My Moral Criteria for Uplifting Entertainment

Note- the following was the opening paper of my senior writing portfolio. Enjoy, if you can.

Traveling Companions:
Choosing Reading Material for the
Journeys of Life

On the roads of life we must constantly make decisions about whom we can trust. Many turn to literature in order to find advice and direction, however, many do not realize that when they choose literature they are choosing traveling companions, guides that influence the turns they take on the journey of life. The older I become, the more I wonder which works of literature I can trust as companions and guides in my own travels. In her article “The Absence of the Ethical” Martha Nussbaum imagines a world in which literary and ethical criticism is combined in pursuit of the question “how should one live?” (104). While many are already asking this same question of literature, they are doing so without thinking about what effects some works have on their readers. While there are many books and movies that offer good, reliable directions that help lead me in the direction of the man I want to become, there are other works that lead to dark roads where only the lost travel. This line of reasoning leads to two questions: “Which works can I trust?” and more importantly, “How do I tell the difference?”

Ethics: Content

I choose my traveling companions the same way I choose my friends: I surround myself with those that have the best influence on me and help me to see things in a positive and uplifting light. It’s essential to be able to recognize what type of people and what type of literature you can trust. The literature I read must be worth reading. Marshall Gregory relates literature to nutrition, it must be wholesome and worth consuming (57). I find it hard to believe that literature that is riddled foul language and sexual content can have any real moral value, unless of course there is a valid reason for its presence. Stephen King’s Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption contains a lot of content that I would consider filth and unnecessary. There are times, however, when only a “filthy” word will create the aesthetic the author is looking for. Shawshank is the story of a man, Andy, who is sent to prison for a crime he didn’t commit. After 25 years Andy eventually escapes through the prisons’ septic system, finally reaching freedom by crawling through five hundred yards of pipe filled with human waste. The narrator of the story later describes Andy as the man “who had waded in sh*t and came out clean on the other side…” (King 89). While the word choice might upset some readers, I found that the phrase was justified. After all, any other word would just make the sentence comical. Literature has a lasting influence on us, and the content of a story stays in our minds forever. As a result, when we fill our minds with waste, that’s what we’ll think about during those dull moments. Personally, I’d rather fill my mind with things of worth.

Aesthetics: Presentation

The content of a story is usually present in order to help the author make a point. As mentioned before, if negative material is contained within a piece, not only should it have a reason for being there, but it should be presented in such a way that it does not have a lasting negative impact on the reader. If the author needs to present the idea that “life sucks” in order to make his point, he needs to take care to present the information in such a way that it does not overwhelm said point. Many times a book observing the harshness of the world fails to do much more than depress me and make me lose hope. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a wonderful example of presentation. Buffy is an amalgam of several genres: comedy, horror, satire, and drama. While the show deals with serious stories and situations, it does so with a touch of humor and flair of style. While evil is presented in the show, we are still hopeful of the outcome when our hero is able to mutter a wisecrack while fighting vampires, demons, or the death of a parent.

While it is often necessary to show the evils of the world in order to establish what exactly the good characters are facing, sometimes this information is relayed in such detail that by the end of the story the reader completely misses the point and remembers only the bad. The presentation of the moral of a story must be positive in the end if it to have an uplifting and lasting affect on the reader.

Aesthetics/Ethics: Purpose

If a book is meant to entertain, than it should do that. A book meant to teach should teach. The world is cruel and hard, and bad things happen, but I already know this from my own life experience. I also know that people die horribly, or commit suicide, etc. But if I am going to spend my free time reading about it, I want it to have a point. If the point cannot redeem what has been written, then the book can be said to have had a negative affect. Purpose is tightly connected to all of my criteria, for purpose is the only thing that might redeem something that is otherwise unfit for reading or viewing. A scene of horrible violence that is included in a piece for nothing more than shock value, for instance, lacks a valid purpose and thus has a negative effect on the reader. But if the violence in a piece and plays an important role in the story and the overall moral, then its purpose and presence in justified. While there are some moral values that can never be totally abandoned, ethical distinctions do not always depend on choices among the traditional moral values. For example, in The Fugitive, many of the things done by the Harrison Ford character could be considered illegal and wrong, however, when brought into context we see that the characters actions really serve the greater good. There are many books and movies where the situation of the piece changes the moral context. As a result, many literary works that I consider beneficial to me could be found immoral on another scale (Booth 95). It is purpose of the implied author and the story itself that helps to define those works. The Passion of the Christ is a work that many find offensive and intimidating because of the violence and its “R” rating. Upon watching the film, however, I found that the film had incredible worth, and that the violence in the movie only helped to drive home the point: that Christ loved us and went through hell in order to provide us with hope. While the film is admittedly told from a different religious perspective and may emphasize some things that my own religious beliefs do not, that does not eliminate the worth of the purpose of the movie. The only thing content may limit, however, is the range of the audience.

Ethics: Truth

Truth exists everywhere, in everything. Even a story set in a completely fictional world can express and contain truth. A story should always be presented in such a way that the truth it contains can be seen and believed. As a reader of comics, I’m definitely not saying to only write about real life; the work just needs to make the material believable and true in its own universe. Every story takes place in a world that has rules of one sort or another, even if the only rule is that nothing makes sense, like in Alice in Wonderland. If a story creates its own world, it should stay true to that world. Many books and movies, such as the Highlander series and XXX alter their world or break an established rule in order to cash in on the property for a sequel (or two). When this happens, the story then violates the rules by which its world works, and thus ceases to be true.

Not only should a story stay true to itself, it should also stay true to the reader’s world of experiences as well. It’s hard to learn from something if the characters and the events are so alien that the reader can’t relate to them. As a result, the story, no matter how far fetched, should contain truth that the reader can find and understand. By doing this the story then becomes available to a wider audience. As mentioned above, some truths are constant, no matter what world the story may transpire in. If a story presents an ideal that I find evil as truth, I then have trouble relating to the entire story. Of Mice and Men is an example of one such work. Steinbeck attempts to present George’s murder of Lenny at the end of the novel as a righteous and even Christ-like act. Yet no matter how many people try to explain and justify George’s actions to me, I will never feel good about his choice, and as a result, I feel that George’s actions are evil enough to nullify anything else the novel may have to offer.

Ethics: Character

Kip Hartvigsen, the head of English at BYU-I, once said that “learning is our theology” (Hartvigsen). I believe this, and believe that the character in a story serve as our vessels through which we learn the moral of the story. In a very real way it is the characters more than any other part of a story that truly become our traveling companions. Moroni, the son of Mormon, is one literary (and historical) figure that has become a true traveling companion for me. If the character of a story is a jerk, a coward, or honestly believes in the goodness of something that I feel is evil, I have trouble connecting. That does not mean that the character must agree with my own beliefs or morals, only that the character must contain some element of truth that I can identify with through the experiences of my own life.

Identifying with a character is not always healthy for a reader, however. For example, a patient in drug and alcohol rehab is urged to stay away from movies and books that contain images of characters exhibiting those behaviors the patient is trying to stop. A Child called It is once such book that had a negative impact on me because I was able to identify with the character. Coming from an abusive background, A Child called It did nothing more than bring up images and memories from my own past that were better left forgotten. While I believe that the book can accomplish much, such as helping victims to overcome their past, the reader must be ready and prepared for that change.

Aesthetics/Ethics Uplifting

A story must be uplifting in some way. If a story ends with a sad ending that relays nothing more than “life sucks,” then I feel betrayed and let down, as if the time I had invested in reading was only a pathetic waste. I accept that bad things happen, and that a story must have opposition and contrast in order to make sense. But dwelling on those things do little to educate and uplift. What is required here is a sense of hope, a promise that the wrongs suffered in the story were not for nothing. Just as I wouldn’t want to travel with a naysayer who sees tragedy around every bend, I also don’t like reading a book or watching a movie that ends with sadness and no hope for happiness. Many novels and stories end with death or suicide. Some of these things can be justified, and many cannot. The Star Wars movies are good examples. Two of the installments, Revenge of the Sith and The Empire Strikes back both end with the bad guys on top. Yet In both movies, however, there is also hope for the future as we see the good guys preparing to fight the next battle. These examples are not to imply that all stories should have sequels, but rather meaningless death and tragedy rarely uplift and instruct.

The Aviator was one recent movie that ends with no hope. The movie, which focuses on Howard Hughes, reached its climax when Hughes defied the world by proving that the “Spruce Goose” could really fly. The climax is especially fulfilling since most of the movie had focused on Hughes’ decent into madness, and the success of the plane’s flight seemed to signify Hughes’ partial victory over his mental illness. But instead of ending on this emotional high note, the movie plays for five more minutes, ending with Hughes descending into a psychotic break. While many viewers felt that the movie was amazing, I felt betrayed, as the story seemed to convey nothing more than the idea that mental illness will eventually prevail. A story must either have hope, or a purpose for a sad ending.

Aesthetics: word choice

No matter how good a story idea is, it must be well written in order to be enjoyable. J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy created a rich world and jump started a whole new genre of literature. While the trilogy is well developed, as is the world it takes place in, the writing sometimes fails to bring a reader firmly into that world. As a result, LOTR can be said to have had a negative impact on me as I read one book of the series and despised it. While a reader can sometimes make exemptions because of the quality of the idea, in the end it’s hard to find a substitute for good writing. Harry Potter is an example of an average idea with fun and inviting writing. Sometimes it’s easier to access a story when the author invites you in with a hug rather than a sneer of intellect.

The new Peter Pan movie shows how great ideas and characters can go wrong with bad writing. Peter Pan is loaded with special effects, amazing music and cute children actors. Aesthetically the movie is incredible, until you try to watch it. The dialogue in the movie is wretched (one segment features 5 minutes of the entire cast yelling “I do believe in fairies, I do, I do!); at times it is bad enough to drive the viewer from the room. Good writing helps to clarify the point of a story and make the purpose clear. In picking a traveling companion, I prefer one that makes sense as opposed to someone that babbles on incoherently.

The point of my tirade is really very simple. What we read stays with us. In effect, whenever I open a book I am inviting a new companion into my mind and heart, and that person is going to speak up every now and then whether I like it or not. If I collect many companions with the same opinion, chances are they will over power me and turn me to their way of thinking from time to time. That is why it is imperative to find those literary works that are safe to travel with. In the end, I’d rather be in charge of where my life is headed.