Well, I had Formed for a while. The parish I taught catechism in had a parish plan as well.
It WAS good for teaching, because the kids were well behaved watching Br Francis (I taught very young kids).
Maybe it’s different in the states, but up here, Formed is all historical documentaries, documentaries about theology, and historical drama type movies. If the Sci Fi and fantasy that you mentioned are someone’s favorite genre, they aren’t likely to get much out of Formed. I like reading and study groups to enrich my faith and learn about saints. I just don’t get much out of a video tour of where a saint from the 5th century used to live. If I want a movie or show, then I prefer a family drama from modern times, or an imaginative sci fi and fantasy plot. Very few historical shows interest me.
I do agree that catholics should spend some of their time on catholic media (I have books, a couple movies and a whole catholic singer/worship section on itunes), but for me, I just don’t like reducing things about God to purely entertainment, so when I only need inspiration, like a good holy-trumps-evil movie or a wholesome sitcom to make me laugh, and not a lot of deep heavy conversion type stuff, the two are not inter-changeable.
I find that most movies and shows these days have fairly poor morality compared to when I was a kid in the 1990’s. I find that there is too much focus on the images shown in the movies (sex and violence) and being politically correct (we need a gay character, do we have at least three ethnic groups, are we feminist enough) that you just end up with a story that is morally undeveloped, not because a good movie can’t contain some of these PC things, but because once you add all of them, there’s little time left for a good plot. Have one female character say they have a girlfriend in one line in passing, and it seems like all of a sudden, you sell enough tickets to cover cost of production, just because its “inclusive”. Forget how good the plot or acting is. Or maybe they’re just too timid to come right out and say something isn’t morally grey but fully good or fully evil. Just once, I’d like a new movie where the bad guy is a bad guy, and not disguised as someone aligned with good only to be found out. We’ve seen it already. Sorry, that’s my rant.
It’s hard to avoid all manner of media, or any manner of media these days. It’d be nice for Formed or another network to create some wholesome fiction to fill the void. A family sitcom about a catholic family, or a drama set in biblical times. More animated kids shows that teach faith without being overly educational and classroom-oriented would be nice too.
