Every artist I know struggles with how the popular culture interacts with their art. Those who create visual art like paintings or literary art like poetry find the masses quite impatient and largely unwilling to spend any real time digesting or reflecting on the power of the art they've spent months creating.
In short, popular media has largely eliminated the instropective power of art to resonate within our souls and provoke us to reflect on deeper questions of faith, life, love and beauty. We're a sound bite culture. We're looking for music that rocks, fiction that tittilates, art that pops and poetry that reads like clever marketing copy. We're not looking for an opportunity to allow art to saturate our minds, resonate in our souls, probe our motives or reveal our inconsistencies.
People forget that U2's Josua Tree was their sixth record, not their first. It took them that long to invade the psyche of the average music fan. Even then, most of those who did embrace that dark snapshot of American consciousness did so because of a video they saw on MTV or perhaps the catchy melody of "With or Without You" got stuck in their heads. Many who purchased that seminal record failed to follow the band beyond the "Rattle and Hum" era and by the time "Achtung Baby" hit the shelves and the airwaves they had long since moved on to other musical soundscapes.
As someone who discovered U2 through a borrowed "Unforgettable Fire" album, I have to confess that it has taken repeated listens to fully appreciate the more recent catalog of the band. However, that process of slow dissemination is one of the reasons I so dearly love the band and their music.
I remember the first time I heard "The Fly". I had waited in front of my television set for two hours waiting for MTV to launch the "World Premiere" video of their new single from their hotly anticipated "Achtung Baby" Cd. When the song finished I remember blinking my eyes and saying to myself, "They've lost their minds".
My opinion didn't change much the evening I first heard the Cd in its entirety. I really only liked two of the songs ("One" and "So Cruel") and the rest I thought was a feeble attempt to be cool. However, as I continued to listen and translate the lyrics I found myself listening to this disc almost exclusively. Today it's still my all-time favorite U2 album, hands down.
Simply put, the average U2 song, and album, requires multiple listens to fully appreciate and that can be a dangerous thing in our sound bite culture. Even for someone who is predisposed to purchase everything they ever record, (and I nearly have), the first-time listen through their new music can be less than convincing.
The first time I heard "Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own" the band was playing it on Saturday Night Live just weeks before the "Atomic Bomb" Cd released. My wife and I listened to the lyrics and feared that Bono and his wife must have gotten a divorce. "And it's you when I don't pick up the phone. Sometimes you can't make it on your own." However, I later learned that this song was written for his dying father. Suddenly the song took on new, and profound meaning.
When I heard "Until The End of the World" for the first time I only heard a song they had written for another mediocre Wim Wenders movie. Later, when I heard Bono explain that it was sung from the point of view of Judas singing to Jesus after his betrayal the song became poignant beyond words and now I love it dearly.
The first listen through the "All That You Can't Leave Behind" album left me cold. However, after a dozen listens I found I couldn't make it through "Walk On" and "Kite" without tearing up. And even now I am still discovering new things to love about some of their songs that I've heard hundreds of times.
Because of this, I find it's best that I not attempt to review the new U2 Cd, "No Line On the Horizon" just yet. I've heard it online now about 3 times. The first time I heard the single "Get On Your Boots" I loved the music but the lyrics left me cold. I mean, seriously, "Get on your boots? Your sexy boots." Nothing close to the usual lyrical finesse found in their previous rock standards like "Elevation", "Vertigo" or even "Discoteque". But then I saw the video for the song and it shed new light on the song and the meaning behind it (which I now take to be the empowerment of women).
So, until after I've listend to the new U2 record a few hundred times I reserve the right not to review it or comment on how much I love, or don't love, their new songs.
Peace,
Keith
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art. Show all posts
Monday, March 02, 2009
Friday, February 20, 2009
RE-POST: CONSUMPTION, EXPRESSION, IDENTITY
CONSUMPTION, EXPRESSION, IDENTITY
By Keith Giles
As a society, we are conditioned to find our identity in what we own or purchase. As Christians, we are conditioned to express our faith through the sanctified products we purchase, own or consume. This is the perversion of Christ into Capitalism and an expression of faith through consumption of products. It is wrong.
A good friend sent me an article he found that provided an intriguing historical perspective on our evolution from artisans to consumers. I've pulled out the quotes I found most fascinating below:
"A Short History of Consumption
With the rise of the Industrial Revolution, the relationship between people and the goods that they made was broken. No longer did peasants plant, tend, and harvest their crops; now agricultural workers labored over someone else’s crops in exchange for wages. No longer did artisans design, plan, craft, and sell; now factory workers repeatedly carried out a single step in the production of a product, again in exchange for wages."
"In short, people were no longer producers, they were now consumers."
"Our identities were no longer tied up with the work we did, but with the buying power our work left us with."
"So people found their identities not in their work but in the things they could buy by working."
"People became consumers, not just in the way they got what they needed but in who they felt themselves to be."
"Unlike the artisan who could express his or her identity through the things s/he created, we have learned to do so through the things we buy"
*Full article HERE
**
The entire article is mainly looking at consumption from an environmental impact perspective, but the points made about our lifelong indoctrination to consumerism as a society are very eye-opening to me. Especially in light of the ongoing series of articles I've been writing lately regarding the evils of the Christian Subculture over on my weekly e-newsletter [Subversive Underground].
Here's what I think we need to understand, as followers of Jesus, regarding the observations made in this article above.
CONSUMPTION IS SELF-EXPRESSION
We, as a society, have made consuming and purchasing products part of our identity structure. This is why people will fork out $30 for a t-shirt with some corporate logo and walk around as a billboard for them, not because they love that company or product, not because of their loyalty to the brand, but because they think that logo makes THEM look cool. It says something about them, and so they willingly become walking advertising...and they PAY for the privilege. Amazing.
CHRISTIAN IDENTITY
Honestly, this really does help me to formulate a clear picture of what's going on in the Christian subculture. We're finding our identity as "Christians" in the products we purchase. These products brand us and identify us as a subset of people. Instead of finding our identity in Christ by the way we relate to Him daily, obey His teachings, and emulate His example of service and unconditional love, we now identify ourselves as Christians by our t-shirts, bumper stickers, books and CD collections.
ARTISTS AND CONSUMPTION/IDENTITY/EXPRESSION
It's also fascinating how this shift in our society stems from the devaluing of artisans in our culture. People now express themselves by what they own or purchase more than by what they create with their hands or their imaginations. Artists within our society are influenced by this consumerist identity structure. Artists of faith are compelled to create art that can be sold, or that conforms to the acceptable Christian marketplace. Art in this context is devoid of pure self-expression, unless that expression conforms to the acceptable branding and messaging of the sacred market.
More from the article:
"The rise of consumption as our primary interaction with the rest of our society has had profound effects. For example, social status is obtained and marked by the things we buy and use. A car, for instance, is not just a way to get from one place to another but has to “say something” about who we are — and even the lack of a car says volumes. Unlike the artisan who could express his or her identity through the things s/he created, we have learned to do so through the things we buy: the t-shirt with the logo of our band or team, the bamboo towels that show our environmental commitments, the alternative album that shows off our indie cred, the designer shoes that place us as part of the trend-setting elite, the minivan that shows us to be part of the dependable, hard-working, family-oriented suburban middle class, and so on."
SUBCULTURE AND IDENTITY
The Christian Subculture has a market. That market embraces a brand. That brand has a message connected to it. That message serves the market and encourages ongoing participation in that market. It means providing reasons to continue purchasing these products day after day and week after week. The market serves itself. It exists to keep itself in business.
The Christian Subculture provides an oasis made of soothing products that help us escape from the Big Bad World that is "Out There". It's a sacred version of "Calgon-Take Me Away!" only our message is more pervasive. It's not just one soothing bath to calm our fears of being trapped in a world of sin, it's music and movies and clothing and books and toys and key chains and license plate frames and decals and candy and pens and pretty much every conceivable object and piece of product that can ever be branded with our message. It's nearly a complete world unto itself, and it's exactly what Jesus prayed to God would never happen to us. (see John 17:15)
THE CART THAT PULLS THE HORSE
I'm not against art or music or expressions of faith. Most of my favorite musicians are believers and their music contains references to our Lord and to faith in Him. Many of my friends are Artists who paint and sculpt and create art to communicate a Kingdom reality. The issue is not that creating art or any sincere expression of devotion to Christ is wrong. What is evil is the marketplace we've created to showcase product. In the beginning the market existed to serve the Art, now the Art exists to serve the marketplace. We have lost focus. Making money is now the main objective. Evangelism or edification or worship is secondary at best, if considered at all.
During my six years in the Christian Music Industry I slowly began to realize the sickness of it all. At first I saw the industry as a way to spread the Gospel and to provide a voice for talented musicians of faith. But soon I realized that it didn't matter if your music ministry was responsible for leading thousands to Christ each year. What mattered was record sales. If your CD's weren't selling at least 20,000 units per sales cycle you'd be dropped from the label in a heartbeat. It was, after all, a Record BUSINESS, and like every business making money and selling product is the very bottom line. Ministry is incidental, and sadly only useful in the context of marketing the product to your target audience, in order to drive more sales.
Like the money-changers in front of the Temple that Jesus chased away with a whip, the original idea was a good one; To provide animals for sacrifice so that people could enter the Temple and participate in the worship of God. However, when money got in the way the original vision was corrupted and the Temple became a marketplace which obscured access for the common man and made a mockery of real worship. The same is true today.
BACK TO JESUS
The tension still remains between the clear command of our Lord to "Go into all the world.." and a subculture that bears His Name, yet encourages a full retreat from the World and identifies membership based on purchasing the acceptable, branded product. The product carries a message that we should fear those outside of our group. It encourages non-involvement with the culture. It makes minimizing contact with those outside the subculture a preferable reality.
If Jesus modeled radical inclusion and commanded us to be known by our love for everyone, especially those who hate us, and a subculture emerges with His Name on it that encourages us to be radically exclusive and creates behavior by which we are known for our intolerance, hatred and condemnation of those outside our group, we must make a choice. Do we choose Jesus or do we choose the man-made subculture with his Name on it?
I choose Jesus.
If Jesus clearly teaches something, and another organization or person teaches the exact opposite we call that "Anti-Christ". To me it's plainly obvious that the Christian Subculture is "Anti-Christ" because it contradicts His message of inclusion, involvement and meaningful relationships with sinners.
I've said it before and I say it again; "Death to the Christian Subculture!"
BRINGING A CHANGE
Where can we fashion a whip and drive out the money-changers from the Temple? It's difficult because we now deal with this on a massive scale. Participation in this market-driven Christian Subculture is pervasive and intangible. There is no physical structure to kick over. There is no clear method for applying the whip necessary to drive them out.
All we can really do is to begin, one person at a time, to disassociate ourselves with this subculture. Stop participating. Stop identifying yourself as a follower of Jesus based on your purchases. Stop pandering to what the Christian Marketplace finds acceptable and palatable. Make Jesus your single source of Truth. Ask God to show you where you have replaced a Jesus way of life with a carefully branded subculture way of life. Escape the false notions of "Sacred" and "Secular" and just start living, as a disciple of Jesus, in this World (the only World), right now.
I declare a personal War against the Christian Subculture.
kg
**
NOTE: Originally published here in October, 2007 and republished here for your edification.
By Keith Giles
As a society, we are conditioned to find our identity in what we own or purchase. As Christians, we are conditioned to express our faith through the sanctified products we purchase, own or consume. This is the perversion of Christ into Capitalism and an expression of faith through consumption of products. It is wrong.
A good friend sent me an article he found that provided an intriguing historical perspective on our evolution from artisans to consumers. I've pulled out the quotes I found most fascinating below:
"A Short History of Consumption
With the rise of the Industrial Revolution, the relationship between people and the goods that they made was broken. No longer did peasants plant, tend, and harvest their crops; now agricultural workers labored over someone else’s crops in exchange for wages. No longer did artisans design, plan, craft, and sell; now factory workers repeatedly carried out a single step in the production of a product, again in exchange for wages."
"In short, people were no longer producers, they were now consumers."
"Our identities were no longer tied up with the work we did, but with the buying power our work left us with."
"So people found their identities not in their work but in the things they could buy by working."
"People became consumers, not just in the way they got what they needed but in who they felt themselves to be."
"Unlike the artisan who could express his or her identity through the things s/he created, we have learned to do so through the things we buy"
*Full article HERE
**
The entire article is mainly looking at consumption from an environmental impact perspective, but the points made about our lifelong indoctrination to consumerism as a society are very eye-opening to me. Especially in light of the ongoing series of articles I've been writing lately regarding the evils of the Christian Subculture over on my weekly e-newsletter [Subversive Underground].
Here's what I think we need to understand, as followers of Jesus, regarding the observations made in this article above.
CONSUMPTION IS SELF-EXPRESSION
We, as a society, have made consuming and purchasing products part of our identity structure. This is why people will fork out $30 for a t-shirt with some corporate logo and walk around as a billboard for them, not because they love that company or product, not because of their loyalty to the brand, but because they think that logo makes THEM look cool. It says something about them, and so they willingly become walking advertising...and they PAY for the privilege. Amazing.
CHRISTIAN IDENTITY
Honestly, this really does help me to formulate a clear picture of what's going on in the Christian subculture. We're finding our identity as "Christians" in the products we purchase. These products brand us and identify us as a subset of people. Instead of finding our identity in Christ by the way we relate to Him daily, obey His teachings, and emulate His example of service and unconditional love, we now identify ourselves as Christians by our t-shirts, bumper stickers, books and CD collections.
ARTISTS AND CONSUMPTION/IDENTITY/EXPRESSION
It's also fascinating how this shift in our society stems from the devaluing of artisans in our culture. People now express themselves by what they own or purchase more than by what they create with their hands or their imaginations. Artists within our society are influenced by this consumerist identity structure. Artists of faith are compelled to create art that can be sold, or that conforms to the acceptable Christian marketplace. Art in this context is devoid of pure self-expression, unless that expression conforms to the acceptable branding and messaging of the sacred market.
More from the article:
"The rise of consumption as our primary interaction with the rest of our society has had profound effects. For example, social status is obtained and marked by the things we buy and use. A car, for instance, is not just a way to get from one place to another but has to “say something” about who we are — and even the lack of a car says volumes. Unlike the artisan who could express his or her identity through the things s/he created, we have learned to do so through the things we buy: the t-shirt with the logo of our band or team, the bamboo towels that show our environmental commitments, the alternative album that shows off our indie cred, the designer shoes that place us as part of the trend-setting elite, the minivan that shows us to be part of the dependable, hard-working, family-oriented suburban middle class, and so on."
SUBCULTURE AND IDENTITY
The Christian Subculture has a market. That market embraces a brand. That brand has a message connected to it. That message serves the market and encourages ongoing participation in that market. It means providing reasons to continue purchasing these products day after day and week after week. The market serves itself. It exists to keep itself in business.
The Christian Subculture provides an oasis made of soothing products that help us escape from the Big Bad World that is "Out There". It's a sacred version of "Calgon-Take Me Away!" only our message is more pervasive. It's not just one soothing bath to calm our fears of being trapped in a world of sin, it's music and movies and clothing and books and toys and key chains and license plate frames and decals and candy and pens and pretty much every conceivable object and piece of product that can ever be branded with our message. It's nearly a complete world unto itself, and it's exactly what Jesus prayed to God would never happen to us. (see John 17:15)
THE CART THAT PULLS THE HORSE
I'm not against art or music or expressions of faith. Most of my favorite musicians are believers and their music contains references to our Lord and to faith in Him. Many of my friends are Artists who paint and sculpt and create art to communicate a Kingdom reality. The issue is not that creating art or any sincere expression of devotion to Christ is wrong. What is evil is the marketplace we've created to showcase product. In the beginning the market existed to serve the Art, now the Art exists to serve the marketplace. We have lost focus. Making money is now the main objective. Evangelism or edification or worship is secondary at best, if considered at all.
During my six years in the Christian Music Industry I slowly began to realize the sickness of it all. At first I saw the industry as a way to spread the Gospel and to provide a voice for talented musicians of faith. But soon I realized that it didn't matter if your music ministry was responsible for leading thousands to Christ each year. What mattered was record sales. If your CD's weren't selling at least 20,000 units per sales cycle you'd be dropped from the label in a heartbeat. It was, after all, a Record BUSINESS, and like every business making money and selling product is the very bottom line. Ministry is incidental, and sadly only useful in the context of marketing the product to your target audience, in order to drive more sales.
Like the money-changers in front of the Temple that Jesus chased away with a whip, the original idea was a good one; To provide animals for sacrifice so that people could enter the Temple and participate in the worship of God. However, when money got in the way the original vision was corrupted and the Temple became a marketplace which obscured access for the common man and made a mockery of real worship. The same is true today.
BACK TO JESUS
The tension still remains between the clear command of our Lord to "Go into all the world.." and a subculture that bears His Name, yet encourages a full retreat from the World and identifies membership based on purchasing the acceptable, branded product. The product carries a message that we should fear those outside of our group. It encourages non-involvement with the culture. It makes minimizing contact with those outside the subculture a preferable reality.
If Jesus modeled radical inclusion and commanded us to be known by our love for everyone, especially those who hate us, and a subculture emerges with His Name on it that encourages us to be radically exclusive and creates behavior by which we are known for our intolerance, hatred and condemnation of those outside our group, we must make a choice. Do we choose Jesus or do we choose the man-made subculture with his Name on it?
I choose Jesus.
If Jesus clearly teaches something, and another organization or person teaches the exact opposite we call that "Anti-Christ". To me it's plainly obvious that the Christian Subculture is "Anti-Christ" because it contradicts His message of inclusion, involvement and meaningful relationships with sinners.
I've said it before and I say it again; "Death to the Christian Subculture!"
BRINGING A CHANGE
Where can we fashion a whip and drive out the money-changers from the Temple? It's difficult because we now deal with this on a massive scale. Participation in this market-driven Christian Subculture is pervasive and intangible. There is no physical structure to kick over. There is no clear method for applying the whip necessary to drive them out.
All we can really do is to begin, one person at a time, to disassociate ourselves with this subculture. Stop participating. Stop identifying yourself as a follower of Jesus based on your purchases. Stop pandering to what the Christian Marketplace finds acceptable and palatable. Make Jesus your single source of Truth. Ask God to show you where you have replaced a Jesus way of life with a carefully branded subculture way of life. Escape the false notions of "Sacred" and "Secular" and just start living, as a disciple of Jesus, in this World (the only World), right now.
I declare a personal War against the Christian Subculture.
kg
**
NOTE: Originally published here in October, 2007 and republished here for your edification.
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Courage
On Saturday evening our family attended the opening of an art show. Several friends of mine had pieces in the show and we were there to support them and enjoy the art together.
As part of the evening they had tables set up in the cafe area where children could create their own art and hang it up. The theme was "Courage".
My youngest son, David drew a great picture of a homeless man begging for food and someone placing money into his hands. It was a picture of courage because the poor man had to have courage to humble himself and beg, and the person giving the money needed courage to step out and do the right thing, and to trust God to provide even though he was giving away some of his money.
My oldest son, Dylan (who turns 13 on Friday) took a long time to finish his drawing. He wouldn't allow anyone to look until he was done so we gave him his space and allowed him to take his time and finish.
When he was done I watched him hand it to the woman behind the table who looked at it, asked him about the drawing and then gave him tape to hang it on the wall. When I walked over and looked at the drawing he had done it was a man with a beard and glasses wearing a red t-shirt and a green jacket. At first I wasn't sure how this exemplified "courage" but then I realized that this person in the drawing was me.
Dylan came over and explained that he drew me because of the times when our family was financially struggling because I was out of work and I did temporary jobs to support the family. That was what he thought of when they asked him to draw a picture of "courage".
I can't tell you how proud I am of my sons.
-kg
As part of the evening they had tables set up in the cafe area where children could create their own art and hang it up. The theme was "Courage".
My youngest son, David drew a great picture of a homeless man begging for food and someone placing money into his hands. It was a picture of courage because the poor man had to have courage to humble himself and beg, and the person giving the money needed courage to step out and do the right thing, and to trust God to provide even though he was giving away some of his money.
My oldest son, Dylan (who turns 13 on Friday) took a long time to finish his drawing. He wouldn't allow anyone to look until he was done so we gave him his space and allowed him to take his time and finish.
When he was done I watched him hand it to the woman behind the table who looked at it, asked him about the drawing and then gave him tape to hang it on the wall. When I walked over and looked at the drawing he had done it was a man with a beard and glasses wearing a red t-shirt and a green jacket. At first I wasn't sure how this exemplified "courage" but then I realized that this person in the drawing was me.
Dylan came over and explained that he drew me because of the times when our family was financially struggling because I was out of work and I did temporary jobs to support the family. That was what he thought of when they asked him to draw a picture of "courage".
I can't tell you how proud I am of my sons.
-kg
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)