I’m having a really hard time identifying with characters in books and on TV shows lately. For some reason, I just get really upset at the overall lack of morality or ethics of any kind (and I’m not just talking about sex, I’m talking about general morality—you know, like Pres. Hinckley’s 6 B.’s). Sometimes it’s all I can do not to yell at the page/screen, “If you would just keep it in your pants!” or “If you would just think of someone besides yourself!” And when I stop being able to find a connection with the characters, I stop enjoying the book/TV show. Is it too much to ask for a story about a flawed human who makes a courageous, true and selfless choice? I need examples, people, because personally, I’m a mess.
Maybe I should read the scriptures more.
One of the worst parts of it all is the fact that I’m being bombarded with people who want to excuse adultery for one reason or another. Okay, “He abuses me,” or “She cheated on me with my brother,” are both understandable, but PLEASE stop feeding me garbage like “I need a change” or “he doesn’t understand me” or “we grew apart” or “I didn’t mean to fall in love with someone else, it just happened.” On Law & Order, they even make a joke out of the fact that “every man does it, even good men.” If that’s a true statement, then ladies, we’re all better off alone. It’s started to make me so mad that I’ve stopped watching the show (and if you know me, you know I love my Law & Order).
Are we, the entertainment enjoyers, really so pathetic that we’re only truly drawn to horrible, scandalous, demoralizing stories? Or, are the writers, who granted do have a strangle-hold on the media, just write this stuff because it makes them feel better about their own sorry decision-making in their lives?
I’m just tired of all the crap. I just want to be uplifted without having to be dragged through the sewer first. And I don’t want to feel like I’m just being Old Lady Grundberg ranting about how naughty the world is. Isn’t there anybody out there who wants to believe the world is basically full of good people?
4 comments:
I'm with you on this. Tyson is a convert, so sometimes his media choices differ from mine. He's gotten a lot better, but I still won't watch some things that he wants to see because most entertainment seems to be filled with smut. I remember going to the theater a few years ago to see "Failure to Launch". I kept waiting to find anything romantic about this romantic comedy, but I thought the entire movie was pathetic. The characters had no values and deserved each other in the worse sense of the word, but I didn't want to watch them. I wish that there was more uplifting entertainment.
I completely agree. It's hard to care about a character when you can't sympathize with them at all. I stopped reading much for awhile because everything I picked up repulsed me. (Thankfully reading recommendations on Goodreads is helping me to read more again.) TV is hard though. Josh and the boys watch a lot of science fiction (Star Trek and Stargate) because the characters in those shows are good people trying to make good decisions. Maybe that's why we watch a lot of sports, it's just hard to find good programming. And don't even get my started on reality TV. They pick the smarmiest people to be on those shows sometimes.
Derek and I ran into the same problem in picking programming because he wanted to watch the same things he had been watching for years. We finally agreed to get rid of all movie channels and we also, watch a lot of sports. Go Stars! We each get a few shows a week and that is all the TV that we watch.
I get frustrated because books don't come with ratings. I hate getting into a book and having to quit because of the language or something. Grr!
See, I don't even care about language so much as I do general selfishness and overall lack of empathy. It drives me crazy to have all these characters who seem to have no idea how they hurt others or folks who have whacked out priorities.
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