Beliebers

This is a post in response to "Making Good Deeds Public": http://christandpopularculture.blogspot.com/2012/03/making-good-deeds-public.html

I enjoyed this post and learned a little bit more about Justin Bieber and his philanthropist side. While Sandra commented that she thought that his actions were disingenuous, I think it is important to re-evaluate the effect that this has on the fans and followers of Justin Bieber.

Justin is easily the biggest and most well known teen star in the world. His every move is tracked by hundreds and thousands of "Beliebers". While I am no "belieber" myself, I have to give credit to Justin for maintaining a positive image for his fans. We have all witnessed the demise and downfall of countless teen stars, as they succumb to the pressures of drugs, alcohol, and the fast past hollywood lifestyle. As my mother would say, "too much money, not enough brains".

Justin, on the other hand, has lived a pretty well-behaved public life thus far. His very public relationship with (my look-a-like) Selena Gomez is the only thing that any one could possibly say is not living up to his good-boy image. Yes, we've all seen those pictures of them on vacation when he's squeezing her behind... but you've all done it. Don't lie.

Relating back to Christianity, he has always been open and honest about his faith. He is quoted in an interview as saying:

"I'm a Christian, I believe in God, I believe that Jesus died on a cross for my sins," Bieber says in a new interview about the memoir. "I believe that I have a relationship and I'm able to talk to him and really, he's the reason I'm here, so I definitely have to remember that. As soon as I start forgetting, I've got to click back and be like, you know, this is why I'm here."

Read More http://www.ivillage.com/justin-bieber-talks-jesus-and-marriage/1-a-294985#ixzz1oItsPSMz

Personally, I think that this sort of role model is good for young kids growing up. It fosters a positive attitude for religion, and lets kids and teens know that it is okay to be proud of who you are-- including your faith. His contribution to charities and dedication to his fans is outstanding. I constantly see him meeting with young fans, children as young as 3 years old, visiting and playing with children who are dying and ill. There is nothing negative about this, and although some may question his motives behind it, I think it is still worth noting that he does it.

Good for you Justin, Good for you.

Haters Gon Hate.......

We Were Born to Die

In Response to Lady Gaga vs. Religion?

http://jesus-meetpopculture.blogspot.com/2012/01/lady-gaga-vs-religion.html

Much attention has been paid to Lady Gaga in her quest to find unique ways of incorporating religious elements into her music and music videos. In Veronica's blog post, she excellently articulated the different ways in which Lady Gaga has given her own personal, and often controversial, vision of Christ images in her music. As I watched Lady Gaga's past few music videos on youtube, I was instantly reminded of another artist.

If anyone is familiar with Lana Del Rey, she also has recently released a song which channels a more elegant, refined Gaga. Del Rey's lyrics as well as imagery within her music video speak multitudes of the way in which she has interpreted the lyrics. She manages to juxtapose the imagery of American culture with Christianity, and ultimately equating it with death.

In her video, Lana sports a crown of flowers, as she sits upon her throne on the altar (as a priest would), in what looks to be some sort of sacred Cathedral. The music video itself is flooded with symbolic imagery; very similar to what Gaga does in her own videos. It seems as though the usage of Christian symbols in this and other videos has gained popularity and become the norm.

Christians on TV: God Warriors

Before the reading week, we examined how Christians were portrayed on Television and how this has affected the general public's view of Christians and the Christian community as a whole.

From the beginning, I noticed that the ways in which Christians are portrayed on narrative broadcast television and the ways in which they are portrayed on reality TV. Narrative TV characters are mostly politically correct, reasonable and moral depictions of who Christians are and what they represent. Reality television on the other hand, has taken a turn for the more extreme. Why? Because that's what gains ratings. Apparently, that is what people want to watch. It is the case in so many train-wreck reality TV shows.

Here is an example of the most extreme Christian reality TV personality to grace primetime television.

Here we have the "God Warrior" herself: Marguerite Perrin

Perrin was featured on the show Trading Spouses , in the episode we can see that she comes from an extremely religious household, and for the sake of reality TV ratings, she is sent to live with a family who practice witchcraft and look to astrology for prayer and any type of religious insight. Of course, Perrin is outraged by this, and upon her return home, frantically explains to her family that "they were not Christian!!!!!!" and were devil-worshippers.

Watch it for yourself here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOpva_iit-8

As you can clearly see, Marguerite's behaviour is completely outrageous. As a result of the portrayal on this show, people may see Christians in a negative and satirical fashion. Many people may take this example and make the generalization that all are like this. Upon reading some comments on youtube, I noticed that a lot of people criticized Christianity, even to go so far as to say that this woman's behaviour made them embarrassed to be Christian.

However, when I did a search about Marguerite Perrin... I found websites that portrayed her as a calm, loving mother and Christian who was accepting of differences. It led me to the conclusion that Christians on TV suffer from stereotypes which depict them to be overtly extreme and irrational beings -- almost to say that you would have to be an irrational and bigoted individual to believe in Christianity itself.

I guess that's just some food for thought. Looking forward to what other people thought!

Buddy Christ: Our Personal Jesus

In last week's lecture, we had the privilege of being able to watch a full episode of the Simpsons. In the episode, entitled "Homer the Heretic", Homer decides to give up attending Sunday mass. While at home, he has the best day ever and decides that from that point onwards he will not be going back to church. On the other hand, his family is stuck in a freezing cold church listening to the monotone-style sermon of Reverend Lovejoy.

Later on in the episode, God appears to Homer and agrees with him that staying in and worshipping God from home is perfectly acceptable. This is what I wish to focus on.

Before this class, I had never really considered the image of Jesus portrayed in typical American culture. When Prof. Harris brought him to light as "buddy Christ", it served as an a-ha! moment for me. All of a sudden I could think of a number of different shows portraying Jesus as a "buddy" or friend.

It is obvious that American culture has changed drastically since the early days of TV. When this idea was introduced in lecture, I wondered why everyone seemed to want Jesus to be their friend. As a society, our morals may not always be the most sound, and many do not always have the right intentions. The unknown is feared, especially when it comes to the prospect of life after death. We are afraid to face the consequences of our worldly actions in the afterlife, and thus play with the idea that Jesus or God is our friend and would be forgiving and understanding towards the sins we may have committed. We look for acceptance from our God; as acceptance is one of our human needs, as implicated in Maslow's hierarchy of needs. We need to feel like we belong and we are loved, and the media plays on that need and thus creates the image of Jesus as a friend. The depiction of Jesus as a friend acts as a reminder that we shouldn't be afraid, as Jesus is our friend and will grant our every wish-- almost like a genie in a bottle, which leads me to my next clip:

I found this video clip from another popular comedic cartoon, which all of you may know and love: Family Guy. In the clip, Jesus comes to dinner with the Griffins and is telling him about his last weekend when he was betrayed and crucified, then raised from the dead, and when asked to perform a miracle, he grants everyone with ice cream sundays. I feel as though this is the perfect satirical depiction of "buddy Christ" as he seems almost too good to be true (especially when he grants Peter's "wish"). He is there simply to meet the every wish of the Griffin family and serves no real religious purpose, except to enforce the notion that we can do whatever we like and we will always be forgiven and accepted by God.

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship...

Hi Everyone, and welcome to my Christianity and Pop Culture blog.

Over the next few weeks, I will take you into the depths of my thoughts and views on the subject matter presented to us in class and I will try to provide an insightful analysis of what I see/hear/feel/read/etc...or it could just be a total catastrophe.

Let's find out... shall we?

Oh and PS I appreciate and welcome any comments; I even encourage them! So feel free!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gugbMw4LigY