Religion and Hollywood - Nov. 18 1999

There has always been a battle between the "Hollywood" entertainment industry and the public, mainly the Christian religious organizations. Our entertainment industry has received much of the blame for the downward spiral of societies values and behaviors. The cause of this finger pointing is the blatant depiction of sexually explicit material, violence, drug use, and profanity in the films, television shows, music, and books that are produced by "Hollywood", for the public to view.

According to David Bruce and "Hollywood Jesus" there are many interesting connections between the actual cross of Jesus and the Hollywood sign. These connections date back thousands of year to the Druids and their myths. Hollywood derived its name from the evergreen tree. The wood was perceived to be sacred and the tree itself was named after the goddess Holle, which is where the word holy derives from From this tree they made crowns of thorns or wreaths that hung on their doors. This same wreath was used for the crown that Jesus wore at his crucifixion. The thorns represented the pain that Jesus was believed to have felt, and the berries were believed to represent the blood that Jesus lost. The actual cross was believed to have come from the evergreen three and was later referred to as the holy wood. the actual Hollywood sign has been placed upon a hill as was the cross that Jesus was crucified upon. If in fact these beliefs are accurate, then is there any question as to why Christians are particular about the material that is produced by the "Hollywood" industry?

It is believed by these organizations that because of the violent and graphic nature of the films, television shows, music, and books produced by the entertainment industry that there are few options for families left to enjoy. Upon my research I found that the Kaiser Family Foundation and the University of California, 56% of more than 1300 television shows contained sexual content. 12% of the shows implied intercourse and 3% contained actual scenes of intercourse. In prime time (8pm-10pm) 67% of all shows deal with sex. Of television movies, 83% contain sexual content, 8% of entertainment included teens involved in sexual settings and fewer than 10% of shows ever mention the consequences of sexual activity. What does this say to the future of this world? I believe that it sends a false impression to our teens and even younger children that sex is acceptable no matter what, and that nothing bad can come from the act.

Violence is also a major factor in entertainment 28% of children's shows contain four or more acts of violence per episode, according to the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania. The area of violence in the media has been a heated topic of debate in the aftermath of recent school yard massacres.

President Clinton used the issue for his own public relations. According to an article in the August 18, 1999 Washington Post, President Clinton launched an anti-violence campaign targeted at the youth. Bill and Hillary Clinton met with movie producers, television programmers, and media leaders to urge them to look at their products and consider the effects of the violence upon such young impressionable minds. Then, two days after the Littleton tragedy, Clinton addressed a group of young people to discuss the media's link to violence. In an ironic turn of events only a month later, at a $2 million fund-raiser he told major Hollywood contributors, also major Clinton campaign contributors, that there was "no need for finger pointing". What is the message that Clinton is sending out to the nation? Are we more concerned with our children's well-being or financial gain? This act on behalf of the president gives us the obvious answer that we can not rely on our government to raise our families and give them good morals, values, and spiritual influence.

As believed by many, Senator Brownback stated, "When we watch more and more violence, profanity and sleaze, we eventually grow more violent, profane and course." People become desensitized and tragedies and behaviors no longer effect or weigh upon the conscience as they once did. These experiences become more and more "normal" in our daily lives and our reactions to these situations become numb.

I believe that to lay all of the blame on the entertainment industry is absurd. There are many other factors in the downward spiral of our society. Hollywood has produced many products that do contain much controversial subject matter, however, they also produce many products that do deal with religious aspect of some form. However, they are not always the religious aspect of the common faith of Christianity. such shows on television and in the theaters that deal with religious matter are 7th Heaven, Phenomena, Michael, Touch By an Angel, The Apostle, The God Fathers, Charmed, Vampires, and many documentaries dealing with Christian practices, Hindu, Buddhism, Wicca, Vampirism, etc.

not all of these films are accepted, because of the fact they do not deal with Christian values and practice, however, if that was the only religion depicted, then there would be other organizations in an uproar. Instead of devoting our energy to censoring what is coming out of Hollywood, we should first evaluate our own home environments and ask ourselves if we are setting an appropriate example of how we want our children to believe and behave. In order to live in the land of the free, we have to accept that others have different views and beliefs, and taste in entertainment.

All religion is based upon what man thinks about God. Anand-Buchwald said, "one could easily say that all religion is a bad thing, but as with all it is not the thing in itself that is bad, but the use that is made of it the attitude that one takes." I feel that if one does not like the material that is aired on the television or movie theaters, then instead of complaining they should perhaps monitor and not view the programs.

In order to reduce violence, sexual activity, and drug use the adults have to start at home with their own families. We should evaluate our own actions and decide if we are making good, appropriate decision based according to our own spirituality.

The basic guidelines in every religion, such as the ten commandments, are intended to create a basis on which everybody can rely on and maybe over come some bad streaks of character. They should all improve social life. As stated by Anand Buchwalkd in Religion and Violence, "one can not grow by suppressing behaviors and attitudes." I believe that while the guidelines may help to develop a strong basis to grow from that they should be started in the home with the family and not blamed on an industry such as Hollywood, because, they are only producing a product that the public demands. If there were no demand for such films and television shows, music and books, containing violence, sexual intercourse, profanity and other forms of crudeness, then the entertainment industry or "Hollywood" would be forced to produce another type of entertainment . As long as the public is willing to pay for the films that are now produced, then "Hollywood" will continue to generate them at a growing number. If the public were not willing to participate in such activities then "Hollywood" would not be a multi billion dollar industry.

Until we, as a society, learn to hold ourselves accountable for our actions we will lay blame on anything that will allow us to. In order to grow within our own spirituality, I feel that we must seek out the basis of our beliefs and discover what they mean to us. We should not be offended by someone else' form of enjoyment, nor by their chosen faith. As we have the right to become involved in our own activities, entertainment's, and religious activities, everyone else holds the same right to their won choosing. Until we come together as one untied front, this battle will continue on endlessly.