(A post I wrote after I had received a copy of the DVD. Sorry, can't remember what year that was.)

A few months ago, the manager of the organisation that I work for, found the video “Become Jehovah's Friend – Listen, Obey and Be Blessed” posted on YouTube. He asked my supervisor if I had a copy of this DVD. My supervisor ran this by me but I reminded him that I hadn't been to the District Convention yet and so didn't have a personal copy to view at that time.

The supervisor emailed me the link to YouTube and asked if I would take a look at it. I didn't have to document anything but just simply make an informal observation, as this would be “off the record.” Thinking that the video was a parody, a “send-up” of the Witnesses, I figured that I must have been given the wrong URL address. So I emailed back and asked if they would check the URL address again and send me the right link. The supervisor checked again and advised me that I had the right one. He asked me to relate the story line of the video to him. So I did that and he confirmed that I had viewed the right one. Tried to view it again on YouTube a couple of days later but the website had withdrawn the video over copyright infringement. I didn't want to post until I had a copy of the DVD for myself. (I “played dumb” at the convention - “Oh, is that the new release? Fancy that!”)

There is only one thing that I like about the DVD – the voice of the actor who plays the character of the father, to my ear, sounds just like Antonio Banderas. (heart palpitations!!)


The first thing I noticed in the story is that Caleb is playing with a war plane. It is a Corsair. I recognised it right away (the “bent wings” are characteristic of this plane). In a past job, I used to work with another boss in another organisation who had an interest in planes and also was gifted in sketching and drawing. He used to stick the sketches up on the wall of his office and then as he added to the collection, kept them in a folder. He had a sketch of the Corsair in his collection.

Why is it ok for Caleb to have a war plane, but it's not ok for him to have a magical toy? That's inconsistent.

I also notice that his plane defies the laws of gravity and physics at the beginning of the story. (Although I do recognise that this is a children's DVD and the scene where the plane drops suddenly from the air, has been included as a humorous moment and is designed to engage us as the audience and draw our interest. So I'm not going to “split hairs” on that point.)

Caleb's mother scrubs the floor on hands and knees – yet the family has the money to buy a flat-screen TV (seen in the marbles scene). They also own a broom (according to the jacket cover of the DVD) yet lack funds to buy a mop. How does that work?

(If the scene was meant to portray that Caleb's mother had been hard at work doing the housework that day, why couldn't this have been portrayed using 4 small screen shots shown on the one page -of the mother doing various tasks - with the image of a clock in the centre to indicate time passing quickly during the day. Would have been more realistic.)

In the scene where Caleb imagines in his mind how his mother will respond to the fact that he has brought mud into the house, this is over-exaggerated. Why does Caleb picture her having an emotional melt-down over a little bit of mud? Has that been her previous reaction to other mistakes? Or is it a case of stereotyping – is that how the Governing Body thinks that sisters react to situations – that they “fall apart” emotionally at the “drop of a hat?”

I don't get the impression that Caleb was being deliberately disobedient in this scene either. I think he was just being a typical kid at play and lost in his own imagination (as children do) and just simply forgot to take his shoes off, upon entering the house. I don't think he needed a Scriptural lecture from Ephesians chapter 6.

(When I was Caleb's age, I used to constantly forget to take my shoes off at the front door. My parents never made a big deal out of it – they would just calmly ask me to go get a cleaning cloth and ask me to clean up the footprints. If you have to clean up after yourself several times, pretty soon your memory starts to work.)

Next there is the scene where Caleb is playing with a toy truck loaded up with marbles. He empties the truck and the marbles roll onto the floor. Again the mother seems to over-react: “Look at this MESS!” (She wouldn't have lasted 5 minutes in our household – we would have viewed a handful of marbles on the floor as the beginning of a mess, we're just warming up!)

Children are meant to play, they are meant to make a mess – it's part of childhood. And naturally, they have to be taught to pick up after themselves.

The scene where Caleb imagines that his father takes a fall on the marbles is melodramatic and exaggerated. It would have been realistic to portray Caleb's father falling on the marbles and then perhaps spraining his ankle, or jarring his hip or back, etc. Instead we see the foundation of the house shaking, the lounge room furniture is thrown to the floor and a chair goes out the window, and ends up in the yard. (How much does the father weigh????) The flat-screen TV is wrecked, having been thrown to the floor. A spark flies up from the broken screen of the TV and lands on Caleb's bear as Caleb holds it in his arm. Instantly the bear goes up in a puff of smoke. This scene is taking place in Caleb's imagination. But a fear tactic has been used here. The message being sent is: If you do not OBEY the Society's directions, then those who are important to you and are close to you, will be removed and taken away from you. (At Caleb's age, the stuffed bear would be his best mate). The use of colour is also significant in this scene. The dark tones give the scene a sinister look. Children respond to visual cues like this. This scene could have been portrayed differently and still got the same message across - “Listen, obey and be blessed.”

I notice also that the mother changed from pants to a skirt before sitting down for Family Worship. I've been a Witness for about 30 years and I can say that I have never once thought to myself: “Ok, I'm going to sit down now and read the Bible and do some personal study....Oh! Hang about! I better go get that skirt on first!” My reasoning abilities are contained within my skull, they are not contained within the fabric of my skirt. I can study just as well in T-shirt/jeans or PJ'S.

In the second lesson, Caleb brings home a plastic magical wizard toy. Much of the “camera time” is focused on the mother's face in this lesson. There is specific detail in her facial expression and precise emphasis on particular words. e.g. “toy”, “friend”, “sad”, “happy”, “proud”, “obey”.

I'm not sure why she mispronounces “Satan” as “Say' an” (without the 't' and in the same manner as small children do when they are trying to learn how to pronounce the name correctly). Caleb appears to be able to speak in an articulate manner for a child of his age so I don't get why the use of the “baby lingo” would be necessary. (My manager and supervisor were both puzzled by that point too, and asked about the significance of this. I explained that I didn't know.)

I notice also that she did not reason on the scripture at Deuteronomy 18:10-12. (Yet Caleb seemed to comprehend the scripture at Ephesians 6:1 when his father discussed it with him.)

I also think that Caleb should have been encouraged to return the toy to the friend who gave it to him. If he throws it in the garbage, what's he going to say to his friend the next day? What if the friend asks why didn't he bring it with him to play with?

(Occasionally I brought home what could best be described as “unusual” and controversial items from other kids, not realising what it was that I had been given. I could tell when they were of the “unusual” category because the blood would drain out of my mother's face and she would turn pale. She kept a calm demeanour while explaining in a matter-of-fact manner what it was that I had brought home and what it was used for and why it was inappropriate for a kid to play with this. I would then be asked to return the item the next day and then explain that the kids in our family didn't play with such things. No fuss.....No fanfare.)

I notice that the garbage bin is painted a bright blue – not black (too sinister, too severe), not red (denoting danger). A bright colour has been chosen as this is a visual cue.

At the end of Lesson 2, after Caleb throws the toy in the bin, there is a plane shown flying in the sky. My manager and supervisor both wondered if that was some kind of symbolism (denoting escaping or fleeing). They asked who specifically in the organisation had made the DVD and was it possible that the individuals responsible might be disgruntled or dissatisfied with their situation in life. (We see this a lot in people who feel that they are unable to express how they're feeling using words, so we ask them if they can draw or paint and express themselves that way. It's common for people who are feeling frustrated to draw birds or planes flying in the sky – they often draw prisons too.) Mentally I wondered the same thing but I explained that I didn't personally know the people responsible for producing the DVD and had never met them. So I couldn't make a definite statement on that point. It may be a possibility – it may not be.

Overall, I thought the tone of the DVD was controlling, manipulative, melodramatic and exaggerated. The mother has been portrayed as displaying passive-aggressive behaviour.

The DVD could have been made differently and still conveyed the same message by using positive settings – for example, running an errand for the grandparents, helping a sibling, obeying road rules, obeying safety rules around the house or helping to care for an ill family member, etc.

I agree that children need to be trained and that discipline is part of that training. They should also be taught to obey and to have honour and respect for their parents, and to respect Jehovah's standards. I do not believe that fear and guilt should be used as the tactics to accomplish this.