‘TV responds to the times’ EMMA HINDS talks to Sarah Olowofoyeku about the way in which TV can help us to wrestle with the big themes of life
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ITHIN the first three weeks of lockdown, BBC viewer numbers increased by 23 per cent, and by April, new streaming service Disney Plus had doubled its number of global subscribers to 50 million. Films and TV shows kept many people company during a time when they weren’t able to see friends or family, go out to eat or do much of anything. Perhaps some of the material broadcast was doing more than entertaining. TV, says playwright Emma Hinds, can provoke thoughts about the bigger questions in life. Emma has recently co-authored, with fellow churchgoer Alex Booer, a guide to the TV series Good Omens. ‘If you’ve watched the TV show and you enjoyed it, no matter what you believe or where you land politically, our book would be interesting for you,’ she suggests. ‘We have written it with the idea of asking big questions about how we interact with the world and what kind of world we are living in.’ While the guide, Ineffable Love, is about one programme in particular, she agrees that religious themes can be found in many shows. ‘One of the big themes that comes up a lot in TV is the idea of questioning our purpose and where we are in the universe. You can see that in shows like Doctor Who. But even in more upbeat shows, such as New Girl, there is still the question of “who am I and what is my purpose?” ‘TV often responds to the times,’ she adds. ‘So in the past couple of years we’ve seen a lot of TV shows, like Black
Mirror and You, that are about who we are in a virtual world and how that impacts us. Next year we’re going to see a lot of television about self, community and how we respond to disaster.’ Wondering why things are the way they are, Emma says, is a very human characteristic. ‘We have experienced it with the outbreak of Covid-19. There are big questions about why it has happened, but also what it means for who we are as humans and how we define ourselves. Is our purpose just to go to work and does that change when suddenly we can’t go to work? ‘As somebody who has a faith, I will always say that those questions are a kind of God-signature in every human being. They’re placed in us almost like a homing device. But a lot of writers focus on them because they are interesting questions, and they’re universal. Everybody is different, but everybody wonders.’ Emma believes that TV and other forms of art are the best way to grapple with those questions. ‘When we engage with the arts, we are opening up a different capacity of our minds,’ she says. ‘We’re more receptive to bigger ideas and concepts, and less defensive. ‘What we do as humans when we produce art is something that is sacred in itself. Our act of creation is reflective of God’s own act of creation.’ Emma studied imaginative theology at the University of St Andrews, a field which she says looks at the ways the arts communicate theological ideas and how God can work through the arts. She explains how imaginative theology
Everybody is different, but everybody wonders
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could play out: ‘If you’ve watched the end of Gladiator, for example, you may feel something that resonates with the idea of a world beyond, seeing loved ones on the other side or having a continuance of a soul into another realm. I believe those moments create a possibility for an encounter with God. ‘God can be found in so many more places than we think. We can find the truth of Jesus through the arts, TV, music and films that we absorb and that we love. And to me, it is a tremendous message of love that the Creator of the universe
