Family advocates see the integration of Pure Flix and Great American Family as a big step for the Christian entertainment industry: two media companies coming together out of a desire to provide programming that is child-appropriate and gospel-centered.
Great American Media President and CEO Bill Abbott said, “This merger will allow us to further our commitment to original, quality content and makes Great American Media and Pure Flix leaders in a large and under-served market.”
Joseph Backholm, senior fellow for Biblical Worldview and Strategic Engagement at Family Research Council, writes in an interview for The Washington Stand, “God wants us to love Him with our whole heart, soul, and mind. Facts reach the mind, but stories reach the heart and the soul. Media has tremendous influence on what people believe because God wants us to experience things, not merely on an intellectual level, but an emotional level as well.”
Recent research cited in the New York Times finds the type of shows we watch can influence us in ways that form our cognitive ability and thinking. What we place before our eyes ultimately shapes our views and mental models. This is especially true for children, who absorb and learn from everything around them as their brain develops and grows.
Backholm added, “There is a huge market for stories that will encourage us to be better than our impulses.”