Entertainment-itis Part 1

Folks, this topic is so important that I sought out the services of a young writer named Brian Quirk to help me frame the arguments herein. Brian has three attributes I badly needed to strike the right tone for the article, specifically, youth, intelligence and a stellar writing style. 

Just for fun, see if you can figure out where my discourse ends, and Brian’s begins!

 I'm Thinking of Creating a New 12-Step Group.

One for entertainment junkies.

I've written about this before, but this time I'd like suggest an alternative.

I'm attempting to "recover," to use proper support group jargon, from a "disease," as pundits like to call everything that, when you get right down to it, really just amounts to compulsive sin.

The "disease," AKA, sin problem, in question is called "entertainment-itis," and I suspect I'm not the only one who suffers from it. In of her books, Jane Austen manifests this “condition,” as it were, in a young girl named Catherine, who almost misses out on finding true love due to the unwavering stranglehold placed over her by romance novels of the day. Because she can never resist their intoxicating bouquet, she ironically impedes herself from finding the very thing she truly seeks.

In my case, the music and film/television industries have a way of thrusting me into worlds I don't belong in with questionable characters I have no business entertaining, even in daydreams. In today’s world especially, such temptations are mighty difficult to avoid.

To date, I haven't met anyone in Christian circles who will outwardly own up to ever having suffered from this affliction. Most believers seem to fall into one of two categories: first, those who avoid Hollywood and "secular music" altogether (I put the latter in quotes because I wonder if Christ would hold Himself to such rigid standards in today’s fast paced, ever-evolving society); and then there are those who allow themselves to taste and even devour treats from a broad, somewhat questionable entertainment menu, under the risky but convenient canopy of religious liberty (the same umbrella term that allows them to label folks like teetotalers and Sabbatarians as legalists, while failing to offer solutions to those who can't resist overindulging).

What I’m hoping to do here is dissolve the “us or them” dynamic that seems to exist on either side of this spectrum. I believe each end of this stick has its own roses and thorns.

I'm not trying to cause division in the ranks. Truly, I'm not. It's just that, for years, I've been straddling a wobbly line between these two camps (as I suspect many of us have been guilty of at one point or another), and I'm getting to the point where things just need to be clarified.

Diagnosis: Binger

The problem for me is twofold. For one thing, I'm a binger (pronounced binjer) in general, so I'm always asking God to help me keep down my consumption of anything and everything. Then, too, I've found over the years, I have to be very careful what entertainment I consume because I also tend to be an obsessor, meaning my mind gets stuck on things. So, an otherwise uneventful Friday night can find me glued to my easy chair for hour upon meaningless hour, followed by a Saturday morning "hangover" consisting of mental involvement in the fictitious lives of the characters I binged on the night before (and, if the actors interest me enough, checking out their personal lives on the Internet).

I can hear my reader groaning, then uttering, "So, what's the big deal? Lots of people binge watch to unwind, and they don't have any problem stepping back into reality."

To that, I reply, "Good for them."

Seriously. I mean, I can have an occasional drink without turning into a falling down drunk, and I once walked away from a casino with my scant but intact winnings tucked safely into my pocket, feeling no urge to continue gambling. I was satisfied with my take (however ill-gotten), and had no desire to try for more or even return to the site of my "big win" another day.

Those temptations don't pose a problem for me, but clearly, they do for many people, or we wouldn't have AA and treatment centers for gambling addiction.

As has been said, everything in moderation, but some may find that moderation a lot easier to come by than do their fellow agents in the field. Everyone has vices, and unfortunately each allurement makes itself at home in a unique way. It’s easy for us to speculate and comment about the downfalls of others, but as the Good Book says, how dare we point out the speck in our brother's eye before first removing the log from our own? We all wrestle with something.

Years ago, as a young Christian who hadn't yet figured out the folly of feeding myself Biblical truth with one hand and soap opera trash with the other, I organized my life around daytime dramas. It really meant a lot to me to keep up with the comings and goings, triumphs and tragedies, of the overburdened characters in those stories. I can remember holding a huge grudge against a college professor whose class interfered with my viewing of a certain story line that had me riveted.

VCR's and DVR's were nothing but clumps of letters in those days, and I'm pretty sure society was better off before they stood for something.

Then one day it dawned on me that I was countering the word of God I'd been pouring into my mind with trash (much like following a healthy vegan meal with a BK suicide burger). Not only that, but from a purely logical standpoint, the folks on General Hospital weren't sitting around watching other people on TV ruin their lives - no, they were getting up and out, making messes of their own!

I think part of the enormous appeal of film and television in today’s world is that the scripted, prefab doings of our favorite characters’ lives help us feel less alone in ours. When we view a drama focused around family strife, struggles of adulthood, relationship issues, or what have you, it comforts us to know that others undergo the same angst and everyday problems we face, and on such a universal level that some media mogul was able to profit from providing us that reassurance. Sometimes it can feel good to think, “At least I’m not Ian from Eastenders!” It’s nice to know someone understands, and is going through the same things we are.

Facing the Music

Having spent a great deal of time explaining my addictive tendencies towards visually consumed media, let me add that I can become equally obsessed with music. Under the influence of an older sister and best friend who were Beatle freaks, I cut my teeth listening to the Fab Four croon out love songs. Rock bands of the 70's and 80's, philosophic troubadours like Don McLean and Jackson Browne, and even a healthy helping of John Denver, have never failed to touch my soul and scoop me up into the artist's world. Much like the appeal of mainstream television, it never hurts to hear that we’re not the only ones going through growing pains.

Except it doesn't always end there for this listener. As I've grown older, I've become especially wary of concert-going (something I loved to do in my salad days). The combination of musical enchantment and the glamour of stage presence - well, I just can't fight it. It gets in my head, and along with it, preoccupation with the presenter of the magic. It’s difficult not to see someone as larger than life when he’s, well, larger than life.

Not to mention that it can be hard to hold to the constraints of law when indulging in the winsome warbling of a favorite star bathed in ultraviolet light and smoke machines. It’s so easy to get swept up, swept away and swept off our feet by melodic messages. Before we know it, we sweep our best intentions under the rug, our inhibitions out the door, and, well, all bets are off. 

All or Nothing?

In light of the potential pitfalls, is it necessary to swear off the entertainment industry altogether, or is there a recourse?

I believe there is. The next installment of this article will address some possible “treatments” for “entertainment-itis,” so stay tuned!