Blurred Lines: How TV Shapes Our Morals and Social Life

I have noticed over the last 45 years how television and movies have had a funny way of shaping how I see the world, often without even realizing it.

What starts as “just entertainment” often seeps into my deep thoughts where I wander about aspects of fictional characters, then (occasionally) impacts on how I deal with my own life challenges.

Think about it: We pick up on the social cues from the characters we see on screen.

Those cool, rebellious, or charming types set trends, and before we know it, we’re mimicking their behavior. TV and movies have become like a “third parent,” teaching us what’s acceptable. Whether it’s the way someone dresses, their witty comebacks, or how they handle relationships, we absorb it all, sometimes without even realizing. It’s funny how, back in the day, values were passed down from family or learned through face-to-face interactions. Now, it feels like half of our social education comes from fictional characters.

It’s not just how we act socially, either.

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TV and movies mess with our sense of right and wrong. You ever notice how we start rooting for characters who do some pretty questionable things? Take Walter White from ‘Breaking Bad‘ or Tony Soprano from ‘The Sopranos‘ – these are characters who make terrible decisions, but we somehow justify and comprehend where they’re coming from. Over time, with character development, it becomes easier to blur the lines between what’s right and what’s justifiable.

We get so wrapped up in these stories that we start bending our own moral compass, even if just a little. We even start to moralise the character’s choices and start to believe their actions are justified – even though they are just acting words in a script!

Here’s where it gets tricky: We sometimes try to apply these fictional behaviors in real life, but it doesn’t work out the same.

Psychiatric experts call this “cognitive dissonance” : We love these flawed characters, but when we or others act the same way in the real world, it often leads to trouble. Whilst we glorify dysfunction on screen, in reality those traits can get you into some awkward and inappropriate social situations.

They shape our values, ethics, and the way we think about life. So when do we realize where the fiction ends and real life begins? I will spend time researching this further, as I recognise it within myself, and write a follow-up post to answer these questions very soon!