Page 204 - Religion in the Media Age Media, Religion & Culture

Believers, dogmatists, and secularists 193

The Muellers feel uncomfortable with television. They much prefer their
children to spend time playing with toys to watching television, and see
media in hierarchical terms, seeing reading as much better for the children
than television or other media. Yet, at the same time, they seem to view
television rather unproblematically (like some others). In response to a
question about how frequently they watch television, Kathy responds,

Kathy: I don’t think we watch a whole lot . . . no . . . not really. Sometimes
Disney, we’ll sit and watch, or, like... they want to watch, oh, we do
watch . . . on Friday night... what do we watch on Friday night?
Cody: Crocodile Hunter?
Kathy: We like Crocodile Hunter. What’s the other one with the great big
trucks?
Cody: [pause . . . thinks]
Kathy: “Grave Digger.”
Cody: [recognition] Oh!
Kathy: Monster trucks.
Reese: We watch Monster Jam!
Kathy: Monster Jam.
Interviewer: Monster Jam, and that’s on Friday nights. It’s sort of the
Allstar Wrestling of trucks.
Kathy: Yeah. They jump, they go through obstacle courses. . . .
Cody: Oh, tell him about “Mr Muscle.”
Kathy: “Mr Muscle,” he knows the. . . .
David: We’ll watch Monster Jam and then we’ll watch the PBR, the bull-
riding.
Kathy: The PBR Rodeo afterwards. So we watch the Monster . . . that is
our Friday night, we watch that and the rodeo. That’s our Friday
night, sitting home, we look forward to at 5:00. [Kathy and David
both laugh at how silly it sounds]

The Muellers do report that some of their media are chosen with direct
reference to “what the church advises.” When asked to describe some of
those choices, they seem not to differ too markedly from those made by
people such as the Boswells and Millikens. The Muellers avoid offensive
and troubling programming containing sex, violence, and strong language.
They do report having seen some “R” rated films, though. David and
Kathy also differ between themselves. David tends not to be as strict as
Kathy in either his choices or his negotiations with television or film
content. For instance, Kathy is very critical of the popular animated
program The Simpsons. “You can make a positive thing out of nearly
anything,” David says. Agreeing with others that the point for parents is to
instill in their children the ability to make the right choices, rather than try
to protect them from anything troubling, David explains,