celluloid Philosophy Lessons: What is Hollywood Teaching Your Teen?

BreakPoint ^ | 25 June 03 | Chuck Colson

[Mr. Silverback]

If you've got a teenager at home, now that school's out, he's going to spend a lot of time studying philosophy. "Not my kid," you might respond. "He's not into philosophy."

Well, he might not be reading Plato or Aristotle, but if he sees a few movies this summer, he's going to get what amounts to a survey course in philosophy whether he knows it or not.

Everyone embraces one philosophy or another -- a worldview that defines his conception of the world, of reality, of human life. These beliefs are woven into movies -- often in such subtle ways that viewers miss them.

For example, in the film CAST AWAY, fate is offered as a God substitute when a FedEx employee is marooned on an island after a plane crash. As Brian Godawa writes in his book, HOLLYWOOD WORLDVIEWS, "God is conspicuously absent . . . [The man] is all alone in a naturalistic universe." In the end, he finds his way back home and meets a woman to replace the one he lost. Thus, Godawa writes, "humanity finds meaning in hope for another human being, and the benevolent impersonal fate will work it all out for us in the end."

Your kids may also meet the Eastern philosophy called monism. A monist believes that all of reality is ultimately one: Evil arrives when people make distinctions among things; redemption occurs when we understand this pantheistic oneness.

One recent film that promotes monism is POWDER, about a rejected messiah figure with superhuman intelligence and special powers. In one scene, a sheriff gives up hunting when the messiah figure "connects" him with a deer the sheriff has just shot: Enlightenment comes when the sheriff realizes he is "one" with the deer.

Newer films also feature plots expressing neo-Darwinism. For example, in the computer-animated film DINOSAUR, a meteor strikes the earth, forcing the dinosaurs to migrate to a new home. Along the journey, the dinosaurs fight among themselves and permit larger animals to prey on smaller ones. But then, Godawa says, a wise "Moses-like [plant-eating animal] encourages them to cooperate." They "learn that they will only survive through helping one another. DINOSAUR thus embodies the theory of evolutionary psychology that cooperation" -- not competition -- "is a trait of survival of the fittest."

In the darkness of a theater, kids may also bump into neopaganism, Gaia worship, existentialism, and postmodernism. The question is, will they recognize these unbiblical philosophies when they see them?

Francis Schaeffer once wrote that philosophy -- often dismissed as irrelevant -- is, in reality, a powerful engine that drives cultural change. Ivory Tower ideas filter down into popular culture, including films. There, they influence millions who often have no notion of what they're consuming along with the car chases, love scenes, and popcorn.

That's why it's so important that we teach our kids how to find the worldview message in every film -- including the G-rated ones. Reading Godawa's book, HOLLYWOOD WORLDVIEWS, is a great place to start.

The time for philosophy lessons, you see, is before our kids walk into the multiplex -- not when the lights go down.

[Mr. Silverback]

Yep. Philosophy is what it's all about.

[Mr. Silverback]

BreakPoint/Chuck Colson Ping!

If anyone wants on or off my BreakPoint Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.

[A Vast RightWing Conspirator]

Meanwhile, on HBO's 'Sex and the City' the issue debated (and illustrated) was how can a woman persuade her boyfriend to wipe or wash his mouth after he pleasured her with it, before Frech(Freedom)-kissing her.

Also, kids may learn the phylosophical concept of 'defensive f..king'. Both viewable at about 8 p.m. EST or 7 p.m., Central time.

[Search4Truth]

." They "learn that they will only survive through helping one another. DINOSAUR thus embodies the theory of evolutionary psychology that cooperation" -- not competition -- "is a trait of survival of the fittest."

What a wonderful world that would be, for criminals.

In their protected child-like world view, there is no evil. The irony is, if it were not for a lot of brave men, who did not only believe in evil, but were ready to make the ultimate sacrifice to destroy it, all these child-like Bambi worshipers would be slaves to some master or filling a mass grave. They live, only by the virtues of better men than themselves; men who honor their role and responsibilities as men.

There is no more pathetic exmaple of a man, than one who not only rejects his role and responsibility as man, but also actively opposes the efforts of other men who do so on their behalf.

[lilylangtree]

There was a film some years ago entitled "Chances Are" with Robert Downey, Jr., Mary Stuart Masterson and the blonde that played opposite Bruce Willis in a tv detective series. Can't remember her name. The philosophical question that arose out of that movie was: "Are souls created in heaven as unique individual or reprocessed into different lives on earth?"

[Unknowing]

I never had a Philosophy teacher who was not some kind of Leftist activist until I attended grad school at a private university. I notice the propaganda which fills the popular movies, and I usually criticize the gratuitous philosophical orientations underlying certain scenes. Most people with whom I see the movies believe that I go too far in my analysis of the content.

Putting blatant ideological messages in movies, and on TV, usually come across as strident, but the same propaganda effect is often achieved by more subtle methods, as discussed in the article. The "Sex and the City" series, which I have never seen, seems to be a more overt vehicle for "influencing the mores of the nation" in furtherance of the homosexual and Leftist agendas.

The worst offenders are those who adhere to the superiority of evil over good, in that they believe the happiest person to be the most deceitful. Could Socrates ever really refute that argument? In the TV show "Mad About You," the Helen Hunt character supposedly went to Yale and then defaulted on her student loans; her husband, the Paul Reiser character, advised her to misrepresent various facts on her curriculum vitae. They were happy and successful, primarily due to their philosophical orientation that evil is better than good.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

The graphics in HULK were good. But it seemed more like a chick flick.

[drjimmy]

For example, in the film CAST AWAY, fate is offered as a God substitute when a FedEx employee is marooned on an island after a plane crash. As Brian Godawa writes in his book, HOLLYWOOD WORLDVIEWS, "God is conspicuously absent . . . [The man] is all alone in a naturalistic universe." In the end, he finds his way back home and meets a woman to replace the one he lost. Thus, Godawa writes, "humanity finds meaning in hope for another human being, and the benevolent impersonal fate will work it all out for us in the end."
This is just silly. Tom Hanks didn't sit back and wait for "fate" to work things out, he made a friggin boat. Would Godawa have preferred Hanks be like the man in the joke who keeps waiting for God to save him from a flood, and rejects the rescuers? Call me a sinner, but I think one of the things that differentiates humans from animals is that we "find meaning in hope for another human being."

[Mr. Silverback]

There was a film some years ago entitled "Chances Are" with Robert Downey, Jr., Mary Stuart Masterson and the blonde that played opposite Bruce Willis in a tv detective series. Can't remember her name.

Cybill Shephard. I never saw "Chances Are", but it is interesting how many Holloywood flicks are centered around reincarnation.

[Mr. Silverback]

I keep hearing how supposedly the Hulk doesn't look believable, i.e., too cartoonish, bounces around too much. Haven't seen the movie yet, by my initial take about those comments was "Well, have you ever read the comic?"

Your take?

[Mr. Silverback]

Good point.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

I think it's hard to take someone 15 feet tall and 1500 pounds and make him look believable. But it wasn't too bad. It looks like they morphed the actor's features and gave them to the Hulk. However, you're always aware that you're looking at a digital image.

Speaking of the comic, Rick Jones was nowhere to be found. They re-wrote the Hulk origin into some whacky biotech thing. Bruce Banner is a biologist rather than a physicist, and doesn't even know his own name. The story was hokey. The action scenes were good. Especially the run-in with the M1's.

[Hegemony Cricket]

SITREP

[BritExPatInFla]

As the last line of the article states
" The time for philosophy lessons is BEFORE the children go into the movie, not once the movie starts"

Before anyone starts ranting about the 'evils' of television and motion pictures and the messages they are 'polluting' our childrens' minds with, take a look at how some parents are using movies and TV as a babysitter and not controlling what their kids watch. It all comes down to personal responsibility for raising your children properly and helping to filter out what you may feel is harmful.

[Question_Assumptions]

I never had a Philosophy teacher who was not some kind of Leftist activist until I attended grad school at a private university.

I had some good ones as an undergrad in the 1980s at Rutgers. My Current Moral and Social Issues professor was so impressed with my understanding of the abortion issue and other moral issues that he told me to skip the final because I was getting an A.

The "Sex and the City" series, which I have never seen, seems to be a more overt vehicle for "influencing the mores of the nation" in furtherance of the homosexual and Leftist agendas.

There seem to be a lot of movies on cable designed to "define deviancy down". More than a few seem to be designed to encourage wife swapping, multiple-partner sex, homosexuality, and kinky sex between two people. I got rid of HBO because I couldn't stand their propaganda anymore. Showtime is only slightly better. Only slightly.

[Mr. Silverback]

Great point.

[First Amendment]

helping to filter out what you may feel is harmful.

Couple problems - it's not that there's a lot of good or harmless stuff and a little crap; it's mostly crap. Ok, don't have a TV. But then kids turn into teenagers, and are out of one's control much of the time (at friends', at school, etc). Not everyone can homeschool (although I did in very difficult circumstances).

But here is the biggie - suppose the careful parent really watches out for his kids, they don't get polluted by the crap, but all the neighbor kids are screwed up, and then molest/hassle his kids? It's like living in a landfill - you may keep your little corner of it clean, but the stench is everywhere.

[Unknowing]

Rutgers seems like it has a good faculty, and so does the University of Pittsburgh, for some reason. Good integration between science, history, and Philosophy, or so it seems. I gave a lot of thought to maybe attending grad school there.

"Defining deviancy down" seems like the trend, I agree. As if there was some kind of sophistication or wisdom inherent in deviancy. Notice how many performances of classical music, for example, are "sponsored in part by the Gill Foundation's Gay/Les. Fund."

If they ever really bother to read Plato's "Charmides," we'll all be in real trouble! It seems that Socrates was something of a deviant pedophile. And in the "Symposium" he drinks wine all night long.

[Desparado]

AS far as I can tell, there is no human way to keep your kids from seeing these movies these days without cutting them off from all teenage society. I have watched many of the most popular r rated movies with both our kids and discussed the underlying themes with them. pointing out the empty morality and philosophising that goes on. Now our kids can see through that stuff a mile away and they have their own "force fields" built in against the BS. As parents, we feel this is the best way to handle it. I would appreciate any input or suggestions re: other parents success in this very important issue of child raising.

[First Amendment]

I would reccommend that smaller children not see anything that the parents have doubts about, or bring up topics that they are really too young to understand (homosexuality, abortion, torture, etc.) Once they are old enough to discuss and understand, your policy sounds good - seeing things together, and then using the movie as a springboard for further discussion.

Letting kids sit in front of TVs with unlimited access to cable and movies is surefire morals destruction (doesn't help with rational thought either).

Kids - even older ones - love to be read out loud to. I think family reading time together is really good - even teenagers like to be read to, and they can take turns. Different family members can take turns choosing books or stories and lessons can be learned from them, too.