#0135 Why Hollywood Hates Prince Charming -Further. Every. Day.

02/15/24 • 84 min

Why Hollywood Hates Prince Charming Further. Every. Day.

Fairytales, Fables, parables, these are all names for the ideal of stories that we tell children to represent the world as it ought to be, not necessarily as it is. We teach our children about morality via these stories.

In 1937 Snow White, hit the Theatres and the world was in awe at the story of the technical achievement and the beauty of the story of Snow White, the animated masterpiece captured even the hardest of hearts. Today, the story is seen as paternalistic and harmful, but why? And it's not just Snow White, but every princess or woman who is saved by a man is considered a harmful archetype, to be replaced only by the woman saving, and rejecting romantically, the man. Why the shift? Let's talk about that today as we watch our culture strays Further Every Day.

To get context, let's watch two clips of Snow White:

Here's where Snow White wishes to meet the Prince and gets that wish granted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54QeNL5ih6A

Here's the controversial scene where the Prince kisses the deceased Snow White:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bOwgBV_IbU

Rachel Zegler is the embodiment of the Woke Culture's view on the above scenes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUdwH4lqaUQ

There are three things that can be seen here in Zegler's remarks:

A disdain for Traditional Gender Roles and Men
A disdain for history and the desire to remake the world into a woke world
A disdain for everyone who came before her and gave her the privileges she enjoyed as a Disney Princess

Let us look at another re-characterization of a classic story, Sleeping Beauty.

Here are the scenes that have sparked controversy:

Once Upon A Dream:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXbHShUnwxY

Here's the culture's take on both of these stories:

https://sites.middlebury.edu/disneyprincesses/perpetuation-of-rape-culture/

Here's the substitute that we see placed in the prince's kiss for both movies: https://youtu.be/ZPrAFHAfpng?feature=shared

Jordan Peterson on the valuable lessons from Sleeping Beauty:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pavFsm5ZL8U

Peterson also goes onto a different interview to say that the story of Snow White has other valuable insights about how a woman must sort through the 7 Dwarfs of her life, each with a piece of what she specifically needs, until she can truly understand and “wake up” to or understand what type of man she truly wants, in Prince Charming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyWkgWsdPXY

All of these are valuable lessons that postmodernism shuns, as a woman doesn't need man, and men are basically evil. The root of this lies here: A Disdain and Hatred for Natural Gender Roles and Marriage. If the Enemy of Our Souls can destroy marriage, then how can we ever enjoy the picture of Christ and the Church that was inlaid into the framework of marriage? In the Bible, we see the and and woman specifically given roles that look like Christ and His Bride.

There is nothing wrong with the female protagonist. No one here wants a world of only Prince Charming movies, but if you look at the trend against men saving the day and only becoming the lesser, dumber, or even the completely villainous suitors, you see a move by the postmodern world against the value of traditional marriage. To say that such men do not exist is to be a blind as to say that no princesses are in fact shrews. However, the fairytale genre is focused on the idealist interpretation of the world for the minds of children so as to shape their worldview.

If we tell our youth that men tend to be evil and women should invariably be the leaders alone without a family, then we rob children of their God Given Roles. God designed men to be the Savior (with a role of sacrifice, provision, and protection) of the family. This makes him accountable to God for how he leads his family. God designed women to desire children and to nurture them. When we make the man the villain and the woman the Lone Ranger, men never fulfill the purpose of “Saving the Day”, and women grow old in a childless state, only comforted by professional accolades and cats.

Theology: What are the traditional roles for man and Woman?

Philosophy: Why is the world breaking down these roles, even to the point of mockery?

...

Why Hollywood Hates Prince Charming Further. Every. Day.

To get context, let's watch two clips of Snow White:

Here's where Snow White wishes to meet the Prince and gets that wish granted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54QeNL5ih6A

Here's the controversial scene where the Prince kisses the deceased Snow White:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bOwgBV_IbU

Rachel Zegler is the embodiment of the Woke Culture's view on the above scenes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUdwH4lqaUQ

There are three things that can be seen here in Zegler's remarks:

A disdain for Traditional Gender Roles and Men
A disdain for history and the desire to remake the world into a woke world
A disdain for everyone who came before her and gave her the privileges she enjoyed as a Disney Princess

Let us look at another re-characterization of a classic story, Sleeping Beauty.

Here are the scenes that have sparked controversy:

Once Upon A Dream:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXbHShUnwxY

Here's the culture's take on both of these stories:

https://sites.middlebury.edu/disneyprincesses/perpetuation-of-rape-culture/

Here's the substitute that we see placed in the prince's kiss for both movies: https://youtu.be/ZPrAFHAfpng?feature=shared

Jordan Peterson on the valuable lessons from Sleeping Beauty:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pavFsm5ZL8U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyWkgWsdPXY

Theology: What are the traditional roles for man and Woman?

Philosophy: Why is the world breaking down these roles, even to the point of mockery?

...

Previous Episode

#0134 “You Lost Me” - The Young American Church

“You Lost Me” - The Young American Church

Introduction: How has the Church lost the youth in the West? Why do we see so many teens and young 20s fleeing the Church? Let's explore that problem as we watch our culture stray further every day.

Introduction of the Panel:

So what is happening with the youth in the West? Let's look at some numbers:

What Children Currently Believe

Noting that a person's worldview is typically formed before they reach the age of 13, Barna provided data from a Cultural Research Center national survey of adolescents conducted for the Raising Spiritual Champions book. That survey revealed that of the seven cornerstone beliefs, a majority of adolescents believes only one of those points of view.

• 69% - God exists and is the all-knowing, all-powerful, perfect Creator and ruler of the universe

• 36% - As a sinner, the only solution to the consequences of sin is to acknowledge your sins, ask

God to forgive you through Jesus Christ, and rely on Him to save you from those consequences

• 35% - Sin is real, and significant; we are all sinners, by choice

• 27% - Your most important reason for living is to do what God wants

• 25% - You trust the Bible because it is completely true and personally relevant to your life

• 21% - The Bible provides a complete and reliable understanding of right and wrong

• 17% - Success is consistently doing what the Bible teaches

In terms of developing a solid foundation for a biblical worldview, just 3% embrace all seven of those

perspectives. That does not bode well for adolescents building a stable foundation that will lead to a

robust and biblical worldview.

Adolescents clearly are exposed to many different points of view related to the subject matter of the

cornerstones. The Cultural Research Center study revealed that most of today's adolescents (58%)

believe just two or fewer of the seven cornerstones.

Cornerstones Embraced Percentage of adolescents

So no wonder we see exits from the church like this:

So is it Youth Pastors? Are they to blame? You might make that argument if you take this information in vacuum:

https://www.arizonachristian.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/AWVI2022_Release05_Digital.pdf

However, let's zoom out a bit and look closer at the Church as a whole:

https://www.barna.com/research/changing-state-of-the-church/

It's almost like there's a cancer of unbelief in the Church at large. Do you REALLY believe that God is real? If you did, what would you do about listening to Him, seeking council of Him? Would you not have a desire for a stronger relationship with those who call Him Lord?

Chair of Theology:

What does the Bible say about generational knowledge of God? Joshua 4:9, Judges 2:10-19

Judges 21:25, 2 Chronicles 33:1-6. How long does it take to lose such respect for God?

Chair of Philosophy:

If this world is not our home, how should we go about preparing our children for the next world? How should WE live in this world?

Chair of Culture:

The world has had its way with the Church instead of the Church promoting God to the World. What is the process by which we can see Godly change in our Culture?

Chair of Politics:

What have we seen happen to our freedom of worship and the sovereignty of the parent in the political sphere without God in the Culture? Voting is important, but how can we correct this problem at its root?

Chair of Economics:

Where one's treasure is, so is their heart. If we are to be wise stewards of our time and treasure, what would that look like on this Earth and how would that translate into a lifestyle?

Outro

Final Question: Favorite Youth Group Game

Next Episode

#0137 Why Has The West Embrace The Anti-Hero Story? Further. Every. Day

Why Has The West Embrace The Anti-Hero Story?

Why has this become so popular: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0tobM9b_9I ? The renewed interest in the anti-hero has taken a somewhat novel context, an article from Shadi Neinmeh at the University of Manitoba:

“...consider anti-heroism as a response to modern man's uncertainties about traditional values and as a feature of modernity's Zeitgeist. Modern anti-heroism captures the sensibility associated with modernism, with its attempts at cultural renewal, and it ranges between the low mimetic and the ironic mode.”

https://www.jstor.org/stable/44030709

Let's explore why as we watch our culture stray Further. Every. Day.

Name some common anti-heros, I know you can do it if you've been watching popular cinema in the last decade or two: Walter White, Deadpool, Punisher, Tony Soprano, Joker, Judge Dredd, Catwoman, and the list goes on forever. Some of these story types are tragedies, think Tony Soprano and Walter White. In the Sopranos a gangster becomes more human to the eyes of the viewer before the show is over, but in the end, Tony is killed by a long time friend. The villain's story ends in tragedy, as we know it should be based upon our learned experiences.

In Breaking Bad, we see a family man beset with difficult decisions. Walter's descent from broke teacher and loving family man into heartless mobster with all of the wealth in the world, but at the cost of his family is a Greek Tragedy in modern form. In fact, the perspective of the Anti-Hero has, until recently, always been a story of warning. The Anti-Hero narrative is generally only satisfying in the moral culture, when it ends in tragedy.

This brings us to today, where truth is relative and the respect for the valuable traits of the Anti-Hero, can be taken as bonafides in the Anti-Hero's virtue. Take the Hazbin Hotel, for instance, the whole narrative is focused on the virtue of Lucifer's “creativity” that sounds great! However, what happens when fiction like Hazbin Hotel slips in assumptive truth claims about God? What does that do to the psyche of the human being? Why do you think we see a pivot towards this type of artistic expression?

Theology: We see the Bible document men and women of terrible standing, some of these men and women could easily fit the role of Anti-Hero if their story was written as a Hollywood Script. Who are these people, and what does God show us through History concerning the accomplishments of wicked people?

Philosophy: Humans are naturally sponges intellectually. Christ spoke on the issue of the heart when He said: “It is not what goes into the man, but what comes out that makes him unclean.” The Proverbs are full of verses about avoiding people who's tendencies are towards sin. How should we as Christians go about consuming media?

Culture: When the culture sees us consuming the same media as them, with no reservations for the content, what does that do to our witness? How should we live our lives in the culture?

Politics: Many people have tried to fix the culture in the political sphere. The problem with this is that this issue is one of the heart. How is this not an issue for Politics, but one for the family?

Economics: What should we do when it comes to Hollywood as media consumers? How has the family failed to protect children via cheap babysitting through TV?

Last Question: Favorite Villain and why?