Given that entertainment in its diverse forms is usually a major influence on the culture around it, it is in the best interest of Christians to be capable of understanding what it is and is not. Indeed, Christians tend to be quick to affirm the cultural importance of entertainment, but the most common responses are to call for a quarantine of Christians from that entertainment or to call for more of the technically incompetent movies that most Christian films amount to.
These reactions of Christians to entertainment, however, plainly contradict the rationalistic Christian response. Evangelism is one of the primary focus points of Christian filmmakers, which only shows how shallow and simplistic the worldviews and motives of many Christians are. Regardless of whether Christianity is true, entertainment has a far greater capacity for acknowledging philosophical truths or issues than themes of evangelism could ever convey on their own.
After all, evangelism is hardly the height of Christian theology alone, much less the height of the far broader nature of rationalism! Entertainment needs to be taken seriously not for its largely limited affinity for evangelism, but for its immense potential power and depth in its own right. No one needs to be a Christian to appreciate the fact that entertainment can showcase everything from intellectual and artistic originality to a mirror that portrays a society's (or individual's) defining characteristics. Moreover, Christians themselves have every reason to be eager for the recognition of these facts.
Christians do not need to be interested in entertainment primarily out of fear of what the secular world will do with it apart from the influence of Christians--not that many Christians are intelligent enough to handle it well in the first place. Unfortunately, many Christians who are interested in entertainment only have that interest out of unfounded fear (secular entertainment does not automatically mean entertainment that promotes sin or has no existential significance) and slippery slope fallacies ("Think of what might happen if someone watches/plays this!").
Entertainment is simply another aspect of human life to be understood, and it is also one that can facilitate a more thorough understanding of oneself. It does not need attention from Christians due to the allegedly destructive influence of content creators that do not have explicitly, overtly Christian ideas. If anything, it merits attention simply because of its own intrinsic potential for philosophical and personal expression, as the philosophical truths that can be acknowledged through stories do not conflict with genuine Christianity.
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