Sometimes i get frustrated at how people will talk about how life-changingly profound and meaningful the message of a piece of popular entertainment is, but if I look at what’s being discussed, the only thing identifiable as a “message” is something typically taught before the age of eight.
like “nobody’s perfect” or “we all have to grow up and change” or “listen to your friends and be honest with them” or “reach for your dreams but accept that you can’t always get what you want”
But… then I look at how many problems in the world are the results of people not having internalized messages like this from childhood
And I have to grudgingly accept that it is probably a good thing if people are now having life-changing profound moments learning these lessons from popular media and discussing the experience like it’s deep literary analysis. The alternative is probably much worse.
And it’s not like all messages we typically get taught in childhood are good messages, or are always applicable to all things in the same way we were taught.
Later exposure to some of those messages in media is probably important to figuring out what’s good and relevant to us now, and in what ways.
(there are a few examples of these discussions that I was thinking of, that rubbed me the wrong way. But in general the process is good i think)