Yes, filtering companies like VidAngel and ClearPlay do ruin art. But I support their mission anyway. Here’s why.
Filtering companies have been the cause of great controversy lately. VidAngel was recently involved in a court case in which they were forced to stop offering their movie catalog (although this ruling was limited to VidAngel specifically). This is due primarily to how they do filtering, and not the fact that they do it at all, but the company’s success has brought up a lot of these questions. I won’t comment (at least in this post) on that case, except to say that whatever the final ruling is at the end of this legal battle, Christians should obey the law. But I do have some thoughts on filtering.
As some of our readers know, when I’m not blogging on here or working at my day job, I’m also a fiction writer. My most recent novel, An Exalted Depravity, pushes certain boundaries of what Christian fiction is typically thought to be. There’s a lot of discussion of sexuality, including implied sex, and even a reference to an orgy. While it may not be direct and explicit like many books, it certainly has more mature content than what Christian fiction “is supposed to.” This wasn’t for the purpose of being titillating. In fact, it took me a year to edit the book after I had the first draft written, and this was a significant contributing factor: I wanted to make sure this content was used responsibly and purposefully. Because, believe it or not, sexuality can be used in a way that glorifies God. In my case, it was in a dystopian sense: to show where the sexual liberation movement is going, and what Christians have to be prepared to face in order to live out their faith.
Now, if someone came along and offered a service which automatically filtered novels, and someone posted on social media about how excited they were they could finally read my novel, I would be offended. More than being offended, I would be greatly frustrated. I would want to tell this person that they were missing the entire point of the novel, and that if their goal was, as my goal was, to see what Christians need to be prepared for in the future, they would be receiving a very weakened, diluted, and inferior version that would not be serving them well. In this way, I believe it is very, very clear that filtering services such as VidAngel and ClearPlay do, in fact, ruin art.
So why do I support filtering? Well, there are two reasons, both of which I will expound upon. In short, I support filtering because some art abuses mature content, and because the viewer still has a right to consume art how they choose.
Some Artists Abuse Mature Content
While the example of my novel was clearly from a Christian perspective, it is true that secular artists sometimes use mature content in a way that is responsible and purposeful. For instance, in Les Miserables, Fantine is showed partaking in prostitution, but in a way that is non-explicit and highlights how low she has fallen, and the horrible circumstances in which she is in. This scene is not titillating, but it does make the viewer heartbroken for her, which is extremely important for the film’s narrative.
But at the same time, some directors and writers do use mature content, like sexuality, nudity, and strong language, in a way that either serves only to add sex appeal, or is used to further a message that, from a Christian perspective, is negative or harmful. This is not necessarily indicative of the level of the mature content. Megan Fox’s sex appeal in Transformers, for instance, is used in a shallow and titillating manner, even though it is far less explicit than other films that may use similar categories of content more responsibly. In this case, the purpose or message of the narrative (if you can find one in Transformers that’s deeper than watching giant robots beat the snot out of each other) is not tied to the sexuality; it is used only for the purpose of adding sex appeal.
As Christians who place a high value on human beings, we ought to be troubled by the irresponsible use of sexuality just to titillate audiences. In this way, even if the content is not as explicit as in other films, the purpose of it is not unlike that of pornography. This does not mean that a Christian is necessarily sinning when he or she watches a movie with this content in it. It only means that Christians who are uncomfortable with it have a deeper reason that self-righteous prudishness for being so.
Now, let’s say that you, like me, really enjoy watching giant robots beat the snot out of each other. It’s fun. But you want to do so without putting up with the content that is intended to be titillating. Should you be treated as someone who wants to paint an Italian mustache on the Mona Lisa?
The Choice is the Viewer’s
In many cases, I choose to either watch a film or not watch it as it is released. Sometimes this means that I choose not to watch films rather than watch a filtered version of them. I do watch filtered versions sometimes, but generally speaking, I prefer to watch and engage with a film as the director envisioned it. That is my choice, but it is, in fact, a choice. Those who choose to watch largely filtered versions of films are also making a choice that they have the right to make.
Here’s how this works. When you’re watching a movie at home and you mute it when there’s bad language, or fast forward through the nude scenes, no one calls the art police. They recognize that as a choice, especially if someone is watching movies with kids in the room. But when there’s a service that makes it easier to do that, it all of a sudden becomes controversial.
So in conclusion, I do believe that filtering content in films harms the narrative like directors say it does. But the director’s vision is not sacred. There are other concerns, like a film’s worldview and the possibility of temptation, that are more important to Christians, and ought to be so. For that reason, individual choice is extremely important here.
The point is this: the mission of filtering companies does have good reasoning behind it, and an ultimate goal of Christian virtue. If only for that, these companies ought to be supported in a general sense, even if individual choices ultimately different.
Disclaimer: While they are not doing so currently, VidAngel has hosted ads on this blog in the past.