Christ and Pop Culture

Carissa Smith examines the varied responses to the latest Narnia installment and finds that the reactions have a lot to do with the modernist/postmodernist struggle.

When I was 5 or 6, my dad began reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe to me. Night after night, I begged for the next chapter, and then the next book, and then the next. I was captivated by the mystery of it all; the beautiful landscapes, the colorful characters, the heroic acts.

Alan Noble kicks off Narnia-Week with a lament of the portrayal of Aslan in film.

The recent Masterpiece Theatre version of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility gave the harshest portrayal I’ve ever seen of the character Willoughby, who seduces, impregnates, and abandons a young girl. This leads me to ponder two things: (1) Why, in our era of “tolerance,” does Willoughby suddenly get the shaft?; and (2) Is it important for us, as Christians, to forgive fictional characters?

Alan Noble concludes a two-part series on how we can keep from getting carried away by this whole Pop Culture thing.

The more I hear about the upcoming Prince Caspian film (to be released May 16), the more worried I am about it. First, there was director Andrew Adamson’s promise (clearly supposed to excite us) that the movie would be “battles all the way through.” Then there was the screenwriters’ post on the official film blog indicating that they would be exploring the psychological difficulties faced by the Pevensie children as they deal with the transition from being Kings and Queens in Narnia to being schoolchildren in England. Blech.

Even though Christ and Pop Culture is only a few months old, we’ve already had some wonderful conversations about popular culture and how we as believers should interact with it. To start off the year, I thought I would give my list of the pop culture events that I am looking forward to most in 2008. Over the next 12 months I hope to revisit each of these events as they unfold and as we continue to explore the way our faith speaks to every aspect of our lives–even pop culture.

Dr. Francis Schaeffer was the prophetic voice of the 20th Century. He forewarned the Christian community of both postmodernity (before it was called postmodernity) and the real issues behind secular humanism. He was a brilliant man whose wisdom, epistemological skills, and grasp of the history of philosophy made him an awesome asset to the Christian community. He was a noted speaker with a worldwide ministry until his death in 1984.

It goes without saying that without Harry Potter there would be no show. What else would David have to bring up every single episode - relentlessly - without bringing up Rich’s brilliant (Or misguided?) claim that Harry Potter was a Christ figure?

Well, J. K. Rowling is clearly messing with our heads. A few weeks ago, she announced to the world, “I always thought of Dumbledore as gay.”