Christ and Pop Culture

David Dunham kicks off CAPC’s American Idol week by praising honest evaluation in an age of “Idol” words.

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?

Over the past couple of years, with the aid of Netflix, I’ve been working my way through the Canadian television series Slings and Arrows. The show focuses on the on-stage and off-stage lives of the New Burbage Festival, a sort of fictionalized version of the Stratford Festival in Western Ontario. In real life and on the show, the Festival’s main fare is Shakespeare, and each season of Slings of Arrows centers around a production of a Shakespearean tragedy: Hamlet (Season 1), Macbeth (Season 2), and King Lear (Season 3).

Bill Reichhart on the dangers of a 24 hour news cycle.

In her debut post, Carissa Smith finds a meditation on grace alongside P. Diddy.

Richard Clark provides more-than-fair warning and kicks a medium when it’s down.

In his debut post, Bill Reichart counts the ways Oprah is set to become the next big culture-changing evangelist.

Oprah has become a true force in American pop culture, and her talk show is just the beginning. Oprah has her own magazine, cable channel, and as of Sunday her own prime time network television show. Of course, none of that is nearly as valuable or important as the influence she has on a good percentage of Americans. Forget the presidential race, Oprah is our real president.

Those of us who believe that God creates and controls the universe must also realize that God gives us an opportunity in the medium of television that we can take or leave. The challenge for Christians is not to write off a creation of man (and therefore God), but instead to decide if it’s possible to use it for the growth and expansion of God’s kingdom.

While there are numerous dangers that come with the medium (which we’ll discuss at a later time), there are also some significant benefits that can be associated uniquely with television.

I was required to take a class called Women & Literature, in my undergraduate study. On two particular days of class we were forced to watch the show “Sex and the City” for a classroom discussion. I had never seen the show until that moment and I was appalled! It’s an HBO show, so what is now playing on TBS is most definitely an edited version without the HBO version’s constant swearing and nudity. Those elements, however, are the least of my concerns with the show.