Understanding the Ignorant: Religion in Media

Anika NarayananStaff WriterReligion carries baggage. Any mention of Christianity might lend itself to thoughts of strict nuns slapping angelic schoolgirls’ hands with rulers in Sunday school, while Judaism may conjure up thoughts of menorahs burning away and skinny thirteen-year-olds at their Bar Mitzvahs. No matter how “politically correct” we claim to be, accepting every religion as an equal, everyone carries predetermined notions of what a religion encompasses, no matter how knowledgeable or ignorant they are. There is no outlet to blame more than the media. Like in most facets of the unknown aspects of culture, we derive most of our information from television, music, movies and books. While we are generally positively influenced by these sources — any information, good or bad, is conducive to a healthy, well-rounded knowledge of the given topic — a biased, incorrect perspective of religion is often offered instead of the truth. It is that bias, fueled by ignorance and a need to fabricate the truth for the benefit of the public, that creates untrue objectives of religion and allows their negative facades to compromise their public understanding.The cult-classic Carrie, written by Stephen King in 1974, was my first real introduction to the extremes of religion. Of course, it manifested itself in a 199-page paperback that, by the time I had finished, had cemented my fear of religion. Coming from a strongly atheist background, as an eleven-year-old, I now believed that Christianity included having a shrine and confessional in your closet, believing that menstruation was a sin and punishment and possibly having telekinetic powers that would lead to a high school exploding. That’s not to say that perhaps Mr. King had a motive in writing Carrie beyond creating a terrifying, isolated perspective of Christianity, but as a young, easily influenced girl with no prior understanding of religion, how was I to know better? Religion is based around doing good for not only yourself but other people. After reading Carrie, I shuddered every time I saw a cross hanging on a wall at a friend’s home for a solid year following. Sunday school sounded like a death sentence and I excused myself every time my friend’s family tried to say grace. Media shouldn’t hold that kind of power over people, but we are easily manipulated and feed off of the extremes.However, while the media has been a negative factor in my understanding of religion, it has also been the source of a growth in my understanding. I accidentally recorded the TLC series “Sister Wives” on my DVR, and while I was primarily annoyed that in the process, it had deleted my episodes of Breaking Bad, I was tempted to watch an episode. What I thought was going to be a sickeningly red neck story of a destructive, oversized Amish family turned into my window into acceptance. Mormonism is not a factor in a typical Santa Monican’s life. All I knew about it was a man was expected to marry more than one woman and father more children than he could pay for or control. I carried a single story of preconceived judgment with me as I clicked play. But what I saw was something different. I saw the portrayal of a large Mormon family with four wives and twenty children moving from Utah to Las Vegas to escape persecution of the police. I also saw a family with enough love for every child and a husband who loved, appreciated and respected all of his wives equally. They wore clothes like me, they spoke like me, they went to school like me and after an hour of trying to pinpoint what made a Christian child so different from an Atheist child, I realized I couldn’t because they were just like me.We have also found humor in portrayals of religion, a factor that may or ay not be perceived as positive, but is definitely more light-hearted than vats of pigs blood. The musical “Book of Mormon” has been dominating the theater circuit in New York and L.A. since its opening in 2011. It tells the story of two missionaries traveling to Uganda, laced with the obligatory song, dance and slapstick charm that make light of an otherwise serious and important topic: the spread of religious tolerance. While I found myself laughing and bouncing along to the beats of Trey Parker and Robert Lopez, I also found myself wondering if it was okay for religion to be spun and rewritten by the same person who writes South Park. Is it appropriate to convey and accept topics as pertinent to culture as religion is with the same level of humor and animosity we do, or is it a breach of social tolerance and acceptance? I highly doubt that people who have found solace and connection in the real Book of Mormon, a scripture, will find a similar comfort in its portrayal in the popular musical. But who am I to know? As the ignorant, it was nothing more than song and dance.I can’t say that the media has always given the most positive perspective on religion. The fabrication of certain aspects of a religion may be more resonant with the public, but while the negative connotations explored in Carrie provided nothing more than apprehension and nightmares, I have also found appreciation and understanding in the unknown, and as always, I have the media to thank. anarayanan@thesamohi.com