Science, Film and Television: An Introductory Study of the ‘Alternative’ Religious Stories that Shape the Spirituality of Children and Adolescents

Abstract

This is the first of two articles that examine the influence of science, film and television on the emerging spirituality of children and adolescents. It looks at the issues through the lens of ‘story’. It is practical and classroom oriented — suggesting that a one of the most appropriate educational responses is to turn the issues into questions to be researched directly by the students themselves. While the focus is principally on the education of adolescents, the implications and proposed study sequences can be adapted for use with younger pupils. After an introductory discussion of why the metaphor ‘story’ is an important linking theme for the study, problems with the science‐religion relationship are considered to show how the perceived ‘scientific story’ of the world and human origins can have a bearing on young people's spirituality. The remainder of the article outlines an approach for student research into the personal/spiritual influence of the stories in film and television. While commercial feature films and television drama/sitcoms do not have the same intended moral influence as propaganda films and documentaries, they can still serve as source material that is drawn on by children and adolescents in the process of forming their spirituality. The proposed approach presumes that it is better to avoid trying to identify causal links empirically and to concentrate on studying the form and function of the media; this in turn informs theorising about potential lines of personal influence on viewers. This theorising itself is the potent component of the educative process; it encourages students to think critically about the shaping influence that cultural elements like film and television can have on their attitudes, moral values and behaviour. This part of the article concentrates on the areas of propaganda and documentary films — a prerequisite for study of the more complex and subtle patterns of potential influence in feature films and television which will be considered in a second article.