R: This House Is Not Entertained

In his Satires, the second-century AD poet Juvenal laments how the Roman people, who used to command legions, achieve honors, and conduct their affairs with nobility, “now subdue themselves and anxiously hope for just two things: bread and circuses (panem et circenses)” (Satire X). Juvenal’s phrase is still present in public discourse nineteen hundred years later. Many conservatives lament the “bread” of frequent and large-scale handouts to Americans and foreign nations, while they decry a clear trend of American politics becoming increasingly theatrical and performative–a veritable circus. Most importantly for our purposes, Americans have become increasingly enthralled with the circus of mass entertainment. Professional sports, particularly the NFL, continue to grow in value and cultural prominence. Americans spend more time than ever consuming media, whether it be movies, music, or Instagram reels. For the purposes of this debate, it is understood that entertainment (as opposed in particular to art) is a piece of media, whether film, music, or written word, with widespread popular appeal motivated largely by the prospect of financial profit. Today, conservatives find themselves at a crossroads regarding their relationship with media and entertainment. 

The affirmative will argue that today’s entertainment has crossed the line into decadence and nihilism. Art has ceased to exist for its own sake, having become mere progressive social commentary. As the Statler Brothers put it in their 1973 song ‘Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott?’: “Everybody’s trying to make a comment / about our doubts and fears / True Grit’s the only movie / I’ve really understood in years.” Movies have ceased to tell redemptive stories and instead advocate repugnant ideologies while gratuitously portraying graphic sex, foul language, and violence. Social media and advertising unabashedly stoke envy, depicting unrealistically perfect bodies and lavish lifestyles as an expectation and worsening our mental health crisis as a result. Video games encourage gross violence; Netflix desensitizes young people to promiscuous sex; Hollywood lauds selfish ambition and self-gratification. It should be the role of the conservative to live truthfully in a world of falsehood, to create rather than consume, to foster transcendent beauty instead of base corruption. Conservatives should not unthinkingly subject their minds and hearts to the disordered priorities of the entertainment industry–to do so would risk being like the Roman mobs who clamored for ever bloodier gladiatorial games even while their countrymen were devoured by the lions before their eyes.

The negative will argue that, while some entertainment supports hedonism and excess, we can still find redemptive value in today’s entertainment. Some artists and entertainers still create works of unadulterated beauty that possess widespread popular appeal and profitability. One may cite the examples of musicals like Hadestown (2019-), shows like The Chosen (2017-), films like The Dark Knight (2008): massively popular works of entertainment that still point to conservative values like order, love, and justice. Conservatives can find buried treasure in any number of popular media, despite their flaws–perhaps The Sopranos (1999-2007) illustrates the danger of mammon, while we see something Christlike in Peter Parker’s sacrifice in Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021). We live in a broken world, and entertainment that shies away from realistically portraying our brokenness does itself a disservice. A life without entertainment would be dull indeed–God created us as narrative creatures, story-telling animals, for whom there is something deeply and rightly satisfying about the grand stories created by Hollywood and even about the fifteen-second stories on Instagram reels. Additionally, conservatives have a profound duty to redeem the broken parts of our culture. If the entertainment industry is full of darkness, it is our job to be its light. We should not remove ourselves from modern entertainment but throw ourselves wholeheartedly into it. 

Which is the greater evil, boredom or vice? Is the entertainment industry irredeemable or does it simply require a mid-course correction? Will we, like the Battens, use the VidAngel filters while streaming, or will we put no barriers between entertainment and our eyes? Will you give the people bread and circuses or make them eat their vegetables?