Searching for Culture in all the Wrong Places?-Artifact 1- Alex Baas

In the episode of “How I Met Your Mother” named, False Positive, Lily and Marshall take a pregnancy test that turns out positive. They tell their three best friends (Barney, Robin and Ted) the good news which leads to each character to make rash decisions about their own lives. When each the Lily and Marshall find out that the test was a false positive test they text their friends. The episode goes through each character’s life decisions between the original good news and the announcement of the false positive. 

                One of the characters the show looks into is Robin. Robin has recently quit her dead end news anchor job and is in the process of finding a new job. In an earlier part of the show, Robin has announced her dream of being an anchor on a large news network to Ted. Recently, Robin has been accepted at a lower end job that would not require much effort on her part. In hearing the original news of Lily being pregnant, Robin decides to apply for a job at the large news network as a lower end researcher and to tell the lower end job that she isn’t interested, but in the middle of telling the lower end job that she has lost interest, Robin gets the news that Lily is not actually pregnant and accepts the lower end job.  Later, when Robin announced her decision to take an easier job, Ted reminds her of her dream and forces her to take the researcher job at the news network.

                In this episode, the human purpose is to follow your dreams and not to give up when things look too difficult. I would also argue that this episode shows the human purpose a support mechanism for those around you as shown through Ted pushing Robin to follow her dream of being an anchor at a big name news network. In pushing Robin, Ted also is seeing Robin in a different way than Robin is seeing herself. Robin “accepts the reality of the world in which (she) was presented (“The Truman Show”).” To Robin, she saw the job at the news network as difficult and thought she was fit for easier work that took very little skill. To Ted, Robin had more of a gift than she thought she had. Through Ted’s action of supporting those around him to be the best that they can be, he starts to show what the Kingdom of God is supposed to be.  

Discussion Questions:

1. What does dreaming do for us?

2. What is our responsibility in a community when people are not living up to their potential?

Cultural Artifact 1 by Courtney Showell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPeSxMygBIg 
*Disclaimer: Minor language and sexual content.

For my first Cultural Artifact, I chose to listen to the song 90210 by D.C. rapper Wale.  In this song, Wale tells the story of a young woman striving to make it into the glamorous, Hollywood life. A new life of drugs, sex, and bulimia, awaits for the young girl as she does whatever she thinks needs to be done in order to live the life that she has always wanted.

Though this is merely a song, situations as described happen in our society today. We live in a world today where we are stuck in an Empire based on success rather than living for God. People work hard to get the success and perks of being a celebrity, but many do not use their new talents for the grace of God. Some people go to extreme measures in order to be famous. For example, the women in the song would have sex with celebrity males to try to push herself into the Hollywood scene. Another subject the song touches on, is how some people idolize celebrities and dream to look like them.  The second commandment states, "Thou shalt not have any other gods." In our society, people idolize fame to the point where it becomes unhealthy. Women and men strive to be like the people they see on the television. People go to extents of starving themselves, steroids, and plastic surgery to imitate their celebrity idols. Not only are these people living in an Empire of false idolizing, but an Empire that ignores the rules of creation. We are all created in God's image, which means we are created "good." Since we are good then we should have no reason to change our bodies. We are in a Empire with much personal greed, but with our new culture making, we will have the ability to change society for the Kingdom and have hope for redemption.

Questions for discussion:
1. How has society affected the way people feel about themselves physically?
2. What could Hollywood do to help change how it's viewers see their programs?

Brave New World Cultural Artifact #1

The Truman Show and the Matrix made me recall a certain book that I once read that has similar grounds to these movies. That book is the "Brave New World." This takes place in London where there is a facility that create the perfect human beings to do that they are supposed to do and unable to think for themselves. They did this because the women are unable to give birth anymore and this was their only option of their survival. Despite this is their last hope, there are those who are unhappy because they can think for themselves unlike their other counterparts. 

Right off from the bat, these scientists crossed the line of creating human beings, even though that was the only way to survive. We are only human and have no rights to play as God, because we already have a God to take that job. Despite the women unable to give birth in the story, another issue of the life of the empire is to remove freewill. This removes God’s love out of our lives.  God gave us freewill and life to do what we like to do. God did not control Adam nor Eve to not to eat the forbidden fruit at the time, but he lets them eat it anyway.  God doesn’t want us to be robots, but to the people in the Brave New World, this is for the human race. This can be seen in both ways of the Empire and the Kingdom of God from two very different perspectives.  The Kingdom of God supports that this is wrong for us to populate wrongly and brainwash the offspring for a better world, on the other hand the empire wants to create a better world that will make everyone to live happily. 

1. If the time comes where our situation is similar to the Truman Show, the Matrix, and the Brave New World, How can we obtain freedom and happiness?

2. How will our relationship with God change when our lives are endangered? Will it break apart? Or Reinforced?

Cultural Artifact #1 - Film: Pitch Perfect

          For my first artifact, I chose the recently released film, Pitch Perfect. The story follows a young girl (Beca) as she adjusts to her freshman year of college. To please her strict father, she joins the on-campus, all-girl a capella singing group called The Bellas. Through the experience, Beca learns the importance of community and working together along with discovering the values of diversity.

         One significant aspect of this film is that it relates directly to college students, highlighting key expectations and stereotypes present in the collegiate atmosphere. The entire artifact has a secular basis, in that there is no reference to God or religion. Rather it sets up success, competition, and relationships as one’s ultimate goal in life. In one scene, the leader of the a capella group announces that “There will be no more wasting time with school or boyfriends. And I trust you will add your own cardio.” In this way, Pitch Perfect exemplifies the ruthless pursuit of success as a key characteristic in the Empire. Status obtained through success is the main way people obtain value in the film, and as college students, this tells us that social standing and success are the most important things we can work toward. This idea is opposite the focus of the Kingdom, as God desires us to live in parallel with his will. Communal living and the need for relationships are also central themes in both the Empire (as seen through viewing the film) and the Kingdom of God (as established in the Bible).  In this way, we are able to see the positive effects of the original creation in the fallen Empire; the ability to have and benefit from relationship was seen in the original creation between Adam, Eve, and God. In the film, Beca discovers her own need for community and relationships after she tries to push everyone away.  After her main “fall” (a major fight with the leader of the singing group and also her love interest), she severs her central relationships and ends up feeling alone and without purpose. Although the film points to relationships with other people as the solution to loneliness, we have been learning that it is ultimately the investment in a relationship with God that will be able to fill us with joy.

Discussion Questions:

1.  In your opinion, is this an accurate representation of college life? How is it similar? How is it different?
2.  In what ways does the pursuit of personal success over everything else harm the mission of the Kingdom?
3. What are some of the pros and cons of being in community with other people, giving examples from either the movie or personal experience?

Ingrid Michaelson's Human Again

I recently listened to Ingrid Michaelson's newest album "Human Again" for my first cultural artifact. Because Ingrid is my favorite female artist I decided to go with something that I knew well. Music has always been my passion. I grew up with a musical family and they instilled in me a love for all types of music from hymns to indie folk. When I heard that Ingrid Michaelson was coming to Calvin I knew that I had to go (in fact I was so excited I think I was 7th in line to buy tickets!). Her fifth studio album "Human Again" was released in January 2012. Ingrid interviewed with saying "...I keep writing more songs so that's kind of a good thing, because I keep creating new things...". This album is a collection of her best skills: writing and creating music that speaks to most everyone that wants to hear it.
"Sitting in the back of the bus. Talkin' 'bout nothing, we were talkin' 'bout us. Watching as the world goes hammering on, hammering on" begins the song "Do it Now". This song talks about how the world is twisted up with idea that everything must be done right now. She repeats "Do it right now" many times throughout the song, hence the title. I believe that Ingrid wants to show us that everything can happen when it's supposed to. It does not have to be rushed because that is how the world is functioning now. Another song of note is "Blood Brothers". Even though many of the lyrics are repeated, it makes for a strong of message. I think Ingrid is trying to highlight s the fact that part of being human and having a purpose is to create relationships that connect us. Even though there is a lot of diversity and not one person is alike, it creates a sense of intentional togetherness. Eventually the kingdom of God will be formed and everyone that believes will be accepted. The intentional community will not be in vain.

• Does Ingrid Michaelson want to instill in us an idea that everyone is invited to partake in culture? 
• When do her lyrics seem pressing toward a direction of community and togetherness? 
• When does Ingrid's personal pain come out and seem to resonate with you (specifically in her hit "Ghost"?)

Cultural Artifact #1

For my first cultural artifact, I went and saw the SAO movie the “The Matrix”. This is a science fiction movie that came out back in 1999. The main character in this movie is named Neo who is a software programmer by day and a hacker by night. He has been searching for what the matrix is for the past two years. He is thrown into a situation in which he has to be the one to bring the matrix down.  The movie portrays the human race as blind and not able to do anything. They are living in a fake reality set up by an artificial intelligence. The humans are helpless and do not know the real truth but are just living in lies and illusions. What they think is real is actually not real and they are just looking through the frame and not the frame, which is the Matrix. The humans are blind because they cannot see past the Matrix or look at the Matrix. Neo has been found so that he will be able to stand against the agents who guard the Matrix. The movie reveals something crucial about the kingdom of God. God wants us to see that we are in bondage to sin and we need to see the truth but like the Matrix, some things are distorting our vision. Although the Matrix does not exist literally but figuratively, it does. In our lives and the Empire today, many are blinded and held back from being able to serve and be part of the kingdom of God. For a drug addict, drugs play as the Matrix and hold the addict back from being able to serve God and the kingdom. So there will always be something that can blind us and hold us back, so will we never reach the kingdom of God? In order to see what is holding us back we need to see what is blinding our vision but there are many times that we cannot see what we are doing wrong. Do you think that it is right to ask others to find the fault of one or should this be done individually and through prayer?

January Series - Half the Sky by Sheryl Wu Dunn

On Friday I went to the January Series lecture by Sheryl Wu Dunn in which she discussed some of what is covered in the book she and her husband wrote called Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide and told some fascinating and tragic stories of women from around the world and the challenges they face.

In both her book and her lecture, she started off with a Chinese proverb that says “Women hold up half the sky.” Though men and women both make up about half the population, she told us that in many third world countries, there are more men than women because women are treated as being inferior, often receive less health care, etc., and therefore have shorter life expectancies. Throughout American history, women have often been treated as being inferior to men, even today that is still true to an extent, but in the countries where Wu Dunn and her husband travelled, this sexism is much more apparent. The “Empire” tells stories of men’s superiority and women’s inferiority, but that is not how it should be. Wu Dunn talked about how many people blame poor women for the problems in their countries, but she suggests a better story: women are the solution. She told us the inspiring stories of girls and women from developing nations around the world and how they have overcome their challenges and started giving back to their communities in wonderful ways. So much evil can come from sexism and discriminating against and thinking women to be inferior. This artifact revealed just how much evil this story can produce, but also revealed that there is hope. With the right nutrition, medical help, education, etc., women truly can make a difference in this world. In the Kingdom of God, men and women are equal in God’s eyes, and they should be treated the same. Unfortunately that is not the case in today’s Empire, but there is hope for redemption.

Discussion questions:

What can we do to help women here and in other countries?

What can we do to make change for the better and try to prevent/end these stories of sexism, abuse, and discrimination?

Half the Sky, Sheryl WuDunn

On Friday I attended the January Series lecture featuring Sheryl WuDunn, one of the co-authors of the influential book, Half the Sky. The book tells the stories of oppression, gender based violence, and health problems many women face around the world, especially in developing and war-torn countries. WuDunn along with her husband Nicholas Kristof wrote this book using their gifts of journalism to bring attention to issues that are not normally talked about such as sex trafficking, and maternal mortality. The goal of the lecture in addition to the book is to bring awareness to the general public about these issues and bring about a movement to change and fight against the injustice many women face just because they are female. If you would like more information about the book, or topics visit: http://www.halftheskymovement.org/blog/P20 or you can view the PBS series based off this book (trailer is above). When looking at this lecture as a cultural artifact, it is very easy to see that this movement is trying to say that both men and women have an equal human purpose, and therefore both genders should be treated with respect. Women should be allowed to have education, and good nutrition just like the men in their villages. This book also highlights how many times our culture, or cultural attitudes can produce evil if individuals do not discern for themselves. For example the culture in some of these countries such as India, or the Congo, women live in a very patriarchal society. When women are not viewed as equal by the culture that can lead to families even selling off their own daughters into sex trafficking when if the daughter had the chance to become educated she would most likely be able to bring in more income through using her gifts to sell homemade goods, or by creating her own business. If individuals do not stop to process the cultural pressures around them it can be very easy to begin to see evil as normal, or acceptable which is very dangerous. Half the Sky and Sheryl WuDunn however do not leave the audience in despair but provide hope. Through many different solutions such as micro-lending, fair trade businesses, education, and supporting various aid organizations it is possible to further God's Kingdom and fight against the "Empire" of cultural lies, and standards. WuDunn left the audience with a great quote, "We have all won the lottery of life ..with that comes great responsibility."After learning all this information I am left with two questions. What are some other ways that we can help as students? What are my gifts that I can use to address this issue?

The Truman Show

On Monday, January 7, we'll be watching The Truman Show in class. At 14 years old now, The Truman Show has aged well and still offers insightful commentary on our society, with the burgeoning of reality TV shows and surveillance culture.

Here's a link to a review by Drew Trotter for Ransom Fellowship. The film received excellent critical reviews at the time it came out, which attests to the power of its satire, but here's a great review from the Chicago Reader that is a bit harder on the film (in a really good way) as it explores what it means if we ourselves are part of Truman's audience. Is the world of Truman's audience even worthy of redemption?

Also, here's a link to an article from the New York Times Magazine that relates to The Truman Show in an interesting way by commenting on our feelings about the deaths of reality TV show stars. The article is from a series, called "These American Lives," that appeared in the magazine on the extraordinary lives of ordinary people who died in 2011. Students in the class should note that this article is required reading for Monday, January 7.

Finally, here's a trailer for The Truman Show:

High, low, middle

Here's the My Brightest Diamond video we watched yesterday in class.  Hopefully you'll be able to see more of the playfulness of color she employs on your screen than we were able to view on the projector.  Plus, it's a fun song to listen to again and again!