TV Attacks Christians

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That's not shocking; TV has been attacking Christians for years now. But recent years being what they are, the talent simply isn't there to allow them the subtlety which has been used in the past. Metaphors, symbolism, motifs, allusion -- these are tools of the past; shock and controversy have replaced them and it's sometimes pretty ugly.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip has made Christianity and its unpopularity in showbusiness a regular theme. They touch upon it at least once every episode and it has been the focus of at least two, so far (I think they've shown maybe six, which makes a full 1/3 of the show about Christianity and religion, in general). And while tonight's episode was the first in a two-parter, I'm going to tell you how it's going to go and why I think it looks bad.

And some of this may be offensive to any number of people, so you have been warned.

Excepting Studio 60, few TV programs take on religion, in general -- South Park being a glaring exception. But South Park literally reeks of talent and though it is sometimes hard on specific tenets or taboos held by Christians, it rarely makes blanket insults or deals with it in the angry way shows like Family Guy and Studio 60 do. And South Park is an equal-opportunity offender whose work is rarely, if ever, just shocking; there is always a larger point to what is being said and it is tied to the story.

Family Guy is just downright ugly, and tries to cover that by being downright ugly to most every subject it half-ass approaches. Unlike the aforementioned, Family Guy simply doesn't have the talent to pull off any of it and doesn't even really try. It's shocking just to be shocking, not unlike Howard Stern.

[POSSIBLE SPOILERS]

Here's the way it's going to go down next week on Studio 60: Jeter (wearing the "shepherd's costume") will somehow be unfairly railroaded by the judge and deputy (even moreso than he has already), making him the victimized, sympathetic allusion to Jesus Christ. The end.

Everything else is just gravy. The cops may be pointed-out to be corrupt, abusing their positions of authority, whatever. The suits may be noted as caring for nothing other than their financial investment. The Chinese cats may say something profound which makes everyone feel small, but is good because they learned something and will now grow stronger.

Whatever. The point is that Jeter is the Christ character.

It's so heavy-handed that I can't help but think it does it on purpose. Except that it's so heavy-handed that I can't help but think they didn't realize they were doing it. And it's so damnably trite. They want to offend people, but do they want to do so in order to make people think, or just boost ratings?

I honestly don't think even they can tell anymore.

November 6, 2006 - 8:54pm

To be honest, I never

angelface79 Says:

To be honest, I never watched this show. I have seen previews, but it just didn't interest me.

I don't think it's very smart to make fun of God, the creator of heaven and earth.

Thanks for sharing about the show.

November 6, 2006 - 11:06pm

God Can Take It

manodogs Says:

Oh, God can take it, so that much doesn't bother me. What does offend me is that they tiptoe around every other religion and religious denomination. Once again, they go out of their way to accommodate everyone else, but it's a free-for-all on the Christians.

- Manodogs

November 7, 2006 - 5:56am

Ok, I thought a few minutes about this...

IntricateGirl Says:

and here's what I've come up with.

If you make fun of Muslims, you could encite a riot. Plus many writers consider them "too easy" of a target. Pagans will sue, Jews will publicly denounce, nobody in America get Hinduism, and there's not really any way to make fun of Buddhists. Which leaves Christianity. To Americans, it is familiar, so yeah, it's supposed to be this stand-in for all of the religions. If a writer wants you to question your thoughts on "God" no matter which name you happen to call God, then you use Christianity.

I honestly can't say whether they intend to poke at Christianity so hard, or whether it's a side-effect. Look at Blair Witch 2. No, on second thought, don't. It sucked! It took so long explaining Paganism and Wicca that they never got around to actually being scary. There's an example of a film that tried to use a different one as a scape-goat, and they failed so miserably because nobody knew what the heck they were talking about. So they explain everything and it came across like a "How to be Pagan in Under 10 Minutes a Day" manual. Christianity provides that familiarity, and they "all" do it, so the thought is that they can all get away with it.

November 7, 2006 - 7:01am

Good Answer, But...

manodogs Says:

That was kind of my point: Muslims are simply using terrorism to enact censorship -- nothing new there -- but I agree that they really don't have any choice but to censor themselves when it comes to that. Buddhism, Hinduism, and so on aren't very well-known, but not just by the viewers; I wouldn't think many writers know much about them, either (though Buddhism is sometimes a popular Hollywood thing, ala Scientology or Quabbalah).

But aside from that, the main point is that they're afraid of hurting some wittle feelings and getting a bunch of bad publicity. But when they hurt Christians' feelings, they simply call them crazy and zealous (granted, a lot of times, they aren't far off the mark!) and dismiss it.

Oh, and I don't think TV writers consider anything "too easy." Look at Two and a Half Men...

- Manodogs

November 7, 2006 - 11:14am

My thoughts on this matter

Momof3 Says:

It seems to me that just about everyone lately is making fun in some way of Christians. Granted, some "Christians" just claim to be, some are, in my opinion, WAY out there with their beliefs, but for the rest of us we are just trying to spend our entire lives trying to live life the way we feel is the way God wants us to. I expect persucution from non believers. That doesnt bother me. If you don't want to believe what I believe and don't want to have an open mind, I won't push it on you. I hate when people try to push a religion on you. I feel the best way to get someone interested is to be an example. If I behave a certain way, for example, am happy and at peace, people will wonder how I can be like that and ask. I can't shove something down someone else's throat. But back to the subject. I'm so tired of having to be "politically correct" for everyone else and no one taking my feelings, (the feelings of Christians in general) into consideration. I'm trying to work on myself though, to accept that this was going to happen anyways, and that I can't do anything about it but let God handle it. I'm trying not to be angry because it doesn't solve anything for me. If I get angry and scream and yell and throw a fit like I want to sometimes, then I don't act like He wants me to act. right? Before it sounds like I'm preaching here, I want to say I have an incredible temper! Which is why I'm trying to work on things like this.
I hope I didn't go to far off the path. I understand how you all feel and I wish I could say something to make it better or easier to deal with, but the best advice I can give is to live life expecting to be ridiculed for your beliefs and I think ( UI said think, lol!) things might be easier with this particular issue

November 7, 2006 - 2:38pm

Ok, so time for the hard

IntricateGirl Says:

Ok, so time for the hard question. What do you want to happen instead? 'Cause there's pretty much two directions it can go. They can start making fun of everyone in equal amounts which doesn't really work for anyone, or they can start making fun of Christians less. And before you answer that you want the second option, realize that it will only happen because people A) stop watching the shows leaving nothing but Touched By an Angel clones on the air, or B) Christians get loud and angry. In other words, the "crazy and zealous" people you described. Which, again, doesn't work out well for anyone.

And now that I think about it, I'm not so sure I agree with you, or even what I wrote. Other religions do take crap. 76.5% of the US identifies themselves as Christian. Proportionally, I'd say they take less than that percentage of the jokes against religion. Meanwhile Scientology and Kabbalah take a HUGE number of jokes against them for faiths that only have a small percentage of US followers. Whether they deserve it or not is not something I am going to debate because it's completely beyond the scope of this discussion.

And for the record, it's kinda lousy no matter which religion it happens to. :)

November 7, 2006 - 7:53pm

Hollyweird

manodogs Says:

Well, most of the ridicule on/about Kabbalah and Scientology have to do with the fact that they are "religion celebres" amongst the Hollyweirdos.

I definitely think Christians bear the brunt of the ridicule, because as you noted, people stay away from poking fun at any others to avoid trouble.

- Manodogs

November 7, 2006 - 1:55pm

Small Christian family in a big non Christian family

honeybeeaz Says:

My husband & I are raising our children to be Christians. We fight with his family all the time about our chioce in life. His oldest sister is Mormon, his twin sister doesn't care, his father was raise Christian & his mom wasn't. His family pushes Harry Potter on us all the time. We have found that nothing we say or do will stop them from pushing it on us. I got off track sorry. I have found that Tv will promote Halloween but not Christmas so much anymore. They also try to push Ester out also. They show Veggietales on ABC & they took out Because God loves you & he made you very Special. My daughter knew that the line was missing when she saw it on there. I had to put her Veggietales dvd in the dvd player so she could hear that line. I have a friend who Christian & her husband is Muslim & if he doesnt get his way he threatens. He talks about me behind my back. Oh she's a Jesus lover. I don't take it to heart because I know God is working on him. I know this isn't really on the subjet but maybe it will help you some.