I often reflect on the nature of this blog. It is meant to be a convergence of theology, philosophy, and pop culture. But it is that third thing that keeps nagging at me. I am very much enamored of popular culture, but it is often very clearly at antagonistic ends with my own convictions. But even if it wasn't, how does discussing the perfect Justice League line-up or which Caddyshack movie is best compare to the deeper questions about life, the universe, and everything.
In other words, why does pop culture matter?
We cannot simply assume that it does because it is by its nature popular. There are many popular things that do not have stamped on it the timelessness of lasting cultural significance. Anyone here still into the POG craze? How many people still play Pokemon Go?
A thing may be popular because it strikes a deep chord into our common humanity. I think this is the case with some great works like The Lord of the Rings or Schindler's List. But there are some that come on boldly because we also crave the new and exciting. Game of Thrones rose to popularity because of how novel it was in its vulgarity. Will we still be talking about it in 10 years?
Compare that to the eternal questions of the soul and salvation. Is there a God? How can I know Him? How can I even know myself? I seem to be a mystery even to me. If I cannot figure out the subject whom I am closest to, how can I hope to sound the depths of any other mystery.
When I die and I stand before God, He may ask me to account for how I used my time to make the world a better place. I don't think He is going to check and see if I watched all the episodes of The Office.
So again, what does pop culture matter?
I think the answer is clear: it doesn't.
But that is why it matters.
We have to remember that human beings are not automatons governed purely by logic. Our passions serve as the fuel the moves us to action. And it is in those action that we live our lives. This is why we constantly seek out things that not only increase our knowledge base, but more often we seek things that stimulate our emotions. We want to laugh and cry and scream. We want to our hearts to be filled and to break. We want to feel.
And we don't just want this feeling to be passive. We want to be active. We want to be passionately engaged.
But here is the problem: the greater the active engagement, the greater risk of damage.
Here, I am talking about how we interact with each other.
There are very few convictions that we hold that compare to our religious and political convictions. Get people together of a like mind on these subjects and they can whip themselves into a veritable frenzy, feeding off of each other's energy as their ideas harmonize, converge, and rise. We feel validated and lifted.
But we are constantly warned not to talk about religion and politics in polite company. Why not? Because we hold these convictions so tightly that when disagreements occur, we argue. And when we argue and attack someone's convictions, that person feels personally attacked. Relationships, even family relationships, can wither and crack under that kind of pressure. I don't want to be told I'm a racist or Communist because of who I voted for. I don't want other people to tell me I'm going to hell because of my beliefs about the Virgin Mary. Now, I may need these types of corrections, but I certainly don't enjoy them. And I may feel particular animus at the person who directs this critical eye towards me.
And yet there is a joy in the fight. We feel our hearts swell as we take up a noble stand and defend our beliefs with great conviction. We argue and defend. We get into a war of words and we feel like veterans in a war of words. If not for the carnage wrought on the relationships with our interlocutors, this would be a fantastic joy.
And that is where the pop culture comes in.
When we argue about movies, music, TV, books, comic books, sports, video games, etc, we do so because we feel passionately about something. A student tells me that Star Wars is stupid. I immediately spring into action go through the movie's genius.
"I guess Spielberg is an okay director," someone says. I hop in and defend him, citing his resume of timeless films.
"The Lost finale was terrible," another says. I spend the next half-of-an-hour explaining how they are wrong.
And my opponents will give as good as they get. Any time a conversation is dominated by one side, it tends to be unpleasant. We begin to joust with words. And we do so with same level of passion (though not importance) as we would about religion or politics.
My friends and I once got into a heated debate over the question of whether or not Padme Amidala is evil. The email texts came out to over 30 pages. The arguments were impassioned, the data was scrutinized, questions of morality and personal responsibility were raised.
One of these same friends just called me on Tuesday to yell at me about my ranking of X-Men movies and how I had it all wrong. As I sat in the parking lot of the movie theater, we debated back and forth for 30 minutes, going over whether the flaws of X-Men: The Last Stand are significant enough to ruin the work as a whole. Voices were raised. Arguments were interrupted and cut off. And yet as forceful as we were with each other, we know that there will be no damage at all to our friendship. Imagine taking that passion and focus it on something that matters, like if you have to tell a friend that they are dating the wrong person. You can see how that friendship could be damaged.
The pop culture is not an end in itself. It is really should be looked at like culture in a biological sense. It is a medium in which life can take place. It is a means to an end. Some people only want to talk about the "important" things because they matter more. While these things are more important, it does not always facilitate an ease of conversation. You want to connect to your little niece or nephew? You may not get anywhere by asking the big questions like, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" You start with asking about Frozen or slime (kids today love slime). Then when the relationship is stronger, they open up.
My friends and I sometimes reflect on the fact that we are still talking about the same crap we did in high school: movies, comics, video games, comics... But I think that is part of the reason why we still talk to each other all these years after high school. It doesn't really matter what the subject is, as long as it isn't immoral. A common interest can make fruitful connections.
CS Lewis became lifelong friends with Arthur Greeves when they were boys. They had nothing in common except they loved Norse Mythology. Years later, they still reveled in those stories. But the friendship that grew out of that connection was the real prize. It created a connection in which something greater could flourish. I think about that scene in City Slickers were one of the characters says that no matter how bad his relationship with father became, he could always talk to him about baseball.
In my school, I run a film club. It always amazes me when I see so many young people, many of whom are incredibly shy, begin to interact with each other and make deep friendships simply because they watched the same movie together and wanted to talk about it.
Online, especially on Twitter, I have made some friendships with people simply because we could talk about our common interests in pop culture. We interact with each other, encourage each other, and we pray for each other.
My own family has several philosophical divides about religion, politics, economics, morality and the like. And yet, no matter where we are or what history has past, we can always start any conversation by discussing an episode of I Love Lucy or the awesomeness of the movie Willow. Even if life pulls us in so many different directions where we can no longer see the same truth together, this pop culture connection can gives at least a tenuous tether. It is keeps the door open just enough so that we can still connect to each other and still talk to each other. We can even fight without really fighting. We can argue without really arguing. In other words, we can have fully human and passionate exchanges of ideas without driving the other away.
And we won't drive each other away because in the end, the pop culture doesn't matter.
That is why it matters.
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