Animal movie reflections, Do movies change people’s behaviour?

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Animal movie reflections, do movies only entertain or do they also shape people’s moral values? Animal movie has raised a lot of controversy with people supporting it and opposing it. So, I’m going to reflect on it from a Bhagavad Gita perspective, not so much on the movie as on the issue raised by the movie. And I would like to start by saying that I have not watched the movie, I have no intention of watching it, nor do I recommend anyone to watch it.
It has an A rating. But as a teacher of the Bhagavad Gita, I would like to show and how the Bhagavad Gita can offer us insights on issues of contemporary concern, how the Bhagavad Gita is not just a religious book or a spiritual book, it is also a book that offers us wisdom to look at current issues with deeper insight. So, basically, this movie has a lot of gory violence, and that along with a few other things have triggered the controversy whether such movies should be promoted, produced, and what does that popularity mean in terms of what people like in today’s world and what that signifies.
But others are saying that movies are just meant for entertainment, movies just change people’s hairstyle, they don’t change people’s lifestyle. By watching violence in movies, people are not going to become violent in real life. So what is the reality? The Bhagavad Gita explains that when things come from outside to us inside, through our eyes, through our ears, through our senses primarily, inside us there are two distinct faculties, the mind and the intelligence.
Now, the mind goes by feelings, whatever feels good, the mind gobbles it up. And in that sense, the mind is not very discriminating in a thoughtful way. And the mind is consuming entertainment.
For example, anything that feels entertaining, irrespective of whatever values are in it, the mind consumes that. The intelligence, on the other hand, is supposed to discern. Discern what is beneficial, what is harmful, what is real, what is real, what is just unreal, what is fictional, what is ultimately to be taken in and what is to not be taken in.
While this particular concept of the mind and intelligence being within people may not be known in the mainstream world, but there’s some understanding. That’s why, say, entertainment, which involves a lot of sexuality or violence, is definitely not meant for children. It’s erratic.
The point is that children, they have an active mind, but not a very well-developed intelligence. And that’s why they don’t discern very well between fiction and reality. And that’s why many countries have laws targeting, banning ads that are targeted specifically towards children.
So the point here is that the mind wants and craves anything that feels good, escapist entertainment, and that’s what it seeks. So yes, movies are meant primarily to cater to the mind. And Bihar, in terms of entertainment, is one of the needs of human society.
And the Bhagavad Gita in 617 says that this has to be regulated. Now the problem is that along with the mind, the intelligence needs to be well-developed to differentiate between what is fictional, what is real, what should be tried out in real life, what should not be tried out in real life. And the intelligence basically acts as a filter.
The filter can act at three levels. First is we don’t take in certain inputs because we know in advance they are bad for us. Second is we take in, but we don’t replay it in our mind.
So we don’t, there is, you could say, shravan or pashya, we see or hear, but then we don’t recollect it, we don’t replay it in our mind. And the third is even if we recollect it, the intelligence of the filter stops us from acting on it. Say everybody may have some dark fantasies, but they have enough intelligence to not try to act out those fantasies.
So, the intelligence acts as a filter at these three levels in our inner world. Don’t take in, don’t replay, don’t act out. So, for most people with a reasonably developed intelligence, they, even if they take in something as entertainment, they don’t act it out, even if they play it.
So that’s why there may be movie scenes with violence where one person is beating up a hundred people. And most people in real life know that’s not realistic and they won’t act it out. So why? Because the intelligence is there, but there’s a problem over here.
The problem is that not everybody’s intelligence is equally developed. And there are people when they get an opportunity, they might act out the things which they have been taking in and replaying. Thus, most people, for example, may not commit violence in general, but if they’ve had a violent imagery going on in their mind, when they find themselves in a position where they have extraordinary power over someone else, that what is being replayed can start playing out.
And that filter way, intelligence as a filter may or may not be strong enough. So that’s why, for example, millions and millions of people may watch porn, including violent porn, but not every one of them is going to act out that way. But it’s also true that those people who do commit violent crimes, violent sexual crimes also, most of them have got some fantasies, which they have got by watching violent porn.
So there are people who are bad enough to act out these ways. So that we can think of three categories of people. First is people who take in something, their mind gets contaminated, but they keep it in the mind.
Still, their mind is contaminated. Second is that people who take some things in and most of the times they’re not going to act out like that. But sometimes, God forbid, some situation comes up where a temptation comes and they act out.
And third is there are people who are looking for opportunities and hunting for prey whom they can exploit. And that’s such people’s fantasy will be fueled that fire that is there inside us that will get fueled by watching movies, which are with terrible violence. Now, the media that we take in does affect us.
If it were not affecting us at all, then why would advertisers spend so much money in advertising their products? Now, of course, when people are watching advertisements, do they know that this is exaggeration? They know it. But at the same time, they take it in. And depending on what their intelligence is telling them, they will act out.
They will buy certain things. So the fact that the media that we take in affects us is undeniable. Now, the degree of the effect depends on the strength of the intelligence.
The best intelligence at an individual level is where we don’t take in inputs that are even having a slight possibility of being destructive in the long run, of tempting us, pushing us to act out in a destructive way. That is what the Bhagavad Gita states when it talks about karma, destructive desire, self-destructive desire, destructive desire. In the beginning with the senses itself, don’t take in such inputs.
So this is the individual responsibility that we all need to have. And the Bhagavad Gita primarily talks at the individual level, enlightening us about our inner world and enabling us to not get seduced or to succumb to such deceptive ideas that movies are simply meant to entertain. They are not meant to shape values.
Well, they will shape knowingly or unknowingly. And now to what degree that will shape, that’s definitely going to be a difference. But that depends on the intelligence that is developed.
So we cannot stop in general the way the movies are being developed, but we can protect our own consciousness by nourishing our intelligence. So study of the Bhagavad Gita can strengthen our intelligence by which we can have appropriate filters at the appropriate levels. Sometimes we can’t avoid seeing certain things in the world, but at least let’s not replay them.
The Bhagavad Gita says dhyayato, contemplation, replaying is what causes problems. That’s what takes us down on a slippery inner slope. It is not drishyato.
And even if we do dhyayato, the Bhagavad Gita says shama and dhamma. That shama is just keep the mind peaceful. Don’t let negative stimuli come in.
Dhamma is keep the senses under control. That means even if the mind does get agitated, something’s rippling in the mind, don’t act it out. So we need to be individually empowered in today’s world so that the negative propaganda coming from outside doesn’t overwhelm us.
Having said that, what about the responsibility of society? It is important for society also to be administered in such a way that garbage in terms of things that incite violence and excessive understanding sexuality are not promoted. That kind of input is not easily available for people. And to what extent society will take that responsibility will depend on various factors that are generally not in the individual’s control.
But what as individuals we can do is we cannot prevent in the world the occurrence of things that will contaminate people’s minds. But what we can try to do is make manifest in the world, make available in the world things that will strengthen people’s intelligence. And the Bhagavad Gita is a prime book that can strengthen the individual intelligence of people one at a time, one at a time.
So by ourselves studying the Bhagavad Gita, sharing the Bhagavad Gita, distributing the Bhagavad Gita, speaking on it, encouraging others to read it, we all can provide individuals the inner defense by which even if toxic forms of entertainment and media are manifest in the world, people have the inner boundaries, the inner resources for defending themselves. Actually one last point is that it would be best if we have entertainment that is both, the things which are both entertaining and uplifting. They should give good moral values.
Now we had the Ramayana that is running on TV several years, probably four decades ago and now was replayed during the pandemic. That’s a good example of something, of something which is entertaining as it is uplifting. So rather than really against entertainment that is questionable, if not degrading, it is best if more and more people take responsibility to create content that is both entertaining and uplifting.
And the more that happens, the more we will have both the mind and the intelligence being nourished through the content that people are taking in general. So to summarize, three points. First is that, yes, movies are meant to entertain, but they also shape values.
Because while our mind can differentiate, mind just takes in the entertainment, it is our intelligence that will differentiate whether this is to be acted out in real life or not. And if the intelligence is weak, then a person may take it in and keep replaying it, that itself will contaminate them. Then they may act it out and that’s even worse.
And some people may just not take it in, some people may take it in but not replay, some people may replay, but they may act out only when there is temptation, some people may be looking for opportunities. So it is best if society is to be functioning properly that such media be regulated in the outer world. If that cannot be done, then we regulate it in our inner world and we equip people with resources so that their buddhi