November 2004
WUGGIE'S MUSIC, MEDIA AND MORE!
WUGGIE'S MUSIC, MEDIA AND MORE!
Ratings System:
++ Christian - made specifically by Christians for Christians
+ Secular - but contains nothing offensive to most Christians, probably made by Christians trying to exert influence in secular media.
M Mature content. Not necessarily offensive, but parents should be careful before allowing exposure to children and pre-teens.
X Mature content. For mature teens, firm in their convictions and morals, who have received much parental guidance.
XX Contains very mature, problematic content. Parents should seriously consider restricting exposure to teens.
XXX Completely offensive. Not only should teens be restricted, but adults may want to question their own exposure.
Remember, my reviews are strictly my opinion, and no substitute for your good judgment
Hilary Duff / Hilary Duff / M
There's nothing offensive or inherently objectionable in Hilary's new hot selling disc. Hilary has, however, some values and ways of looking at life that aren't necessarily Christian. The song, "Do You Want Me?" contains lyrics such as:
Do you want me? Looking for a savior to save my soul
All the damage I have done has left a big hole
Everybody knows I just want someone to hold Do you want me?
I open my mouth cause I'm waiting for your love to fall from the sky
And I fail You think that I'm out of my mind And maybe your scared to be right
But you'll never know till you get me alone
In the Bible, and in our own lives we find people chasing after many things trying to fill the void in our souls that only Jesus can fill: "I have come that they might have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10. In this song, Hilary succumbs to the #1 way people attempt to make up for a missing Christ in their lives: love. She throws herself at the boy she is singing to, expecting him to be her savior. The other songs on the CD are likewise benign on the surface and yet feed ideas such as feeling based morality, romantic love is the only thing that matters, and happiness justifies any means. If your daughter is struggling with these concepts, this might not be the perfect CD for her. Try Stacey Orrico or Point of Grace as excellent Christian alternatives!
No Doubt / Everything In Time / X
No band drives me crazier than No Doubt. I love their music, seriously one of my personal favs. Lyrically, No Doubt lyrics are often bordering on outright Christian, or at least completely compatible with Christian values. For instance in the song: "You're So Foxxy", destined to be a hit from this new disc, Gwen chastises herself for bad decisions made under the influence of alcohol. "You caught my fall making out on alcohol / An innocent mistake / Falling in love on accident, I didn't mean to." While other bands would celebrate this, Gwen chastises herself and vows to change. Of course, this is a mature subject matter, even if it is compatible with Christian values. The reason No Doubt makes me crazy is that just when I'm about to get excited to start endorsing them, they go and stick just one or two bad words on a disc, or, as in the case of Everything In Time, put Gwen on the cover topless!!! It's as if their real selves are very mature and Christian, but just as the CD is going to press, they lose their better judgment and succumb to industry pressure to do something radical. Sorry, Almost but no cigar, Gwen. Try Audio Adrenaline or Switchfoot as Great Christian Alternatives!
What I learned on the Confirmation Age Retreat
I am writing this the day after our Confirmation Age retreat the first weekend of October. The theme of our retreat was Music and Media. The goal was to get students thinking about the media they consume, and to not just consume whatever is presented to them. I hope the students left the retreat with some practical skills in deciding what morals and values are presented in a given song, movie or TV show, and the encouragement to make wise choices. There are some things I learned myself on this retreat, as well as some sobering reminders I'd like to share with you.
Firstly, middle schoolers are not very mature. They shouldn't be. They're kids! They don't act like adults and they don't think like adults. They will sometimes surprise you with their insight and intelligence, but their cognitive abilities are still very much under development. They have the ability to make some right decisions for themselves, but often they fail. Their ability to filter media content is only beginning. They need the continuing help of their parents and other adults to identify morally corrupt material and to make good choices. They do not have the ability to make continuous good decisions. Sometimes they will warm our hearts with very mature and wise decisions. We have the tendency to declare that we have raised them right and the filter is in place and working perfectly. Nothing could be further from the truth. Therefore, middle schoolers especially need constant supervision of their media consumption and support to make the right decisions.
I also polled the students and found that roughly 45% of them had a TV in their bed room, almost all of these with cable. Almost 30% have a computer in their bedroom with Internet access. Parents may want to revisit that strategy. It assumes that middle schoolers are perfectly able to filter their media content without any help from their parents. This simply is not true. In some cases, your kid doesn't even have a fighting chance. Allow me to share a story. The Howard Stern show comes on a cable channel that is included with my basic subscription: E! Entertainment television. The other evening I was flipping through channels and came upon the Howard Stern show. The image I saw was of a woman, completely nude, bent over a table. Very small skin colored dots covered a few specific parts. Audience members were engaging in sexual acts with this woman. In the upper left corner of the screen as a parental warning label: TV-14, meaning that the producers felt that the content was unsuitable for anyone under the age of fourteen. Of course, that's just a suggestion, and it's kind of a moot point since it's obvious that this material should be restricted to persons at least 18 years old, and not available at all on basic channels. Evidently, Howard Stern doesn't think so, and Howard Stern is streaming right into your house. Does your 12 year old who has a TV with cable in his or her bedroom stand a fighting chance to avoid this imagery?
Approximately 50% of the kids on the retreat reported that they watch MTV regularly. MTV, as has been reported here many times, is an unending stream of videos that use sex and violence to attract ratings and advertisers. MTV teaches kids that acting on sexual desires is a hallmark of maturity, and that sex is simply the next step after love. Parents who allow MTV watching by their middle schooler might want to watch it with them for an hour and revisit this decision.
As Christians, I believe we are behind the 8 ball in our society when it comes to media. We also have a responsibility to protect them from pornographic, violent and immoral stimulus. At the same time we have to prepare our kids to be able to function in a society that inundates them with these things. The right way to do this is not to just let the inundation begin at a young age. I understand that this is a difficult judgment call for parents to make. Please consider this: Kids need a fighting chance. They need help, lots of help, and lots of attention, to develop a mature moral filter. Until the filter is securely in place, parents should aggressively limit exposure. Our kids need daily supervision of their media consumption, and daily support in their building of a moral media filter, and daily encouragement to make good decisions.
If there is anything I can do to help you, please do not hesitate to ask.