I didn’t get the response I was hoping for with my discussion point. Even so, my cousin Angela had some good points which you should read here: Discussion: Popular Media and the Christian? (scroll down to the bottom for her comments.) The following is my response to her comment as well as a few additional notes.
The line between using media for awareness and understanding versus using media as a consumer and for entertainment is often blurry. Not explicitly stated in the original post but hinted was: There is a difference between popular culture and high or folk culture. We’ll leave the high and folk culture discussion for later and continue on to popular. Popular or ‘pop’ culture is not for anything but consumerism. It is about selling. Sometimes product, sometimes ideas. Angela in her comments to my previous post and I both choose our media based on the presence of some remnant amount of real art.
Mindless entertainment is just that. Mindless. This is the argument against popular culture. If it does not make you think on some level, it is mindless. The problem is as I see it that you can’t shut off your mind. It is always turning. If you aren’t making the decisions about what is going in and how you are processing it, then someone else is making that decision for you.
This is the beauty of propagandist media. The message is always is piggybacked to some media that people accept in a mindless way. Often this is entertainment. I abhor the concept of sitting in front of the TV and watching “whatever is on.†Okay, I do it myself but I try to make an active decision about what we’re watching. I try to come to rest while channel surfing on networks like History Channel or Food TV. At least then I am learning on some level.
Unfortunately propaganda (and consumer-driven media) is about implicitly accepting the views expressed without any consideration or reaction. What is useless has become the preoccupation of the majority of media consumers. Angela mentions reality TV, sitcoms, Home Shopping Network as examples. These aren’t wrong inherently but demonstrate what I call the destruction of good taste.
We should promote the arts especially in a church context. I see the solution to the problem as something like this:
A Solution
1. Choose other media
- Flat out denial of all popular media is not the idea but discriminating choice is.
- Pursue independent and local creators.
2. Reinforce the creation of folk and high art in society.
- Music in the home
- Artisan crafts
- Creative writing
- Embrace new technologies like blogging, pod-casts, videocasts, home DVD/movie making, digital photography, home audio recording
3. Renew interest in the art of the church.
Liturgy
- Provide contexts outside of sunday morning for music pursuits
- Support musicians who have the theological know-how and the musical chops to create quality new music
- Teach people how to sing
Iconography and fine art
- Support artisans in the creation of new visual depictions of biblical accounts and themes
Teaching
- Teach others how to teach. This includes spurring intellectual faith discussions.
Related posts:
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- Prayer for the media Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer.Lord God, Father, Son,...
- Violence and media By that I mean that it was phenomenally edgy and...
- TV, or not TV; that is the question TV, or not TV; that is the question Of course...
- Discussion: Popular Media and the Christian? We’re going to try something new. I’ve got a question...
Not a comment on this entry, but a comment on the previous lack of comments.
I know that *I* have not been getting the email notifications again recently. I didn’t think about it while CTS was on break, but knowing you’re back in session, I looked at the site and found a number of entries I had missed. I wonder if that has happened to others.
Bizarre! I’m baffled. Perhaps your spam filter is catching them?
Chris