Undercover Boss: Cultural Artifact #2

In Undercover Boss an owner of a large corporation works inside their business. The executives disguise themselves as someone unrecognizable. Lower level employee's take time to train their executive meanwhile the executive observes smaller details inside the manufacturing process as well as the employee's personal lives.
I watched a episode starring one of the biggest names in golf, Taylormade as well as the companies CEO (Mark King). Mark is a divorced 53 year old with two daughters ages 16 and 20. During the beginning of the episode, Mark spent time doing homework and talking with his youngest daughter. I could see how much Mark valued his daughters and how important family was to him despite being divorced. He expressed optimism towards his past divorce because his past marriage brought his two daughters into existence. I think family is too often taken for granted amidst the chase for materialistic things. Despite being the CEO of a large corporation, Mark still kept his family as his top priority through ending his day at 5 every evening to invest his time in his family. Divorce is always viewed as a bad thing in society, but good came from Mark's past relationship. Mark brings redemption to his family by creating relationships with his daughters and maintaing a family despite the loss of one member.
One of Mark's employee's dropped out of college at 19 to help fight his uninsured mom's financial battle against skin cancer. When Mark discovered the sacrifices his employee made for his family, he was hit hard. Mark choked up and shed a tear as he imagined what it would be like for his own children to sacrifice their future for him. Later on the employee was in shock when he found it he was training his very own CEO. Mark recognized a need in someone else's life and he provided financial resources for his employee to go back to school as well as paying for his mother's medical bills. Cancer presented itself to a mother, and Mark helped to redeem a family after a large financial loss.
    1. Corporations are often times too large to know their employee's personal lives, but how can they show appreciation towards all levels of employee's in their business?
    2. How can God's kingdom be advanced through customer satisfaction between a company and a consumer?

Cultural Artifact 2 - The Bachelor

For my second artifact, I chose to analyze an episode of ABC’s The Bachelor. This reality TV show follows the experiences of Sean Lowe as he dates a total of 26 girls, eliminating a few each week until he is left with one girl, to whom he proposes in a romantic and slightly-cheesy season finale. The show encourages competition between the girls and is known for its dramatic twists.

In essence, this show is a chance at redemption for Sean Lowe, as he was previously rejected on the last season of The Bachelorette. He reportedly had his heart broken by Bachelorette Emily, but now that he has recovered, he is ready to find love again, much to the entertainment of the public (and myself).

The entire purpose of the show is centered on finding a wife for Bachelor Sean, indicating that one of the only ways you can be fulfilled is through a relationship, particularly marriage. Most of the contestants come on the show and gush about love, relationships, and how they see Sean as the perfect man for them (this is all during one-on-one interviews with the contestants).  When those girls get sent home, it is like their whole world comes crashing down, as if this prospect of a relationship was their one chance at happiness. Whether this is actually how the girls feel or simply the manipulation of the producers, it sends a message. The focus on relationships encourages viewers to see their life as incomplete unless they have a partner. In addition, the large budget of the show also allows for extravagant dates and locations, creating excitement and “romance”. The show sets up what an ideal dating experience would look like, and it may cause viewer to see their own relationships as insufficient because they do not live up to the excitement depicted in the show. It supports the idea that people should only be in a relationship if it comes naturally and is exciting for you, a framework prevalent in today’s empire and thought to be one of the leading causes of divorce.

One of the things that concerns me the most about this show is the commodification of love. These are real people on the show, with real feelings, and if only one out of 26 girls will be chosen, what message does that send to the other 25 girls? That they aren’t pretty enough? Aren’t smart enough? Aren’t good enough? The Bachelor has taken something as sacred as falling in love and made it into a spectacle for the entertainment of millions, manipulating people’s emotions and feelings all for the sake of ratings and business. This is the business of the Empire.

Over the past few years, there has also been some skepticism and criticism concerning the producers of the show. A recent article I read indicated that producers intentionally encouraged the contestants to get drunk on specific occasions in order to create a more dramatic show. And, as with all reality TV, we know that any story can be spun with the vast amounts of footage they obtain. It leaves me, and any other critical mind in the audience questioning, “How real is this?” The power that the producers have to create and manipulate any person, event, or story they want can be dangerous to the millions of viewers; they could basically sell us any message they want. And usually, that message is about the commodification of love.

I would also like to note the glamour that is extremely obvious in the show. Every show, the girls dress up in very fancy and often revealing dresses that are obviously designed to attract attention. They also stay in a very luxurious mansion as housemates, complete with pool, hot tub, bar, and other accessories. The lavish lifestyle depicted in the show ties directly into the theme of consumption and wealth as the two main goals of the empire. This is reinforced by the tons of ads directed at women during the commercial break, as if to say, if you buy this product, you will be fulfilled and can have the lavish lifestyle you see before you. All of the fun the girls seem to have in the house and with Sean entice the viewers to want a similar lifestyle, one that is only achieved through consumption and wealth.

However, there are some positive aspects to the show. This year especially, the Bachelor, Sean, is known to be a genuine guy who values family and traditional Christian morals. He has stated multiple times that he is not looking for simply a physically attractive woman; he is looking for someone with a good heart and sense of humor. This is especially seen in his interactions with women of different ethnicities and a woman with a physical disability (she only has one are). All of these women are contestants and he treats them all the same, valuing them as unique individuals, being open to a relationship with all, and getting to know each woman on a personal level. He even admitted that he doesn’t have a physical type when it comes to women, a very rare trait in today’s empire. He appears to truly value who a woman is rather than what she looks like, which is a genuine reflection of Kingdom values. God values each person simply because he created them, and he desires a personal relationship with everyone. Obviously God is the only one who is able to do this perfectly, but I feel like Sean is making an excellent attempt to show how we should treat one another.

Discussion Questions:

1.       Why are we so attracted to reality TV drama while most people avoid drama in real life?

2.       Is it considered appropriate for a Christian guy like Sean to be participating in the Bachelor (if he is truly a Christian)? Why or why not?

Doctor Who season 4 episode 3: Planet of the Ood

Doctor Who is a TV show about the doctor, an alien who travels time and space. In this episode, he and Donna Noble land on the planet where the Ood are bred in the year 4126. The Ood are a race modified by man to act as perfect slaves, and are now revolting.

This episode helps us to see slavery in a new perspective. One of the things clearly depicted is the difference between what the Ood really are and what humans stubbornly think of them. The Ood are advertised as creatures coming from a far off planet with only one purpose: to serve. But this is only the result of a trade secret: the Ood’s external brain is cut off and replaced with a speaking device. Multiple times during the shows, comments are made on the fact that some people know this and don't care, and the rest simply don't ask: they prefer to live the lives of ignorance that the empire suggests. 

This situation is very similar to the situation of sweatshops in our world today. This is even mentioned in the episode: the doctor makes Donna realize this by asking her who made her clothes. At first it would seem that the purpose of humans is to expand their power by any means necessary; but by the end, the Doctor shifts that purpose to caring about other people and races and essentially fighting for shalom.

In the end of the episode, the Ood decide to redeem the life of the CEO of the Ood factory by transforming him into an Ood instead of killing him. I find that in this way they show a kingdom way of life by showing mercy while still obtaining their own safety.

How effective is showing the plight of alien creatures in making us realize how bad the situation of slavery is on our planet?

More importantly, what are some what we can help fight slavery today, which is much more rampant than we like to think ?

Weird is the new normal

The Bachelorette is movie directed and written by Leslye Headland. It is a comic twist of what the reality of an American has become to be. The movie centers in three friends that have been asked to be bridesmaids of the “last member of their clique” in high school. Reagan (a perfectionist and jealous friend), Gena (a sarcastic rebel) and Katie (a not-very-book-smart girl) while mocking Becky (the soon-to-be-wife)for being a plus-size, they break the wedding dress hours previous to the ceremony which leads them to go through a series of “adventures” involving drugs, sex and love. The movie shows that the empire has been controlling us in a way that makes us believe that if we do the “right things” – go to school , have an education, be beautiful in the societal limits, be a size 00… we will find someone to get married; even though, that is obviously not how you find someone to love. Even though the movie itself was the typical American movie where the characters do all these "messed up" things to fix something they did wrong, it makes you reflex on how people have been influencing you in a way that you say to yourself, “you are not perfect, you need to be more perfect or else you’ll end up alone.” Not only does the empire encourage us to distortion the beauty that God has gifted us, but also to make the not-right-things “the norm”. For example, the movie portrays sex before marriage as a completely normal thing, Why? Because in the twenty first century fornication is being practiced by many, even Christians; majority wins, right?  Also, even though the characters did drugs, no real police men were found addressing the problem. Although the messages: love always wins; everyone is beautiful the way they are; there are still gentlemen in the world, but also “jerks”; if a door closes, there is always a window opened, etc. were developed, other issues of the real world were shown as normal things , although they are really important and sensitive problems (sex before marriage, adultery, abortion, swearing, stealing, prostitution, racism, etc.) But there is a catch, even though the empire wants to monopolize our imagination (believing either that there is only one way to serve God and that Christians should act a certain-determined way or that there is no God and we are "free" to do whatever we want to) we should always remember that God wants us to use our "weird" imagination to glorify His name in different ways according to the talents He has given us -which are all different.
As I said before, the actual message of the story is good, but do you think that because of that all the other “bad things” can be justified? Do you feel like society has been pressuring to be a certain way? Knowing this, would you keep being influenced by narrow-minded standards? 

trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aXt6qV4WoA

review: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20483133_20620160,00.html

Cultural Artifact 2 | The Words

This weekend I watched The Words, originally shown at Sundance Film Festival; a romantic, mysterious and suspenseful drama about a young writer by the name of Rory Jansen, played by Bradley Cooper, who finally achieves his life goal of finally writing a book that a printing house will publish. The only catch is that he didn't write it; instead he found it hidden inside of an old briefcase that he finds in an old antique shop. As his eminence rises and his novel skyrockets in the bestselling ladder, the truth haunts him when the elderly, original writer confronts his actions.

Typically I'm not one for romantic movies, given that they’re unrealistic and entail foreseen events that are idealized for the 21^st century couple. Instead, The Words captures problems that every writer, publishing house, suffering relationship and distressed pasts undergo.

Redemption plays a glacial role in this movie. Lying and guilt transform into content, demanding viewer interaction with the morals involved. Through layers of history interpretation, the culture of the two faded into more of a “let it be” mentality between Rory and the nameless “old man” (the original writer), played by Jeremy Irons. The old man at first comes off as threatening, like Christianity seems to most people, but with time and workability, the words he was writing, for the woman he loved counted for the both of them, for both of their losses. I believe that this movie connects with the class because of the cultural pull-strings that the empire inhibits upon us to steal anything that is inspirational to us and call it our own, instead of making things our own for God’s kingdom, as Crouch asserts in chapter one, page 25 of Culture Making, “Culture is not just what human beings make of the world, it is not just the way human beings make sense of the world; it is in fact part of the world that every human being has to make something of.”

1. Does enlightenment sometimes provide irrational decisions?

2. In The Words, Rory had gone months with writer's block and printing houses denying him the approval of publishing his work. Why do we sometimes feel entitled to sin when things seem impossible?

Perks of Being a Wallflower: Seeing the Kingdom

            The movie Perks of Being a Wallflower was a flawless tale of overcoming the empire. It is the story of a young man named Charlie starting his first year of high school. Trauma and the loss of his best friend do not make this an easy journey for Charlie; he spends the beginning of the year alone until he meets Patrick and Sam who welcome him to “the island of misfit toys”.  This film reinforces the repeated message of the Bible: caring for others. It is human nature to need others, after all no man is an island. Throughout the movie, the characters cry out for the kingdom as they try to escape the suffering of the empire. This is evident when Charlie and Sam ask why the people they love allow people to treat them badly, to which a teacher responds that people accept the love they think they deserve. We all accept what big corporations, advertisers, the “matrix” tell us is true rather than search for more—the kingdom.

The origin of evil and sin is being numb to the pain of others. Charlie is tormented at school (call him names, rip his book, etc.), Patrick is harassed for his sexual orientation, Sam is used by guys, and the list goes on. As Christians, we are called to help each other; yet, the people in Charlie’s life are continually hurt by the system of the empire. However, the film does not leave us feeling as if the grasp of the empire is inescapable; it leaves us with hope. Charlie struggled throughout the movie, but with the support of his friends, he becomes a stronger person. At the end of the film, we are left with the feeling that there is hope in the world, hope for moving toward the kingdom of God.

 Redemption comes from community. Though Charlie and his friends have troubled pasts and continue to struggle through life, their friendship helps them. Twice while with friends, Charlie speaks of being infinite. I think this is code for the kingdom. The kingdom exists inside the turmoil of the empire and, with the support of his friends, Charlie stumbles on the path towards the kingdom. He becomes infinite through the kingdom. Charlie subverts the ruling authority by leaving the comfort of the empire. During the scene where Charlie is in the hospital, the doctor asks Charlie to let her help him and Charlie agrees. He leaves the denial of the empire in order to face the truth and uncover the path to the kingdom.

1)      How can we help others subvert the empire?

2)      Do you think that there is still hope in the world?

Macklemore Is Poppin' More Than Tags

Macklemore (Formerly Professor Macklemore) is the stage name for Ben Haggerty. Haggerty is an American rap artist who has been releasing music since 2000, but whose popularity has risen significantly in the last few years. His most recent and most popular single "Thrift Shop" has almost 60 million hits on Youtube. Macklemore is an artist who boldly creates music regarding issues such as consumerism, homosexuality, and the destructive mass media culture America lives in.

I would like to bring to light  Macklemore's song, "Wings" because its lyrics have to do exactly with what we have been examining in class- the dominating consumerism culture within America.

Here is the link to the music video:
Wings: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAg3uMlNyHA

"Wings" is a real life throwback told through the eyes of Macklemore as a child growing up in the 90s. The lies of the empire that name brand logos are what define us and that in order to be cool and fit in one must succumb to the price tags of the most expensive commodities are experienced first hand as young Macklemore lets his Nike shoes become his very identity. Macklemore gives voice to one of the ironic foundations of the empire, that when we buy things in order to "stand out" and be "our own person" what we are really doing is simply verifying that the empire has captivated our imaginations. This realization is prominent in lines such as

"I'm an individual, yea, but I'm part of a movement
My movement told me be a consumer and I consumed it
They told me to just do it, I listened to what that swoosh said"

The kingdom is ever present in this work as Macklemore grows up and the song begins to be told through his current eyes; Macklemore challenges everything about the culture around him. He admits that he feels "strangled by these laces" and the oppressive consumerist mindset of the world surrounding him. He mocks the media who suggest that he isn't allowed to crease his shoes or even take them out of their box for fear of dirtying them.

I think the most prevalent display of the Kingdom in this song is found in the lines:

"But see I look inside the mirror and think Phil Knight tricked us all
Will I stand for change, or stay in my box
These Nikes help me define me, but I'm trying to take mine, off"

Macklemore is downright treasonous when he names Nike's founder as an agent of the empire and after wondering to himself whether he will dare to take a stand and make a change in his life, symbolically declares that he wants his Nikes off. Macklemore wants his imagination liberated.

Macklemore suggests that in America we are raised as slaves to the empire of consumerism. He talks about his first-hand experience with the pain that obsession with commodities causes. He challenges the motives of the corporations selling us our "dreams" and goes so far as to call one of them out by name. He admits his on-going struggle with prioritizing "stuff" over what is really important in life. Is this not exactly what we have been doing in class? Macklemore is not a Christian, but I think God is nevertheless working in him to give voice to the Kingdom.


Why do you think Macklemore singles out the Nike corporation in his attack on the consumerist economy in America?

Do you think that God uses non-Christians to bring light to his Kingdom?

Why do you thing Macklemore begins this song through the eyes of a child? He also uses a children's choir to sing the chorus of this song, what impact does that have on the meaning of the song? What impact does it have on us, the listeners?

Cultural Artifact 2- Crash

"It's the sense of touch. In any real city, you walk, you know? You brush past people, people bump into you. In L.A., nobody touches you. We're always behind this metal and glass. I think we miss that touch so much, that we crash into each other, just so we can feel something." Do we feel this way? Do we really feel at all? Do we operate on prejudice, ingrained in our sense of morality?

The movie Crash provides a beautiful narrative of a 36-hour struggle of hate, disgust, prejudice, heroism, forgiveness, fear, love, sacrifice, and discrimination. The star studded cast of the film tells the stories of officers of the racially motivated L.A.P.D, the white district attorney of Los Angeles, a black detective, a black film director, a Persian shop owner, and a Hispanic working-class lock repairman. In a twist of fate decisions are placed before each character depicting how we shape our lives and the lives of others by our hermeneutic. This powerful film won the 2005 academy awards for best picture, achievement in editing, and best screenplay, as well as 50 other awards and 74 nominations. 

In this movie great pain was shown by all of the characters. Because of this, lives were saved and lost at the same time. We were shown that indifference to equality on any level is avoidable for only so long and that motivations really do matter. But it is the result of the crash between volatile cast that cuts to the core of the humanity that supersedes us all. It is such that is a resultant of referencing the Kingdom of God, the singularity and universality of morality. Power, raw and to some degree, infinite in scope is shown to us in both the good and the bad. We are shown that we always have a choice and that those choices always matter. The praxis of each character was never simplistic, it provided questions for examining our heremeneutical foundation and how it came to be. It is for this that the Kingdom is being called in this film, there is a calling to view specifically human beings with equality regardless of what we consider contingent circumstances. 

John Mayer: Continuum

A lot of people turn to music when they want to express their feelings in a stronger way. Released on September 9, 2006, Continuum is John Mayer's third album. Containing many nationwide hit songs such as "Waiting on the world to change," "Gravity," "Vultures," and more, this album showed a change in John Mayer's work as this album was thought to be more of a blues and soul compared to his previous albums of pop-rock. Although some of his songs in this album reveals life through the kingdom of God, most of his songs reveals life through the empire. For example "Waiting on the world to change" reveals about life in both ways. John Mayer and his friends have awakened and are able to see things from different perspectives. They know that the government controls power by using the military to enforce certain things and uses the media to bend the truth and hide their doings. However, what they fail to do in this song is to take action. Instead they are at a distance staring at the world and waiting for the world to change. Even though they have become aware of the empire, they are still trapped in the system, feeling powerless to make a change. One of his other songs, "Your Body is a Wonderland" reveals life through the empire. This song is mainly about him having sex with his girlfriend. What's sad about this song is that it shows that in order for songs to sell better it has to attract people. Our society has become one that we are attracted more to the empire and by the empire here I mean sex. Sex was created by God to be a good thing but the empire has distorted it. This has become apparent in us because as we hear the word "sex" we feel at least a little bit of discomfort. This album reached 2nd on the U.S Billboard 200 chart, but it never reached 1st because it got impeded by Justin Timberlake's album FutureSex/LoveSounds, released at the same time. I remember this quote from this movie called "the Chronicle." In this movie when one guy tells the other that he didn't ever have sex, the other guy says to him "how can you be this cool?" Sex has become distorted so much in our society and in the U.S. particularly that a stereotype has been established among teenagers that you can't be "cool" without having sex. It has become strange to not have sex. I remember in Biology class when studying diseases, seeing the statistics of sexual intercourse happening between students in an average American public high school. It was crazy how it turned out. It wasn't strange for someone to have had sex with at least 3 or 4 different people. It is easy to say the John Mayer speaks to people with differing intensities. Although some of his songs don't have a particular meaning, there aren't many artists who are able to point out problems in society like John Mayer does with songs like "Waiting on the world to change".

Discussion questions:
1. What kind of music do you listen to and do you ever think about the lyrics and the song's meanings?

2. Is it even possible to produce music that reveals life through the kingdom of God that the general audience will find it attractive? Why or why not?

All Time Low

           Last night, my friend and I went to a Yellowcard and All Time Low concert.  We waited outside in the freezing cold for over an hour!  Once in, we managed to get fairly close to the front.  For the little-known opening band, it was a bit crowded but nothing intolerable.  However, once Yellowcard came to the stage, the area became an intense and hazardous mosh pit. 

            Looking back on it, I wonder how people reacted when they heard Jesus speak.  Did they violently push and shove, trying desperately to get to the front—like how fans were when Yellowcard and All Time Low were on stage?  Why can people, Christians included, become so enthusiastic over events in the empire but not so much over events in the Kingdom of God?  At least in my experience, I have never seen people rushing to church, vying for the front row. 

            Something else I noticed during the concert was how crude the lead singer for All Time Low was.  In the moment, I thought he was hilarious and I laughed loudly with everyone else and enjoyed the whole concert thoroughly (aside from being pushed and shoved like a rag doll).  However, I know that I would not have wanted my parents or my pastor to hear anything that was said last night.  How can there be such a division in my life?  How can I enjoy parts of the empire yet still strive to be part of the Kingdom?  Why do I try to serve two masters, even though the Bible vehemently stresses that I cannot? 

             1.     Can Christians strive for the Kingdom while still enjoying parts of the empire?

             2.     Is it wrong for Christians to partake in the empire, appreciating the talent that God gives musicians?