 | We ask for it, do we get it? So I've started my fall semester at school and I think it's going to be really good. I'm pretty positive that all my classes - except maybe one - will be very enjoyable and may even be easy (I don't like the idea of easy classes...let's just stick with enjoyable.).
The one class I'm not sure about is composition. I know what you're thinking, because if you're reading this you must think I have some small amount of ability to write, but my teacher described how strict her standands of grading are and I must say I was a bit intimidated. I love to write, but I don't know much about MLA formatting, indentation, and what the heck is a comma splice? I don't mind difficult classes, I just hope I can learn a lot from it because I would like to become a better writer.
So our first assignment in this english class is to take a look at a series of pictures each representing a decade of american pop-culture history. The pictures start off with the wizard of oz, then casablanca, elvis presly, the beatles, saturday night fever, madonna, and finally britney spears. Now you can take a lot from all of these pictures and there is a lot you could say about them. What struck me was (as was kinda the topic of discussion in class that day) the consistent downward slope of the standards of propriety and morality. The wizard of oz is a whimsical film, very innocent and fairy tale-ish. Casablanca has a scene where there's hugging, the screen fades and there are the two main characters smoking cigarettes and putting jackets back on. Scandalous. Then there's the censure of elvis because of his provacative dancing and hip girations. And on and on it goes until you have britney practically nude holding a python (and they call this entertainment....or even worse, they call it music. atrocious.).
Now the steady progression is pretty self-explanatory concerning sensitive issues. The more exposed you are to something the less sensitive you are to it. We see it happening every day in our own experience and in society, in everything from sex to violence. But I noticed something else that connected the pictures to what was going on in those decades. Could it be that each popular culture icon that was paramount in its day was a response to the questions the culture was asking or the "needs" of the culture during that time? Let me explain.
The wizard of oz came out during the great depression. The story is about a girl who lives on a poor farm in Kansas and is swept away to the magical land of oz, only to desperately try to return home because after all, "there's no place like home" and relationships prevail as highest in value. So one can see how that story would be appealing to people during the depression, wanting to escape and wanting hope that what they had (friends and family) really was valuable.
Casablanca was during world war II and some of the themes include war, love, betrayal, and sacrificing to do the right thing. One can see the appeal of that story as well, many men hoping that honor, shivalry, and love would triumph in such desperate and trying times. As we move into the music realm we see the boundaries constantly being pushed and "expression" and "freedom" becoming so high in value. I suppose it's possible to see how the culture "needed" freedom from the "supression" of the victorian era and were happy to rebel against the cultural norms and embrace a free and open sexuality being vehemently presented through music.
So one could observe that whatever is paramount in a culture represents in essence the greatest needs of that culture. Now consider our current pop-culture situation and what that says about where we are. Sex is rampant in the media - we must be a culture that has "created impotence out of our erotomania" as muggeridge said. We must be desperately hurting for true fulfillment, having suffered the destruction of free love and porno-mania. We can't seem to get enough of fantasy, comic book movies and ridiculous stories rule the cinema. We must be longing for an escape from reality, something to distract us from the pain or lonliness we feel. And yet we can't seem to get enough information about other people's personal lives, as if the drama in our own wasn't enough to keep us occupied. We must be looking for a life that's easier to fix, or one in which we can see the problems more clearly, or a life that destracts us from the awareness that our relationships aren't right. Violence and hatred rule the airwaves and the radios and kids and adults soak up filth as the soundtrack to their lives. We must not be as "civil" as we think we are, committing murder in our hearts every day by being angry at our brother (See Christs words, Matthew 5).
Such is our condition, and most people don't see that these things are an indication of the greater problem of sin. Only when we see Christ and begin to understand how He means for us to live will we see that the world has everything completely turned around. This is where we end up when we try to find the answer by looking deeper and deeper inside ourselves. Surely there is nothing but wickedness in our hearts. Only when we look at Jesus and understand that we were meant to, just like the rest of creation, declare and promote the GLORY of GOD will we start to get it right. We weren't meant to make much of ourselves. We were made to make much of God. Indeed, that is the purpose of EVERYTHING. That God may receive glory for the sake of His name.
"Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
"For who has known the mind of the Lord,
or who has been his counselor?"
"Or who has given a gift to him
that he might be repaid?"
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. "
Romans 11:33-36 |
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