The Language of Pop Culture

Today Graham wrapped up the Oxygen series with a look at how we can allow the Holy Spirit to speak through us as we reach people in their own language. This can happen in a variety of ways. One of the ways I've always tried to connect with outsiders is through the language of popular culture.

One of the favorite lessons I've taught as part of Faith in Film is on "Superman Returns." In a clip near the middle of the film, Superman takes Lois Lane high into the clouds and says, “You say the world doesn’t need a savior, but every day I hear them crying out for one.” That doesn’t leave a lot to the imagination as to what the filmmakers perceive that Superman stands for. It sets Superman up to be something bigger than he is. But, I think that’s representative of where our world is. We have a world that is seeking salvation but doesn’t know how to get it.

What's interesting, to me, is the fact that "Superman Returns" is a summer blockbuster superhero film. And embedded in this film that represents the essence of popular culture in America is this quiet search for meaning and a savior.

It helps when you understand the film's source material in the context of its creation. Superman is one of the oldest superhero characters in our cultural history. The “Man of Steel” made his debut in June 1938. The character was created six years earlier, in 1932, by writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born artist Joe Shuster in Cleveland, Ohio. Superman also tends to be one of the most deistic of all superheroes. Where as D.C. Comics contemporary Batman was more reflective of the desire within us all to rise up against oppression, Superman satisfied another need — that of a supernatural savior. In some ways that iconography makes sense. Superman was created on the tails of the Great Depression, a time of unrest and hopelessness in the country. Superman really gained steam around the outbreak of World War II, and was popular in the Cold War era that followed, a time when people were looking for hope, salvation, and to believe in a hero bigger than themselves. The fact that Superman stood for truth, justice and the American way was certainly comforting. The fact he was powerful, fast, and nearly invincible didn’t hurt either.

But I think there’s another interesting aspect to this. Siegel and Shuster were both the children of Jewish immigrants. In considering the aspect of their Jewish heritage, there is an interesting parallel to be drawn. One of the reasons many didn’t recognize Jesus as our Savior during his own time, and the reason Jewish people don’t recognize him as our Savior to this day is that they expected something different. They expected the savior to be a powerful, conquering king who would overthrow the wicked rulers of Earth and bring peace and salvation to believers. That’s one of the reasons the crowd was thrown off when Jesus turned toward the temple during the Triumphal entry. They expected him to march on Herod’s palace and put him in his place, instead Jesus went and cleared the temple. So, in creating Superman, they created an idealized Savior. Then, in his 2006 film, director Bryan Singer took it a step further. I’m sure for many of you that makes you think about Superman in general, and this movie in particular, in a new way.

Sometimes non-Christians do the best job of making films that really get at the heart of what we believe and sometimes they make films that challenge our beliefs and force us to examine what we really believe. It’s not because they make better music, it’s because it’s a message that’s applicable for us and our faith. Some Christians have a hard time with this idea. I’ll admit that when I was younger, I had a hard time with this too because of some of the pressures I felt as part of my home church. There was this tension that real Christians didn’t poison their minds with worldly things, like films. It wasn’t until I went away to college and was in a different environment surrounded by Christians with different perspectives that I was able to reflect on that and decide what was right for me. Now I’m not saying you should immerse yourself in secular media in place of worship or studying Scriptures, but I don’t think we have to fear secular media polluting our minds as some do. In fact, I think it’s hard to reach the world if we don’t understand it.

This first struck me really when I was in college. When I was a junior at Biola University I was in a class call pragmatic social theories of communication. I know what you’re thinking and, yes, it was as boring as it sounds. Since Biola is a Christian school — it stands for the Biblical Institute of Los Angeles — we all had to take a couple classes in our major that doubled as Bible classes, and this was one of those classes. We were given a set of books to read, divided into groups and each group had to craft a presentation for one of the books. The book our group was assigned was the book “When Bad Things Happen to Good People.” The book was written by Rabbi Harold S. Kushner following the death of his son. To be honest, I didn’t think it was that memorable a book, but what I remember was trying to decide how to present it.

This was a senior communication class that mixed people from all the majors under communications. I was a journalism major, an observer, but I was in a group with a theater major, a speech therapy major, and a comm. studies major. One in the group suggested we do a reader’s theater, which I wasn’t wild about. One suggested we do a question and answer period that really delved into the problems behind the message of the book, which I also wasn’t wild about. Then it hit me, we could start out with a film clip that related to it. Instantly — probably in part as a defense mechanism against the harrowing prospect of a grade based on my ability in reader’s theater — I suggested showing a clip from “Scrubs” and holding an honest discussion presentation. Fortunately my group agreed — there was really only one person sold on the idea of reader’s theater. The episode we showed a clip from was called “My Personal Jesus,” and it really dealt with the idea of a man struggling to reconcile his idea of faith and his belief in a loving God with the tragedy in the world.

If I was to ask you what you think of when I say the word art, I can imagine some of the things that would come to mind. If I showed you the Mona Lisa, or the Sistine Chapel, you would probably nod your head. If I talked about a piece of music from Mozart or Beethoven, you would probably nod your head. Doubtless that group would get smaller if I mentioned “The Godfather,” or a song from U2… well Graham and Caleb would probably nod for U2. How about “Lost?” All of those are art in different forms.

All films, songs, and TV shows, like other works of art, say something about the worldview of their creator. Sometimes those messages are ridiculous, sometimes those messages are harmless, sometimes those messages are inspirational, and sometimes those messages reflect a soul that is searching for answers and finding them in the wrong place. I have contended that over the part few years our pop cultural art forms have shown a society that is becoming more and more lost. The number of films, shows, and songs that present nihilistic worldviews or flawed views of humanity and God are startling.

These forms of cultural art have a powerful impact on our thinking, even when we don’t realize it. Author and speaker Donald Miller hit upon this idea when he said, “Narrative has an unbelievable ability to adjust your moral compass.” Though we might not always like to admit it, ideas are powerful, and often the ideas and values expressed through pop culture are intended to promote the lifestyles and values of their creators. When you understand and can identify those messages, it’s easier to evaluate how they compare to our faith. That idea lies at the center of his book “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.” He works through the idea of story and narrative as it applies to our own lives and the way we interact with the world around us.

When you’re speaking to a friend who’s not a Christian, they probably won’t be familiar with “Shine, Jesus, Shine.” But they might have heard “Jesus Walks” by Kanye West. Though it’s hard to lift West up as a moral paragon, the personal struggle with faith espoused in “Jesus Walks” makes it powerful. The chorus includes the lines, “God show me the way because the devil trying to break me down; The only thing that that I pray is that my feet don't fail me now; And I don't thing there's nothing I can do now to right my wrongs; I want to talk to God but I'm afraid because we ain't spoke in so long.” That is an opening. That is a popular, secular, mainstream artist talking about his struggle with faith as he goes through his daily life. It’s a song that’s played on the radio, featured in movies, and is a big part of our pop culture landscape.

How about another example. How many football fans do we have out there? My guess would be quite a few. Now if you wanted to relate to a non-Christian football fan, are you going to get anywhere by talking about “Facing the Giants?” Probably not. But what about “The Blind Side?” That’s a movie that was nominated for Best Picture, is based on a true story, and features a popular player from the Baltimore Ravens. It’s also an excellent example of what it should mean to live out your faith. It’s about a family that took in a boy who was in need. They loved him and shared out of their abundance. His life was forever changed, and their lives were forever changed.

It's all about finding a way to speak in the language of the outsider and trusting the Holy Spirit to work through you with whatever opening you get.