"It's just entertainment!"

  • Thread starter Thread starter Cat
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
C

Cat

Guest
I would like some opinions and discussion, please.

I often hear people justify their enjoyment of a certain piece of media (book, movie, TV show, play) by saying, “Hey, don’t get so concerned. Don’t dig so deep. Don’t get so bent out of shape. It’s just ENTERTAINMENT!”

I’ve done this myself (e.g., the TV show “Family Guy”).

Back at the height of popularity of Da Vinci Code, I heard many people say this. Yes, they knew the book said incorrect things about history, the Catholic Church, etc. Yes, they knew that the movie was blatently blasphemous and that the producer didn’t seem to care. “But it’s JUST ENTERTAINMENT!”

For many years, people have said this about soap operas. Even though the main characters on these soaps are married dozens of times, people say, “It’s JUST ENTERTAINMENT!”

And people have said this about the musical “Grease,” even though the plot underneath all the fun Fifties songs is about an innocent girl who willingly loses her virginity to the local “tough boy.” Yuck.

I am currently accompanying a high school for their musical called “Robber Bridegroom.” The show was written in the 1970s, and is based on a Grimm’s fairy tale. Although the musical score is bluegrass and quite delightful and the book is supposed to be a funny “tall tale” from the South, basically, the script blatently glorifies rape and degradation of women.

Here are a few of the lines out of context:

“All we needed was a woman, a dark night, and a length of rope.” (two robbers are reminiscing)

“Lord, couldn’t she holler though!” (Spoken about a preacher’s daughter that the two robbers had tied up and “had fun with.”)

“You and I are fixin’ to have us some fun!” (spoken by a robber to a woman who is tied up and covered with a burlap bag)

“Bring me this little tied-up nekkid girl.” (spoken by a robber to a stupid boy who does work for others in exchange for payment like sucklin’ pigs and bags of chicken s–t).

End of quotes.

This whole thing makes my stomach hurt. I keep thinking of that poor little nine year-old girl in Florida, Jessica Lunsford, and how that creepy man raped her, then put her in a bag and buried her alive. The trial is going on right now.

Another scene in Robber Bridegroom that really, really disturbs me is when the protaganist loses her virginity to the “Bandit of the Woods.” The music is very eerie as she follows him into the woods, where "he laid her down and took from her that which he had left the day before.

BUT…I know what people will say if I bring up my objections: “IT’S JUST ENTERTAINMENT!!” We all know rape is wrong. Don’t get so upset!"

What do you all think of the argument, “IT’S JUST ENTERTAINMENT!” ?

Thanks.
 
You are under no obligation (contractual) to accompany the program, are you? If not, simply back out of the project. If asked, tell them that you feel the play condones rape and you want no part of it.
If under contractual obligation (teacher, etc.), express your concerns to the principal and indicate that the school should not be allowing the production on those grounds.
In any case back out.
Matthew
 
The attitude “It’s just entertainment” =

-A wolf in sheeps clothing.
-Responsible for the “Dumbing down” or decay of morals
-Making abortion more and more acceptable
Cat said:
I would like some opinions and discussion, please.

I often hear people justify their enjoyment of a certain piece of media (book, movie, TV show, play) by saying, “Hey, don’t get so concerned. Don’t dig so deep. Don’t get so bent out of shape. It’s just ENTERTAINMENT!”

I’ve done this myself (e.g., the TV show “Family Guy”).

Back at the height of popularity of Da Vinci Code, I heard many people say this. Yes, they knew the book said incorrect things about history, the Catholic Church, etc. Yes, they knew that the movie was blatently blasphemous and that the producer didn’t seem to care. “But it’s JUST ENTERTAINMENT!”

For many years, people have said this about soap operas. Even though the main characters on these soaps are married dozens of times, people say, “It’s JUST ENTERTAINMENT!”

And people have said this about the musical “Grease,” even though the plot underneath all the fun Fifties songs is about an innocent girl who willingly loses her virginity to the local “tough boy.” Yuck.

I am currently accompanying a high school for their musical called “Robber Bridegroom.” The show was written in the 1970s, and is based on a Grimm’s fairy tale. Although the musical score is bluegrass and quite delightful and the book is supposed to be a funny “tall tale” from the South, basically, the script blatently glorifies rape and degradation of women.

Here are a few of the lines out of context:

“All we needed was a woman, a dark night, and a length of rope.” (two robbers are reminiscing)

“Lord, couldn’t she holler though!” (Spoken about a preacher’s daughter that the two robbers had tied up and “had fun with.”)

“You and I are fixin’ to have us some fun!” (spoken by a robber to a woman who is tied up and covered with a burlap bag)

“Bring me this little tied-up nekkid girl.” (spoken by a robber to a stupid boy who does work for others in exchange for payment like sucklin’ pigs and bags of chicken s–t).

End of quotes.

This whole thing makes my stomach hurt. I keep thinking of that poor little nine year-old girl in Florida, Jessica Lunsford, and how that creepy man raped her, then put her in a bag and buried her alive. The trial is going on right now.

Another scene in Robber Bridegroom that really, really disturbs me is when the protaganist loses her virginity to the “Bandit of the Woods.” The music is very eerie as she follows him into the woods, where "he laid her down and took from her that which he had left the day before.

BUT…I know what people will say if I bring up my objections: “IT’S JUST ENTERTAINMENT!!” We all know rape is wrong. Don’t get so upset!"

What do you all think of the argument, “IT’S JUST ENTERTAINMENT!” ?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
 
Cat said:
I would What do you all think of the argument, “IT’S JUST ENTERTAINMENT!” ?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
people in Rome watched Christians being torn apart by lion for entertainment.
they watched gladiators fighting animals and each other to the death for entertainment
The English watched public torture and executions of priests for entertainment.
People in many times and places have watched public executions for entertainment.

Most of what passes for entertainment in that industry today, which we gobble up with our hard earned dollars, is hard or soft-core porn, glorifies violence by law enforcement that would land of of them in prison if it were done in real life, perpetuates grotesque caricatures and prejudices against blacks, Hispanics and other minoritieds, brings people into our homes whom we would not even admit to knowing in real life, and has created a culture of virtual reality, so that a sizeable portion of the population has no actual perception of reality, to the detriment of civic life.

the culture of death is dependent on the entertainment industry to sustain our current social climate of violence against women and children, and the various awards in that industry are generally given out on that basis (just watch the grammies for instance).

If you support this stuff you are part of the social and moral problems it creates.
If you find it entertaining you probably need to be in therapy.
 
Unfortunately, drafdog, I AM under contract–not a legally-binding contract, but a “contract” to provide accompaniment for the very wonderful teenagers in this musical, many that that I have known and loved for years. They have been abused throughout the rehearsals by a director who misled them into thinking this show is “family fun.” At least someone (me) was there to witness what he did to them.

If I didn’t show up to play tonight, it would be the KIDS who would suffer, not that director.

I have an appointment next Tuesday to speak with the principal of the school.
 
I think it’s an excuse for people who know that watching that stuff is wrong. They’re trying to make themselves feel better. I don’t care what you say, but what a person watches does make a difference. One can never really erase the damage done by immoral scenes on TV.
 
I agree with you, & have always gotten frustrated with the “It’s just fiction” (or entertainment) arguement. We all know that fiction & entertainment affect us. That is what it’s supposed to do. Fiction can influence our beliefs, & popular culture does as well. One of the 1st times I recognized this, I was in 9th grade & had just seen Clint Eastwood in “Escape From Alcatraz”. Leaving the film, I realized I had been hoping the prisoners would escape, which I usually could not be influenced to hope for convicts to escape. Fiction can be very powerful & influencial.

I think you are wise to speak with the principal if you can’t get out of accompanying the play. I think that sounds like a really inappropriate & disturbing play for high schoolers, to say nothing about the younger siblings that will most likely be in attendance. What were they thinking?
 
As a musician, I am frequently confronted with this moral dilemma. I played in the musical Grease for a high school musical, and while not as morally offensive as the one you are talking about, I felt uncomfortable with my family out in the audience when we performed it.

Something in this vein that I am struggling with right now…I used to play in a very successful local alternative rock band. We performed U2, REM, Police, The Cure, Violent Femmes, etc. My former band mates are looking to get together for a reunion. I know it would be fun, but I question whether or not this would be in conformance with my Catholic faith. It’s hard to find songs that don’t have some mention of immoral behavior. Added to all of this is our current Pope’s position on rock music being the vehicle of anti-religion.

I could use the argument ‘It’s just entertainment’. I guess I’m looking for some outside perspective as well.
 
I know, annie, and probably lots of people are just shaking their heads in disbelief at the ‘puritans’ and the ‘stupid sheep’ who are so lacking in intelligence that they cannot understand the difference between following a religious faith (which apparently is only to be trotted out one hour a week on Sunday), and ‘entertainment’.

After all, who are ‘we’ to judge others? How can we possibly be ‘the thought police’, be able to judge how other people feel or perceive ‘entertainment?’

Aren’t we ‘diverse’ enough now to be able to let what we ‘relatively’ feel is ‘relatively’ not-for-us (you see, many cannot even say the word ‘wrong’ because it involves making a ‘value’ judgment based only on ‘our perception’, don’t you know), 'pass by, and let those for whom they feel it is ‘relatively’ fine-for-me enjoy their ‘entertainment?’

How dare we imply that there is some absolute standard of decency, right/wrong, and morality, and make nasty, mean-spirited judgments of those who ‘transgress’, because of course these paragons who sit there watching rape, murder, pornography, etc. aren’t hurting anybody. After all, they are just trying to live their own lives, exercise their own judgments, and not be shackled by some medieval, bigoted, anti-woman, anti-fun, morally culpable on-so-many-levels, anti-semitic and oppressive foreign government whom of course most Catholics ignore anyway. . .

I have heard this type of argument for most of my life (so far) and it just gets lamer and less logical daily. Look at the difference just between the TV programs of 1960 and 2006, and tell me that the majority of today’s stuff isn’t total dreck which would have been unthinkable to produce even for ‘adults’ then, and which is marketed to children today. . .

It’s like the frog in the pot of water. Heat the pot slowly enough and the frog doesn’t even realize he’s cooking. Well, the ‘pot’ of ‘entertainment’ has been slowly heating for a couple of generations, and the indigestible, even poisonous mess that has resulted for the most part is now hailed as gourmet delight. . .how ghastly.
 
My daughter (21) came to the show last night.

Thank God, she said that it was “creepy” and not appropriate for high school. Her main objection is that it depicted a foolish girl falling in “love” with a two-faced lying man. She said, “That’s not LOVE.” She thinks impressionable high school students shouldn’t be encouraged to pursue futile relationships like this.

She also didn’t care for the rape stuff. But she lives in St. Louis, and said that perhaps she is hyper-sensitive to this issue because the talk of the whole town is the pervert who kidnapped the two boys and sodomized them repeatedly.

Anyway, the show is over now, and I have decided that I will not commit to accompanying any show in the future that depicts a message that I find morally objectionable. I’m not too worried. IMO, there are a lot of wonderful Broadway shows that do not blur the lines between right and wrong.
 
This makes me think of a constant arguement I’ve been having with my sisters for the last 20 something years.

I HATE seeing young teenaged girls in Daisy Dukes and bikini tops waving towels to have people come in for a car wash. It makes my skin crawl. Every middle aged perv out there going through a mid life crisis is drooling over them. My sisters say I have a dirty mind. I wanna smack the sponsers of the cheerleader and CYC groups that support this activity. Find something that doesn’t turn women into objects, especially when the women are actually little girls.

Which brings me to my other big rant. Pretty Woman. How many women took their 12 year old daughters to see that movie? My neighbor and her girls saw it several times. Let’s teach them that being a prostitute is a good way to find a rich husband. Forget the drugs and pimps and beatings. The worst thing that girl endured was some rudeness from a saleswoman and a couple of leers from Jason Alexander. They should see the real girls selling themselves on the streets and what happens to them.

I love the music from Grease, the costumes, the dancing, but the underlying theme is Bad Girls Have More Fun. Maybe it’s true (for a minute or two) but not in the long run. Bad girls still have to live with themselves 20 years later. I’ve never seen the Robber Bridegroom, although a couple guys I knew back in New York were in the original production. That’s where John Goodman got his first big role…Cat, I’m from St. Louis too. But there are other shows that send the wrong messages on so many levels. Broadway is one thing, but a high school is different.

I think I sound nuts right about now. Rant officially over. Thank you for reading.
 
All I can say right now is WOW!! I’m still in shock!! I grew up in the city, but I guess I have lived a sheltered life for too long (since moving out of the city).

If I EVER found out that our local High School was going to put on a play such as this, my kids would be pulled out so fast they would barely have time to empty their lockers. Maybe I live in an uncultured conservative town, but I can also guarantee that this play would be shut down in our town faster than the news media could drive to the High School.

Children (and I include High School students in that category) have a harder time separating reality from entertainment (as do many adults), by portraying something of this nature it makes people believe this is main stream. Similar to lyrics in song, when kids hear about it in a song they can believe it’s reality.

I applaude you for staying with the kids. I hope it helped them deal with the content because these are the kids who are going to lead our country some day. Lets hope they don’t think rape is just part of the social culture.

P.S. I’m still in shock!!
 
I read a wonderful explanation of this once. What the author said is that recreation (entertainment) is really re-creation! And do we want to re-create ourselves with stupid TV shows and smutty plays?!? When I think if it in that light, it is much easier to stop wtaching that kind of “entertainment.”

As for the high school play, I would see if there was a way to get out of your involvement. And would it be possible for you or the director to talk to the cast about the underlying message of the play–it seems to be saying that any pre-martial sex (even forced sex) is ok as long as you marry in the end (I assume that the Bridegroom part of the title is an indication that the lead characters marry in the end). It all sounds really yucky and even with ‘fun’ songs, I don’t see how they can get away with putting on a play like that at the high school level.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top