Values & Ethics Series addresses today’s popular media effects
Actress Kayce Clark addresses the effects of popular media consumption during Louisiana Christian University’s 8th Annual Values & Ethics Series Thursday night.
Clark, a 2004 alumna with a degree in theatre arts, is the advocacy director for Reflective Media Productions, a company dedicated to creating media resources that promote mental and spiritual wellness.
“Kayce Clark is truly a ‘Roaring Lamb’ having earned the right to be heard in the filmmaking space,” said LCU President Dr. Rick Brewer. “Indeed, through her life and career Kayce is demonstrating that transformed people can transform culture.”
She spoke to students on the effect popular and social media have on our everyday lives and behaviors.
“Where there is light, there cannot be darkness,” Clark said. “Unfortunately today in our media and entertainment landscape, there is no question that what would be considered the darkest fringes of the entertainment industry from decades past has become mainstream. It goes beyond even that. Today, Satan himself has stepped into the spot. That may sound dramatic. But it’s true.”
She shared a clip called “Light in the Darkness” from one of Reflective Media’s main programs called “Breaking Strongholds.”
Clark said she worked in the mainstream media, but it was affecting her negatively.
“I worked in the industry for about 15 years professionally, and I loved it, and it was tearing me apart,” she said. “I was no longer having the joy that I had before because I had to choose. I was either a Christian or a performer. There was no middle ground.”
After much prayer, Clark said the Lord began to use her in theatrical opportunities at her church. And then she got a call from Reflective Media about “Breaking Strongholds,” which is on PureFlix and Amazon Prime.
She said in the last several years, Christian media has come into its own to produce quality programming.
“We’re starting to have an opportunity as Christians to put forth really good quality work that is also sharing truth,” Clark said. “It is done in a way that we are sharing truths because one of the things about media is the media world right now is no longer just what we watch. What we watch is greatly impacting what we do.”
She used the example of the popular show from several years ago “13 Reasons Why” about teenage suicide to illustrate her point.
“The whole show is glorifying the fact that this young person took their own life and how great it was, how brave it was, that this was the right choice to make,” Clark said. “That is what our media is telling us. And you might think, oh, that that doesn’t impact me. It’s just a show. Well, the CDC just came out and said that in the three or four months after ‘13 Reasons Why’ came out the suicide rate between 10-20-year-olds jumped by 80%. Tell me that that’s a coincidence.”
Clark told the students she loves television—but to watch television that will positively change their minds. Thankfully, there are a growing number of wholesome, quality programs by Christian media companies to fit the demand.
Barrett Keene, a senior social studies education major, said he enjoyed Clark’s presentation and echoed many of her concerns.
“You know, you turn the TV on, and you check your phone, you’ll see someone praising demons or the devil,” Keene said. “There are so many things like that, and it’s on children’s shows now.”
Ella Tibbs, a sophomore English major, agreed.
“I think a lot of people don’t think that it affects them and that they’re kind of better than statistics, but it doesn’t work like that,” she said. “The video that she played about the evil things that are going on in our children makes me think about what I’m watching and what is going to be around when I have kids, and the things that I’m going to have to look out for.”
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Media Release | Nov. 6, 2023 | Pineville, Louisiana
Contact: Dr. Elizabeth B. Clarke, Director of University Communications | Elizabeth.clarke@lcuniversity.edu