One of the most popular shows today is How I Met Your Mother, a show about a man named Ted telling his kids how he met their mother. The show stars five friends who all have their own problems with love, and they all help each other figure things out. Even though every single episode since the pilot has been about Ted finding the one, there has somehow been enough material to write 8 seasons and entertain the viewers every week. If you haven't seen HIMYM, it is very similar to Friends.
I remember a couple years back, a friend of mine was talking about sitcoms and said the show Friends is one of Satan's greatest tricks. The show talks about sleeping around as if it was absolutely normal and that's how the world was meant to be. It does this so well that viewers find sex with whomever a normal thing as well. In the same way, I think HIMYM makes casual sex a normal thing. Two of the main characters, Marshall and Lily, are married. Marshall often brags about how the only girl he's ever had sex with was his wife. Yet, that side of the spectrum is completely cancelled out by Barney, a man who literally tries to have sex with as many women as possible. The other two characters, Ted and Robin, are the "normal" characters. They fall in the middle of this spectrum because they are trying to find relationships, but at the same time "falling in love" and then sleeping with everyone they "fall in love" with. Ted and Robin are the characters that HIMYM portray to be normal and right. This is the Empire. The Empire tells us that sleeping around is okay as long as you are trying to find a relationship. Actually, the Empire tells us that whatever we want to do or be sexually is fine. We will be completely supported by everyone if we choose to save ourselves for one person, OR if we choose to create a scrapbook of the hundreds of women we have slept with (Barney).
Is the Kingdom at all visible in this show?
Is this a safe show to watch, even if we know it is throwing the Empire at us in every episode?
Just as everything is fallen, everything was originally created good, and Jesus still claims everything as His own, so I think that there must be at least a slice of the Kingdom visible in How I Met Your Mother. I recently got hooked on this show while I was overcoming jet-lag, yet I've always had this nagging sense of its lack of morality, so it almost pains me to read and respond to your post.
ReplyDeleteI also think that dividing entertainment into "safe" and "unsafe" can over-simplify, since a supposedly friendly Disney movie might be pushing consumerism, whereas a violent film might teach the tragedy of war.
The main "good" I see in this TV show is the friendship of the five central characters. They stick together through everything and even manage to have some touching moments. If only the show could combine such stable, loving relationships with having sex....
Great observations from both of you, Bo and Anneke. And I'm sure the chapter for today from Colossians Remixed with its section on "seceding from imperial sexuality" offers even more perspective. We often try to hold the debate about sexual behavior only on the ground of morality, but Walsh and Keesmaat introduce the quality of greed and how our greed in every other area of life can lead us to approach sex the same way (ala Barney). But you're right, Bo--the Empire doesn't care what choice we make as long as it doesn't interfere with consuming more and more stuff.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate your effort to look for the good, Anneke. You're so right on that we need to bring discernment to ALL things. Rob mentioned in class a show that does manage to show a redemptive marriage relationship in an authentic way--Friday Night Lights. Next time you're recovering from jet lag... ;) Trust me, it's good even if you're not into football.