Does life have to be Boot Camp?
That question is posed by Jamie Lee Curtis - in her HuffingtonPost article What’s Next, Broadcasting Executions?
She raises some important questions about the degrading impact of so-called reality tv shows, especially the “elimination” contests. And she is an example, as a writer, for how artists can help make the world a better place for children - and all of us.
She writes: “I think the world is filled with people. People who try and dream and risk and stumble. Heavy, light, rich and poor and all who just seek to be seen and heard. Not judged and eliminated.
“When did life become Boot Camp? I understand that a screaming drill sergeant and the subsequent training prepares a young soldier as they go into battle but we have turned everything into a battle.
“Is that what life is? I don’t think so. I hope this trend gets eliminated. That we return to telling stories that are written by great writers, rather than manipulated into looking real, but really are scripted and cast and controlled.
“What other human experience can we marginalize? What are the costs to our national psyche? What does this tell our children? What is this saying about us?
“In my latest book for children, Is There Really A Human Race?, I pose the question: Is life nothing but a giant competition? It ends with these simple thoughts as the mother tries to reassure her young son:
“Shouldn’t it be that you just try your best and that’s more important than beating the rest? Shouldn’t it be looking back at the end that you judge your own race by the help that you lend?
“So take what’s inside you and make big, bold choices and for those who can’t speak for themselves, use bold voices and make friends, love well and bring art to this place and make the world better for the whole human race.”
Photo at top: R. Lee Ermey in Full Metal Jacket (1987); lower photo: Curtis with her children.
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Not that we don’t appreciate good entertainment, but there are some positive alternatives to the sort of spiritually and creatively deflating material so often found on mainstream tv. These alternatives include:
The Spiritual Cinema Circle
TSTN - The Success Training Network
