Good News for the Past Year

A Look at What Went Right in 2003
By Bob Waliszewski

With the year drawing to a close, I’d like to zero in on the most encouraging happenings of 2003 as they relate to teens and entertainment. Drum roll please …??10. Barna Research Group reported that 51% of American teenagers say they read a Christian book in the past year.

9. After the photo of a 6-year-old Tanzanian boy graced movie screens in the R-rated movie About Schmidt, donations to the real-life humanitarian organization that helps care for him soared. Before the movie, Childreach typically received three sponsorships per day on its Web site. After it opened nationwide in January, the total rose to 80 per day.

8. Behind the scenes, Visa began searching over a million Web pages per day, compiling a list of Internet-based child pornographers who use the company’s credit card services to traffic smut. Visa alerted various police forces and reportedly unearthed 400 child porn sites, of which 80% have been shut down or had their Visa privileges revoked.

7. Wal-Mart stopped selling Maxim, Stuff and FHM, popular men’s magazines which regularly feature scantily clad women.

6. A study released in April by the American Psychological Association provides further evidence that violent music lyrics not only elevate aggressive thoughts but can, in turn, “instigate a more aggressive response, verbal or physical, than would have been emitted in a nonbiased state, thus provoking an aggressive escalatory spiral of antisocial exchanges.” In other words, more proof that violent tunes can breed violent individuals and a hostile culture.

5. We learned that the number of teens who believe abortion should be generally available to those who want it has declined from 48% to 39% over the past decade.

4. A Junior Achievement/Harris Interactive poll found that more 13- to 18-year-olds picked their parents as role models than any other individual, including popular athletes and TV stars.

3. Theaters showed significant improvement in keeping minors out of R-rated movies. Reprising its “mystery shopper” survey, in which unaccompanied young people (ages 13 to 16) try to buy tickets, the Federal Trade Commission reported that, while 48% of underage teenagers previously wormed their way into restricted features, that figure dropped to 36% this year.

2. A number of chart-topping country tunes provided spiritual “salt and light” this past year. Among them were “I Love You This Much” (Jimmy Wayne), “A Few Questions” (Clay Walker), “Help Pour Out the Rain” (Buddy Jewell), “I Can Only Imagine” (MercyMe’s tune recorded by Jeff Carson), and “Three Wooden Crosses” (Randy Travis), which was named Song of the Year during last month’s 37th Annual Country Music Awards.

1. Of all the movies released this year, the top-grossing flick was the G-rated, CGI blockbuster Finding Nemo, which bested The Lion King as the most successful animated feature of all time. Wait, there’s more good news. Paired with Nemo in theaters and featured on the DVD is the animated short Knick Knack. It’s about a frustrated snowman eager to escape the confines of his snow globe and mingle with other vacation mementos. When Knick Knack was created in 1989 it featured a buxom mermaid and busty beach beauty. But when the studio dusted it off to precede Nemo, both chesty characters received severe breast reductions. Way to go Pixar and Disney for removing the unnecessary sexual imagery!

As we move into 2004, please join me in praying for people in the entertainment industry—writers, producers, directors, musicians, studio execs and video game designers. Pray that God will do a work in their lives, and raise up more creative people and influential executives who possess a Christian worldview. As we intercede on behalf of the movers and shakers, I believe God will give us even more reasons to rejoice next year.