’’You have to consider the possibility that God does not like you. He never wanted you. In all probability, He HATES you.’’

Hi everyone! I was extremely excited when I found out Professor Harris would be talking about Fight Club in class on Tuesday. I could not wait to blog about my ideas on christianity and popular culture in this film ... considering it is one of my favourites. 

To begin I would like to start off by saying the clip shown in class was a great one to give a brief idea about the film and consumer culture. It could really open up a persons view point about their life and the stuff that fills it. Do we really need a sofa that may last us a life time or does that Louis Vuitton purse truly define me as a person - NO! Tyler says this and in many ways Christian beliefs say this as well. It is not what you own, it is how you act, respond and love on another that leads you to salvation or a higher good. 

I would also like to post a clip of the film from later on in the movie. In this scene Tyler Durden is burning the unnamed narraters hand with a chemical. He is trying to perform a sort of ritual or conversion on the narrater as he says, ’’It’s only after we’ve lost everything that we are free to do anything.’’ Hitting rock bottom is when you can then re-evalute your life and start again without the confusion of consumer culture or religion. (Side note: Christianity does preach this too because for some after we have hit rock bottom we may come to realize Jesus is the only man for me because He is the only one who will accept me at this state)

Furthermore, this scene says alot about God and the self. Tyler wants us to realize God may not like us, He may not have a plan for us and we need to accept that in order to be free. There should be no restraints, no problems or items that would keep us back from understanding that we 

DO NOT NEED IT!

What this says to me in relation to the class is that in some cases such as these, popular culture depicts religion as a bad thing. Although Tyler does not say God does not exist, he says God does not like you - this may lead the audience to believe that there is a God but what do we really know about him. 

This connects to Lynch’s Four Approaches to the Study of Religion in Popular Culture, specifically the third approach from an insiders point of view about suspicion, that popular culture is corrupting the view of Christianity as seen in parts of this movie.

Hope you like my analysis of Fight Club I look forward to reading any comments you may leave!

If you were wondering the title of this post is a quote from the scene I displayed above.

In Response to Jessica’s Post: I’m a bad kid and I’ll survive

In response to Jessica’s post regarding the lecture on January 24th about Lady Gaga’s religion of monsters and her song Bad Kids, I have my own personal views on this which I would like to share.

I agree with Jessica’s arguments about the Bad Romance video, most of which are closely related to the discussion we had in class about the religious imagery in her video versus her intentional message. Lady Gaga presents herself in the media as a Christian, one who needs love and believes it is available to all. This is a very simple view of Christianity but one that I think would appeal to her fans. She seems to genuinely love Jesus but she also loves fashion and creativity. This is presented in her videos through extravagant sets and costumes, nevertheless those visual components are normally attached to her personal views on religion, free love and for example inclusivity for Gays and Lesbians.

But as Jessica wrote, some religious people may find her dangerous to society since her fans may see these religious morals beign presented in her songs and videos but they get tangled up with the sex, death, and personal views. This may give people a bad idea about Christianity and thus infect their views and beliefs as Lynch discusses in his article Why Should Theologians and Scholars of Religion Study Popular Culture. Specifically the first approach to study religion in popular culture about how religion is present in popular culture.

A great example of this is through her video Judas released in 2011 off her album Born This Way. This video is about Gaga’s struggle between her love for Jesus and Judas, but the imagery is highly controversial as you can see for yourself here:

Therefore Lady Gaga’s role in Christianity and popular culture is a skewed one because through her resistance of norms and expression of self we see a spectacular performer, but this often gets confused with her Christian values and may confuse her fans into thinking Christianity has a connection with these beliefs. 

In contrast to the video above Lady Gaga has another song off the album Born This Way which Jessica also talks about in her blog post. It is a song about knowing your inner self over knowing what people think of you,
         ’’We don’t care what people say, we know the truth.’’

We see Lady Gaga preaching to her fans, specifically those who are forgotten, about everyone being special in their own ways. No matter if you act out or if your parents are divorced, you are still loved, you are still special.
         ’’Don’t be insecure, if your heart is pure you’re still good to me if you’re a bad kid, baby.’’

Therefore Lady Gaga is a complex person who seems to love God but also loves performing and being herself which is something she tries to preach to her fans.

WELCOME

Hi Everyone!
This is my blog for SMC305 Christianity and Popular Culture with Professor Harris. I hope you enjoy my blog as I will yours.

I thought this was an appropriate photo to start the blog off with considering its a play on faith and Facebook! FAITHBOOK!