People like to be entertained, want to be entertained, and maybe even need to be entertained. If to live is to know pain, then entertaining ourselves is one escape from that pain. This is human, and it's a universal truth.
We constantly seek entertainment.
I am by no means sitting on the forefront of popular culture, modern trends, the newest fads, or even the latest revolution in social networking (still don’t really get the whole Twitter craze). However, I do enjoy movies and music a lot, perhaps more than your average Joe Christian. And as a Christian, I am well aware that we have a need to stay away from anything which causes temptation towards sin, for ourselves and for those dwelling in our household. As a Christian human I can also tell you that I have very little interest in Christian entertainment today, and there are hundreds of thousands of decent Christian people who feel the way I do on this. Do you see the irony? As Christians, many of us can not enjoy the music and movies made specifically for us. So how can we possibly expect this entertainment to reach those who did not grow up in church, the same people who probably have a thick emotional wall built up against anything tagged as “Christian”?
Don’t get me wrong, there are quite a few exceptions to this lack of quality in Christian entertainment. There are some Christian movies which could pass as good movies to any audience. I personally am partial to a few Christian musicians, such as Andrew Peterson and Jeremy Casella. But these should not be exceptions! Directors, writers, and musicians inspired by God should be consistently releasing some of the most profound and powerful entertainment today! Any movie or music lover can tell you that truly great entertainment can be much more than just entertainment. Schindler’s List is a movie which probably changed who I am in some ways as a person. It hit me that hard. I say that not to promote Schindler’s List, but to stress that there should be hundreds of Christian movies far more powerful than this. A flawed man saving hundreds of Jewish people during World War II is a powerful story. The son of God saving the entire universe is incomparably more powerful.
So what’s the problem? Many arguments could be made, but for me the answer is clear. So much of the Christian entertainment today is produced without the slightest hint of honesty or grit.
In an attempt to keep everything so neat and clean, the details surrounding the truth being presented end up ringing false. Vulgarity for the sake of shock value is dreadful and disgusting. But that does not excuse sanitizing something until it no longer feels relatable, until it feels fake. When even a great story is populated with cardboard cut out characters and riddled with cheesy clichés, the more discerning viewers will roll their eyes and check out emotionally.
Okay, I hear you. “But Mr. Cynical Writer, aren’t most popular secular movies and most secular songs filled with cheap thrills and paper thin storytelling?” Yes, of course they are, and that is exactly my point! Christian entertainment should be different. It should not ring as hollow as the rest of the popular entertainment industry. So, is there a solution? Maybe.
I believe that the answer lies in being honest, being real, and admitting human brokenness. Life is a struggle for even the best of us. There is no use in trying to hide that! Whenever a character in a movie seems truly human, the odds of the audience connecting with the story increase exponentially. Even a mediocre movie with believable characters can leave an impact. Imagine how powerful the story of salvation should be when you deeply feel the struggles of the people in the story! By the same way of thinking, no Christian musician should, in my humble opinion, ever feel comfortable releasing a song that is anything less than their very best. If copying what every other musician has done, both lyrically and musically, is the best they can do, then so be it. But I believe that inspiration from God should lead to some of the most brilliantly honest and powerful music out there today, Christian or not.
The Christian entertainment industry needs to stop being so concerned over stepping on a few toes. We should be seeing and hearing a sample of the heart and the raw power of God on display, not a carbon copy of the same cheap entertainment the secular world is pleased with. All forms of Christian entertainment are in serious need of a dose of reality. There is no excuse for movies and music filled with so much truth to look and sound so phony. It is time to cut the candy coating away and reveal the truth inside. (Ouch, and I was complaining about cheesy clichés!)
