The present day humans are perhaps living the most comfortable and convenient life
With the advent of the technological and information age everything that we desire or want to know is available at our fingertips
Though the world has evolved so much , at the core all human beings desire the same thing - to be happy , and because of which the entertainment industry is one of the most famous and glamorous industries on the planet
With the internet we have so many options available to entertain us but why are some people attracted to a particular kind of music , a particular movie , a particular soap opera , is it just a coincidence , influential marketing , suggestion from friends ar are there some deep psychological underpinnings which draw us to particular forms of entertainment and actually represent our growth and development as human beings
Let's look at the predominant worldviews and paradigms which draw our attention to particular kinds of entertainment
I am using the levels from spiral dynamics , a psychological theory which divides human beings and culture into particular stages according to their worldviews
1. Survivalistic - This worldview is focused on the basic physiological needs of food , clothing , shelter safety and survival
Movies - Movies emphasising the stone age, tribal life
Music - Tribal and folk songs
Video games - Pacman ( the Pacman is eating food and trying to survive from monsters running after him)
2. Magic - This stage is focused mainly on magical beliefs , superstitions superhuman powers , and sexuality
Movies and shows - Harry Potter Series , The Movie - Secret and law of attraction , The Avengers Series , Superhero comics ,
Pornography
Video games - with magical and superhuman themes - Superhero games like Spiderman , Batman , Superman
3. Powergods or egocentric
Here the focus is primarily on the self , it's own needs and gratification and without thinking about other people and going to any extent for the things which they desire
Movies - Action movies, movies with a lot of violence , Movies like Godfather , movies about drug mafias , illegal syndicates, movies representing various scams
Videogames - First person shooter video games where lot of violence is involved like call of duty , battle field , counter strike , grand theft auto
4. Authoritarian or Purposeful
Here the focus of the individual is on conforming to the codes of conduct of a particular group or ethnicity and to please mythic deities and figures, kings , rulers and emperors so that they can fulfill their egocentric wishes
Movies and Shows - Movies and shows with predominant mythological themes and stories
Movies with predominant themes centered on emperors or empires like
Bahubali
Video games - like age of empires which focus on building and protecting your empire
5. Achievist - The Achievist stage is focused on name , fame , success , money achievment , recognition , planning and strategizing about the future to fulfill their material desires
Movies and shows - Movies and entertainment with predominant themes around success , achievment and money
Eg Competitive sports , Olympics , corporate and business shows like shark tank , movies like wolf of the wall street focusing on money and success
Games - strategic games like chess , sudoku , Tetris
6. Pluralistic or Communitarian
The main focus is on community , equal rights for all human beings , protection of environment , caring , sharing , kindness , politiness towards all human beings
Movies - Naavi people in avatar who were connected to nature , cared more about the community and fought for their rights whereas the humans trying to infiltrate pandora represented the Achievist worldview as they were focused on money , material things and destroying nature for their own selfish needs
Video games - During the pandemic a game was released called Animal crossing - New Horizons
Where the main theme was coperation , being in a community , relaxing , playing with friends , enjoying with family , creating your own new imaginative world rather than focussing on competitiveness
7. Integral stage - This stage is unique in that it takes into consideration the partially true perspectives from each of the preceding stages and also critically appraises them , this stage looks at wholes , rather than parts, tries to see the world from each and every perspective and weaves together each of those perspectives to create a grand unifying perspective
Movies - The only movie which could fit this category is the matrix trilogy series
As it involved some magical themes , the machines representing the Achievist stage , Neo fighting for Zion- the pluralistic stage , the architect who designed the matrix - integral stage
Video games - There is only one video game in the market called Everything
It's a very beautiful game for those who have developed to the appropriate level
It allows you to take infinite perspectives - you can be an atom , an ant , a bear , a bird , a planet , a star , a galaxy
These stages are not rigid water tight compartments but people can regress to lower stages or progress to higher stages throughout their life time
But a person's center of gravity is primarily focused on a particular stage