Mid-Week Music #39 - The End of the World

I’m going through a lot right now.

No, I didn’t break up with some guy. But the creator of a show I love betrayed my trust. So I figured this would be a song to fit my mood.

Technically, my mood when I found out, which was on Wednesday. I’m currently time-travelling in order to put out this post on the right day. Sorry. I just couldn’t do it that day. I doubt I could have even come up with it if I’d tried.

Well, here’s the song, anyway. Some of you may know it as the theme song of Granite Flats. If you don’t, that’s okay. I’m not posting this because of that show. But the name of the show I am talking about does sound awfully familiar to that.

**

Why does the sun go on shining?
Why does the sea rush to shore?
Don’t they know
It’s the end of the world?
Cause you don’t love me anymore

Why do the birds go on singing?
Why do the stars glow above?
Don’t they know
It’s the end of the world?
It ended when I lost your love

I wake up in the morning and I wonder
Why everything’s the same as it was
I can’t understand
No, I can’t understand
How life goes on the way it does

Why does my heart go on beating?
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
Don’t they know
It’s the end of the wo-o-orld
It ended when you said goodbye

Why does my heart go on beating?
(Hmm-mm-mm…)
Why do these eyes of mine cry?
(Hmm-mm-mm…)
Don’t they know
It’s the end of the world?
It ended when you said
Goodbye…

**

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Fair warning, I’m going to be completely honest in this post. If you’re just going to get triggered, then you might as well go.

The show I was talking about was Gravity Falls. I mentioned it in my “blogoversary post” by name, and in one or two others unnamed. I discovered it back in April, and have watched all but the last episode (thanks to my sister, who somehow made me promise not to watch it until she’d watched the last two episodes of one of her shows).

Today (or at least, on Wednesday), I remembered that I had read a comment on a blog post somewhere in the past that had mentioned Gravity Falls. Or at least, I thought it had. I found it, and sure enough, what I was afraid of was true. And I wasn’t sure what to do. I thought about talking to my parents about it, but wasn’t sure where to start.

Well, then, Wednesday night at supper, they asked if there was anything wrong in the show. When we mentioned the characters in question, my mom went and looked it up. She found out what I knew, and showed me. But it was even worse than I had imagined.

If you haven’t guessed, the problem that I had was that the show had two characters who were gay. Now, if you don’t know what that means (say, if you’re a little kid and don’t know what I’m talking about), I’d say you need to ask your parents. Don’t just read about it here.

But yes. The town cops, who have been acting kind of effeminate since episode 8, ended up being openly homosexual at the very end of the very last episode. Oddly enough, in the one episode I haven’t seen.

Now, some people might end up reading this post who are the same way. Some people are going to be highly offended by what I’m about to say.

But homosexuality is completely wrong, physically and morally wrong. It’s against nature, and against God’s Word. It’s the sort of thing that cannot be condoned. A man is meant to be with a woman, and a woman is meant to be with a man. No exceptions.

After I found out, my mom looked up and found every possible connection to that sort of thing with this show. Characters who had apparently had “moments” of that sort. I looked at the list. I had the common sense to see that almost all of it was really just people reading way too much into things. Someone’s always going to end up doing that, no matter what the story is. But some of it was painfully true.

Now, I was very upset by all this. It just about felt like the end of the world to me. Gravity Falls has become one of my favourite cartoons in the time I’ve known about it. It has great mystery, lots of surprises, interesting characters, and best of all, a sibling relationship that is positive and genuine.

But just because a story has a lot of good things doesn’t mean we can ignore the bad things, or pretend they’re not there. Alex Hirsch is a Leftist, and he thinks homosexuality is perfectly fine. And that’s a serious problem.

However, I’m not going to go the opposite extreme, and throw out the good with the bad. That’s where the Forfex Society comes in.

The Forfex Society was started by my parents, just as a way for us to make sure we can distinguish and understand when something wrong gets into a story we watch or read. All it means is that, whenever we spot something that shouldn’t be in a story, we put our fingers in the shape of scissors, and… snip, snip. Symbolically separating the bad from the good.

I’m not very good at putting the idea into words, though. Not as good as my father, anyway. He put it on a Facebook group he and my mother do. I couldn’t find the link, but read it if you’re interested.

So what’s the point of all this? What am I going to do about Gravity Falls?

This show has some serious issues, some real problems. Those can’t be ignored. However, I believe that this show is worth watching. With discretion—I mean, I’m not letting my sisters see that moment in the finale. Alex Hirsch’s politics may be (put simply) absolutely horrible, but he’s a pretty decent storyteller regardless.

The world wouldn’t end if I said goodbye to Gravity Falls. But I don’t think I’m going to do it anyway.