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Culture's place in America among the shadows
By Jodi Anderson
Staff Writer
FILE PHOTO
Bob Dylan has always been willing to share his thoughts during turbulent times in America.
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Last week, one of my professors verbalized a question that I feel bothers many people in times like these: “How can we go about our daily lives when bombs are being dropped and people are dying?” It somehow feels strange to be running errands, to be concerned about what to wear on a date or to be worried about writing a paper that is soon due. In the grand scheme of things, these are trivial matters, are they not? But we continue doing them, my professor concluded, because we do not know what else to do. And we should not feel guilty about it: part of the reason the government gave us for sending our troops into war was to preserve our way of life.
We don’t stop living when terrible things happen. C.S. Lewis said, “Human culture has always had to exist under the shadow of something infinitely more important than itself. If men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure, the search would never have begun.” When destruction and devastation are thrust in our faces again and again and the ugliness of the landscape is seemingly inescapable, art and beauty are needed even more.
The art of entertainment can teach us about hope in a world gone mad. Movies like “Schindler’s List” and “Life is Beautiful” show us the courage and compassion of the human spirit in the midst of extreme oppression and suffering. “The Hiding Place”, a story about Corrie Ten Boom, who was imprisoned for hiding Jews, illuminates the power of the gospel even in such a dark place as a Nazi concentration camp. Michael W. Smith’s song “This is Your Time” celebrates the life of one girl who was unafraid to die for what she believed.
Entertainment can comfort us in many ways. “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning),” Alan Jackson’s tribute to a country in mourning after 9/11, quickly raced to number one on the charts and prompted high sales of his album. Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American” became popular once more. Sales of Christian music also went up. If we couldn’t get an answer to the “why” of these horrible events, at least we could be assured that there are others who were just as confused as we are. Media does much to inspire us. My all-time favorite movie is “Dead Poets Society”, in which the lives of a handful of teenage boys are dramatically changed by their teacher, Mr. Keating. “Carpe diem!” he admonished them. “Seize the day! Make your lives extraordinary!” Every time I watch that movie—and I’ve seen it many, many times—I want to leap off my couch, run out and change the world. While it’s not that simple, his mantra is always in the back of my mind, and it shapes the way I approach life.
I am not alone in this regard. A close friend of mine told me that a song by the Christian band Audio Adrenaline, encouraging kids to witness in their schools, spurred her decision to transfer from a private school into the public school system. There she made many friends who weren’t Christians and was able to share the gospel of Christ with them.
A couple of weeks ago, I was watching “Oprah.” (I must admit that I am rather a junkie.) She was profiling her favorite charity, the Angel Network. Apparently she does this from time to time, because she ran a story about a woman who had seen the organization spotlighted on the show. Donations from this charity had funded a project on a Native American reservation where an organization was building a library and was in desperate need of books. The woman was so inspired that she put up a sign at work asking for donations and eventually gathered hundreds and hundreds of books. The Native Americans had a well-stocked library because a woman had been wasting an hour of her day in front of the television.
Media is born out of our culture and, like “Oprah,” can be used as social commentary. “American Psycho” paints a caricature of our materialistic and shallow society. Kevin Spacey’s character in “American Beauty” experiences a mid-life crisis and portrays the pitfalls of suburban life. And what about Michael Moore’s “Bowling for Columbine”? Whatever your opinions may be on any of these films, you have to admit that they caused you to think about important issues.
Music, too, is used in this way. Bob Dylan rose to fame because his songs voiced the concerns of an entire generation. Everlast released a song a few years ago called “What It’s Like,” which asked listeners to sympathize with people in difficult social situations. Rage Against the Machine raged against political machinations. Michael Stipe of REM admitted that he never thought politics and music could mix but was determined to use his gifts to do what he could to make this country better.
Songs and films can change the way we perceive ourselves and others. The female trio TLC, with their single titled “Unpretty,” addressed the problems of self-image. In “Legally Blonde,” the main character portrayed by Reese Witherspoon defies the stereotype of blondes and graduates from Harvard, taking pride in more than her good looks. The movie “Glory” tells a story of a white officer in the Union army leading a troop of black soldiers during the Civil War. All of his presuppositions about “Negroes” are shattered when he witnesses their astounding courage and dignity in battle and begins to care for them as brothers. And in the ever-popular movie “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” we learn through the use of humor that family is nothing to be ashamed of and is a source of love and support.
With the ability of these forms of media to give us so many things--to show us human perseverance, to comfort, to inspire us to greatness and to shift our paradigms—the question should not be, “How can we concern ourselves with ‘mere’ entertainment at a time like this?” but “How can we not?”
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