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September 26, 2007
Little Rock, TV, and innocence
Shelby Steele writes in the Wall Street Journal on The Legacy of Little Rock. He makes the interesting case the the televised nature of the Little Rock incident made white America come face-to-face with its own evil, which in turn paved the way for, among other things, a new willingness to see the evils of America and a desire to redeem itself for that evil.
Americans watched by the millions and, in this watching, saw something that would change the country fundamentally. Every day for weeks they saw white people so consumed with racial hatred that they looked bestial and subhuman. When white racism was a confident power, it could look like propriety itself, like good manners. But here, in its insecurity, it was grotesque and shocking. Worse, it was there for the entire world to see, and so it broke through the national denial. The Little Rock crisis revealed the evil at the core of segregation, and it launched the stigmatization of white Americans as racists that persists to this day. After Little Rock whites stood permanently accused. They would have to prove a negative--that they were not racist--in order to claim decency. And this need to forever beg one's innocence is the very essence of white guilt.
Technorati Tags: culture, racism, shelby steele
Posted by maphet at 04:54 PM | Comments (0)
September 19, 2007
More of Micah
CRW_4610.jpg
Originally uploaded by maphet.
Posted by maphet at 03:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
"a pious little scrap of sleaze"
Lately I've been enjoying Christopher Orr's movie reviews. His assault on The Brave One is a fun example. Calling it "not merely the most morally repellent film of the year, but a contender for the stupidest," Orr concludes that
For all its showy stabs at remorse, its ostentatious moral handwringing, this is a film that unambiguously endorses vigilante killings--at least, as long as you're Jodie Foster, and you feel really bad about it, and you're doing it all for the kids. Foster, and everyone else involved in making this disgraceful film, should be ashamed.
I'm guessing he didn't like the movie much.
Technorati Tags: chistopher orr, movies, The Brave One
Posted by maphet at 03:19 PM | Comments (1)
September 18, 2007
And then there were 5
Our new son
Originally uploaded by maphet.
He's a little late, but we think we'll keep him anyway.
Posted by maphet at 02:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 17, 2007
A decent way to start the week
The Holy Observer is back online. Of particular note are the articles Takamine Set To Release Worship Leader Guitar and Top 10 Ways to Spice Up Your Boring Bible Study (#6: "Two words: Leather Pants").
Technorati Tags: Christianity, culture, humor, satire
Posted by maphet at 11:04 AM | Comments (1)
September 06, 2007
Not that modern after all
I've wondered before if the American fascination with celebrities is nothing more than a variation on the mythology of the Greco-Roman era. The Greeks and Romans made their gods greater than they were by giving them powers and abilities, but also made them accessible by assigning them many of the same failings as humans. We make celebrities greater than ourselves by highlighting their beauty, wealth, and fame, but also make them accessible by obsessing over their divorces, drug scandals, and whatnot. The Greeks and Romans made veritable soap operas of which god was sleeping with which other god. We, well, that goes without saying.
Peter Leithart draws this out further, arguing that Christians need to realize that "for all our pretense of sophistication, the West has never entirely escaped the impulses and habits of primitive culture, or that, by escaping Christianity, we are reverting to it." And, later on:
Part of the trick, too, is recognizing the continuities between pagan and modern habits and learning to call them by their traditional names. If a rock concert looks, smells, and sounds like a bacchanal, why not call it that, with all the religious overtones that go with the name? If the rock star elicits frenzy, why not call him a shaman?
Technorati Tags: culture, mythology, Peter Liethart
Posted by maphet at 11:37 AM | Comments (0)
September 04, 2007
Harold Crick is ... Jesus?
I liked Stranger than Fiction. I think it was one of the few movies in the last year I watched twice. And I would watch it again. I liked the story, thought the cast was great, and even appreciated some of the implicit Christological references within the movie.
I also generally agree with the more recent push within evangelicalism towards a broader interaction with American culture, whether popular or otherwise. Yah, cultural engagement!
But something about this article makes me uneasy. Baker and Downing draw out one parallel after another between Crick and Jesus, arguing that the movie is making a "profoundly theological" point:
In The Mind of the Maker, [Dorothy] Sayers suggests that the relationship between the writer's idea and its fulfillment in the written word parallels the relationship between Creator God and the incarnated Christ. A quick read through the Stranger Than Fiction screenplay reveals that the writer, Zach Helm, may have intended just such a connection. Perturbed over being misunderstood, a flustered Harold says to a woman at a bus stop, "I … No. I'm … [Christ]" (the brackets indicate that the word is to be said under his breath). Reminiscent of Jesus' prayer of angst in the garden of Gethsemane, Harold pleads with Kay to spare his life. But Professor Hilbert, having read Kay's first draft, tells Harold that the story "is a masterpiece. You have to die." With agony, Harold responds, "You're asking me to knowingly face my death?" The answer, of course, is yes.
Not only is Crick an in-depth Christ figure, but the movie teaches us a great moral truth:
[T]hough we cannot know for certain how or when we will die, we can live our lives embedded in time, making the most out of the time embedded in us. As exhorted by the one who is himself the fulfillment of all time, we can love our neighbors as ourselves.
Like I said, I agree there are a few references to Christ - the willing near-death/semi-resurrection theme being the most obvious one. I'm not sure that it is as well thought out as Baker and Downing make it to be. Was Zach Helm consciously thinking of Crick as "a representative of divine life"? Maybe, maybe not. I suppose the apple could be a reference to Christ as the Second Adam, but it could also be a reference to The Beatles or (more probably) to René Magritte's The Son of Man.
Most of my unease is probably not so much from the Books & Culture article as it is frustration with a general overeagerness I keep seeing to find redemption themes underneath every cultural pebble. Pastors in churches with a special emphasis on staying relevant and ministering to a youth culture seem particularly prone to this. Yes, America is some sort of post-Christian culture and thus various forms of the creation/fall/redemption story will be found all over the place. But that doesn't mean you can or should pull the gospel out of SpongeBob or the Transformers. Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader is an inverted Christ-figure (virgin birth, death, descent into hell, resurrection), but that doesn't mean he should be the point of your sermon. Christ should.
Christians should interact with culture. They should highlight cultural themes, like those found in Stranger than Fiction, that echo an underlying desire for redemption. At a certain point, though, that interaction should be at least a little critical. The Church is to be a prophet to culture, not a fan-boy of it.
Technorati Tags: Books & Culture, movies, Stranger than Fiction, transforming culture
Posted by maphet at 01:25 PM | Comments (0)