In Search of Entertaining Entertainment

When I sit down to watch a movie, I’m ready to relax.  And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.  Rest is important.  God rested.  Jesus needed some time alone.  Rest is good.

I very rarely turn on a video in the middle of the day.  I look for an entertaining story in the evening when my body is tired and my brain is tired.  Unfortunately, there are times when sifting through the options feels like the most exhausting thing I’ve done all day. 

I use Christian content providers to weed out anything offensive, which should make choosing a movie easy.  But way too many descriptions include phrases like “tragedy strikes,” “devastation of war,” and “life starts to fall apart.”  I am not entertained by pain and suffering.  Not even if there’s a happy ending.  If I have to watch the “distraught family” for an hour to get to the happy ending, which will also make me cry, I will not turn it off feeling uplifted.  I’ll feel as though I wasted an hour and a half and a box of tissues.

Not every story has to be funny, though in my opinion the best ones are.  I’m not opposed to some tense moments.  But I want to see more interesting stories that don’t involve the worst things that can happen to a person.  That’s where I find rest.