How junk food stories turn us into Zombies
“Anti-heroes and their dark, gritty settings suck the life out of the viewer and don’t replace it with nearly enough of anything nourishing, wholesome, just, or hopeful.” Georgi Boorman
Think of the latest zombie or vampire movies, reality TV shows, or other stuff on TV. As author and commentator Georgi Boorman wrote a few years ago, “Every year TV dramas slide deeper into a storytelling rut as deep as it is dark.”
Think of House of Cards, Game of Thrones, Dexter, The Purge and any of the corrupt cop dramas out there where straight out morally corrupt villains are now mainstream.
THE PROBLEM
We’ve gone from a few intriguing dark characters (House, Sherlock) who are struggling and imperfect to anti-heroes where evil is normalized or outright applauded. We’ve gone from imperfect characters who nevertheless end up doing the right thing, to accepting or even celebrating evil. “Oh, the murderer isn’t so bad, after all.”
As fascinated as we are with these anti-heroes, there are significant consequences. As Boorman says,
“The result is a tremendously dark and nihilistic world where no one is particularly good and no one is particularly bad. Everyone is just out for himself and what matters to him personally. Events and characters [who] perpetually oscillate between bad and worse…tells us that while these stories may be addictive, they’re not necessarily good.”
They are junk food stories instead and we become what they feed us.
THE RESULTS
Like soda and potato chips, junk food stories briefly satisfy an immediate craving. But like the junk food we eat, junk food stories don’t build health. They lead to a host of maladies that can include narrow thinking, distorted views of reality, exploitation, anxiety, arrested development, and even stereotyping and bigotry.
Junk food stories can lead to moral compromises — distortions, lies, double-speak, twisted justifications, entitlement, blinders, and self-serving actions. We see this every day played out in our national politics. We should be alarmed at the number of the dark junk stories we are surrounded by and consume today.
Oh sure, it’s easy to discount this worry. “Hey, life is dark, so this is just reality.” Or “We’re adults. We know what’s right and wrong. It’s just a story. This doesn't affect me.” Yeah, right. Except that notion goes counter to what research tells us (no affiliation). Instead, we just veg out and take it in.
Yet these dark antihero shows influence your mood and alters your perception of the world. And it’s subtle – which makes it so easy to discount.
Think of it this way – one of the guarantees of a captivating story is its ability to draw listeners in to empathize with the characters. Empathy is a powerful force in storytelling. Because we empathize, our beliefs and attitudes can shift. Add that to enthralling plots that keep us hooked and guess what happens -- binge-watching! The plot is so good, the characters intriguing in these dark stories of villains turned heroes. And you keep watching. Like a potato chip, you can’t just have one.
Stories shape our morals – good or bad. Garbage in, garbage out. Boorman says it better than I could:
“Antiheroes and their dark gritty settings suck the life out of the view and don’t replace it with nearly enough of anything nourishing, wholesome, or hopeful. The antihero is an antihero because he lacks redeeming qualities and receives sympathy for his bad choices as much as in spite of them. He always has an excuse, or an understandable chip on his shoulder, a trauma from his past, a charisma, a deeper self-shrouded mystery…if we torture them to the point where we must squint to see the distinction between the two [heroes and villains], we couch ourselves even deeper in amorality, such that when the right decision calls in real life, we might find it harder to rise to the occasion.”
Wow.
Nourishing stories are those that feed you well. They nourish and sustain your body, mind, spirit, and relationships with others, leading to higher levels of aspiration, and more energy, aliveness, meaning, and satisfaction. Like good nutrition, good/moral stories nourish your body, mind, and soul making you feel energized, alive, and happy.
INSTEAD
Don’t be a Zombie. Go for the nourishing stories. Keep the junk food stories for a snack.
