Sunday, 29 January 2012

Response to "The Cult of Gaga"

This post is a response to “The Cult of Gaga” by Jessica Racanelli
Link: http://let-your-lightshine.blogspot.com/2012/01/v-behaviorurldefaultvmlo.html


There is no denying that Lady Gaga has a religious-like following. Her disciples, also referred to as her “Little Monsters”, submit to her mantra of peace, love, and respect. And really what is so bad about that? Gaga deserves credit for advocating on behalf of all individuals who have ever felt excluded, alienated, or simply… different. As a super pop icon, we have to commend her involvement in anti-bullying and anti-harassment movements. If we were measuring Lady Gaga’s ability to employ Christian-like doctrines to create her own religious community of inclusivity, she would get full points. She has created a religious community premised on Christian principles which many seek refuge within. Yet I have to agree with Jessica's questioning attitude of Gaga's use of Christianity in her music and videos.

Although I do not want to take away from this positive message, I want to evaluate how well Lady Gaga serves the Christian religion. I found it extremely interesting when Jessica brought up Gaga's often explicit videos. We cannot forget that Gaga is known for her theatrics and her ability to consistently reinvent herself. This makes her commitment to Christianity a little questionable. Jessica mentions the depictions of "prostitution, drug use and violence" juxtaposed with Christian images. I believe many would be suspicious of her reference to Christian narratives when she uses them in such a controversial way. Many religious individuals would see something fundamentally wrong with the depiction of religion in her videos. Although extremely creative and transcendental, her videos are over-sexualized, sometimes violent and a strong opposition to Christian values. I think Gaga toed the line between “artistic” and “shock value” in her video “Judas”, in a manner that many would find offensive to Christianity.


I believe Lady Gaga is a useful example of how pop culture can interact with religion in different ways. The Gaga community of Monsters is without a doubt its own religion. Yet Gaga herself appears to use religion in the same manner she employs eccentric disguises. How she deals with her followers and what she advocates to them is extremely Christian in nature. Yet her overt depictions of Christianity are often exploitive and done in manner that is similar to how she does product placements in her videos.    

Saturday, 28 January 2012

A serial killer and God walk into a bar...

Maybe I’m just reading into this too much, but I found it really coincidental that the semester I decide to enroll in SMC305, one of my favorite television series is wrapping up a season that contextualized a number of debates regarding Christianity in society. The sixth season of Dexter, featuring the world’s most loveable serial killer, engages in a twelve episode discussion of Christianity within its usual crime drama plotline. I believe that by applying this cultural artifact to our previous class discussion, the multidimensional approaches to studying the relationship between Christianity and popular culture will become more evident. More specifically, by applying Dexter to Lynch’s argument, it will become clear that this course will not yield many solid truths. How so? If you take on any of the frameworks outlined by Lynch, it is obvious that there is no conclusive perspective on how Christianity and pop culture interact and influence each other. The debate surrounding the relationship between the two is still so contentious and fierce because of this uncertainty. 
 


Dexter is the vigilante serial killer who sees himself as rebalancing the equilibrium between good and bad in the world. This season, Dexter and the surrounding cast of characters grapple with questions of Christianity. Dexter is struggling with the notion of faith as he debates what to teach his young son while dealing with his own personal demons. The rest of the team is hunting a serial killer who is using Scripture to motivate and justify his crimes.

Using Lynch’s frameworks, it is evident that the power of interpretation is still very potent. Someone studying the relationship between religion and pop culture from the “outside” may see this season as a great representation of religion. The characters, dialogue and events present Christian teachings, demonstrate contemporary religious debates and illustrate religious practices in everyday life. Yet even the debate amongst religious groups may be heavily divided. It would not be surprising to see that a large portion of individuals studying this relationship from the “inside” would view it with great suspicion. Using Christianity in the context of a show that displays violence, sexuality and corruption is blatant exploitation. Yet those who delve a bit deeper than this superficial argumentation may see the notions of love, self-sacrifice, and loyalty heavily present in the episodes.

Personally I believe this is an example of how the relationship between religion and pop culture can be largely positive. The series always shows the importance of love, the conquering of bad by forces of good, and the virtue of patience. I accept that some groups may disregard my analysis and look at the series for what it is on the surface and claim that Dexter used religion as a prevalent theme this season for its own gain. It is clear that the same piece of pop culture can be examined many different ways and reveals itself as either promoting or exploiting Christianity. I believe this is an important place to start the course from. The study of religion and pop culture can be approached from various frameworks and throughout the course of my blog I plan on using those perspectives to explore this interaction further.

Welcome!

Despite my previous attempts at starting a blog, the process usually always ended the exact same way. After spending five hours customizing font colours, selecting background graphics and agonizing over a witty title, I always come to the realization that I don’t really know how to start, what to say, or what topic to even focus my blog on. Would people even read it? Needless to say, I gave up the dream of ever becoming a famous blogger.

When the blog was announced as one of the project choices I was very excited. I believe the study of religion and pop culture is contentious and important. There is great uncertainty in regards to which influences the other, whether this is a positive relationship or if the result is the exploitation of the other. Christianity is always a source of reference within pop culture. Whether it is the last season of Dexter, an episode of The Simpsons or a film about the life of Jesus Christ, it is greatly evident that Christianity is so pervasive it has no choice but to penetrate the realm of popular culture. It is the job of the individual (or in this case, me, the blogger) to sift through the overt and subtle presentation of Christian narratives and principles in forms of pop culture to determine whether it is exploitation for gain, a modern interpretation of Christian teachings or a helpful application of Catholic virtues.

On that note, I welcome you to my blog for SMC305 and look forward to engaging with many of you as we explore the relationship between Christianity and popular culture!