Desperate Housewives' guide to theology
Taonga Features | 11 Jun 2009
Print This
TEXT
Top News...
- Latest
- Most commented
Jayson Rhodes looks for truth in popular culture
Television advertisements and billboards are usually written off as mindless diversions, but they do draw us into fictional worlds that offer plenty of opportunities for theological reflection.
In the last season of Grey’s Anatomy, for example, central character Dr Miranda Bailey reflected that while doctors knew more than ever about the human body, there was still a profound mystery about life and the existence of God as outlined in the Book of Genesis. The boss of the medical interns concluded: “The fact that we show up for each other, in spite of our differences, no matter what we believe, is reason enough to keep believing.”
Fictional characters such as Meredith Grey, Bart Simpson, Carrie Bradshaw and Bree Van de Kamp may not top the list of acknowledged resources in theology or spirituality, and yet they do help us to make meaning of our lives.
Popular culture does not present a black and white world; it’s full of grey areas, ambiguity, and crucial life choices. In that respect, it closely resembles real life, which presents a host of ambiguities, especially around issues of faith.
Music, television, movies and even the daily news bulletins raise all sorts of questions about the actions of people and whether there can really be a God to believe in. In the world of The West Wing, for instance, President Josiah Bartlett walks as the modern-day Job in Washington Cathedral. His presidency faces floods, war and the loss of a colleague: “Am I really to believe that these are acts of a loving God?” he asks. “A just God? A wise God?”
In Desperate Housewives, the character Karl Mayer prays whenever he ends a relationship with a woman. The narrator tells us, “So when he decided to break up with Edie Britt, Karl prayed to God yet again to help him avoid all the unnecessary drama. Unfortunately for Karl...God was in the mood to be entertained…”
A rubbish truck then backs into Karl’s car as he flees Edie’s house. “As he sat there, Karl couldn’t help but wonder why God had forsaken him…It never occurred to him that God might be a woman.”
These two examples raise many questions about the nature of God: why good and evil occur, the efficacy of prayer, and the “gender” of God.
The relationship between the wider church and popular culture gives rise to two contrasting views. One is that popular culture opposes concepts of faith; the other is that popular culture can bring new ways of understanding God and religion.
The president of the Parents’ Television Council in the US, Brent Bozell, suggests it is more appropriate to call Desperate Housewives “Cynical Suburban Sluts.” For example, in one episode Bree finds a condom in the laundry and confronts her teenage daughter.
Danielle: “I’m still a virgin if that’s what you want to know.”
Bree: “Well, good. But why on earth would you need a condom?”
Danielle: “Because I’m planning on having sex and I don’t want to get pregnant.”
Bree: “Danielle, you are president of the Abstinence Club.”
Danielle: “I wasn’t planning on running for a second term.”
Note that the programme writers introduce various values, but the question of right or wrong is left to the viewer. So morality in popular culture is both complex and ambiguous.
In the relationship between theology and popular culture, it’s necessary to define what is understood by theology. Gordon Lynch has an inclusive definition: “Theology is the process of seeking normative answers to questions of truth/meaning, goodness/practice, evil, suffering, redemption, and beauty in specific contexts.”
In other words, theology is not a static discipline but explores traditional issues with contemporary questions, beliefs, values, practices and experiences. So the television viewer is not as passive as might appear.
The growth of popular television as a medium that invites theological reflection follows the development of narrative techniques that allow us to relate closely to TV characters.
Complex narratives began back in 1981 with programmes such as Hill Street Blues – a major change from earlier shows such as Starsky and Hutch that had one or two lead characters, a single plot and a clear conclusion at the end of each episode. There are now multiple plots, characters and perspectives on shows such as ER, Sex and the City, Grey’s Anatomy, and The West Wing.
We can identify a macro-narrative across different seasons of these programmes, as well as stories within seasons and episodes. The complex narrative contributes to the authenticity of the programme.
Theologian Donna Freitas refers to such characters as Bridget Jones and Carrie Bradshaw (Sex in the City) as people who are living and working with the “messier side of the divine.” Freitas writes, “While the spiritual distance between Mother Teresa and most of us is so great she’s almost too far away to imagine, I often feel like Bridget is sitting directly across the breakfast table.”
Carrie sits on her bed at the end of most episodes of Sex in the City, typing into her laptop plenty of questions on the meaning of life. “Can you ever really forgive if you can’t forget?” “No matter how hard we look, do we ever see ourselves clearly?” and “What are we fighting for?”
These are no idle questions. Within her fictional world, Carrie really wants to find what is true, what matters and what doesn’t, and how she fits in. Many people contemplate the same questions in relation to their own lives.
This intersection of programme and viewer is crucial to the theory of philosopher Paul Ricoeur. In doing theology, the viewer moves from configuration to refiguration, says Ricoeur. Many libraries have books that are written and configured but there is no act of refiguration, he argues. “Without the reader who accompanies it, there is no configuring act at work in the text: and without a reader to appropriate it, there is no world unfolded before the text.”
This intersection between two worlds also occurs whenever we try to make sense of Scripture.
Popular culture, then, can be a great resource for sorting out life’s issues. In Grey’s Anatomy, for example, Meredith Grey’s training as a surgeon opens up deep issues of faith and hope. “At the end of the day, faith is a funny thing,” she muses. “It turns up when you don’t really expect it.”
NOTES
1. Janet McCabe and Kim Akass, “Introduction: Airing the Dirty Laundry,” in Reading Desperate Housewives: Beyond the White Picket Fence, ed. Janet McCabe and Kim Akass, Reading Contemporary Television (London: I.B. Tauris, 2006), 6.
2. Gordon Lynch, Understanding Theology and Popular Culture (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2005), 94.
3. Ibid., 68.
4. Paul Ricoeur, Time and Narrative, trans. Kathleen Blamey and David Pellauer, vol. 3 (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1985), 164.
Editors' Picks
'New buoyancy' greets Bishop Kelvin
One of Dunedin's own, Dr Kelvin Wright, is installed as its ninth Anglican Bishop.
Big refit for century-old church
One of Gisborne's hidden treasures is to be restored for the whole community to enjoy.
Bishop challenges 'the good life'
The retiring Bishop of Auckland has laid his pastoral staff on the altar - and challenged Kiwi...
Pasefika farewells 'a prince of the church'
The funeral service for Archbishop Jabez Bryce, Bishop of Polynesia, followed two days of gath...
Churches rally to Haiti's aid
Church aid agencies are responding to the humanitarian disaster in Haiti.
Just how green can you get?
Respect for the environment is not an optional extra for the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan W...
© Anglican Taonga
ANGLICAN TAONGA is the communications arm of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia / Te Haahi Mihanare ki Niu Tireni, ki Nga Moutere o Te Moana Nui a Kiwa. TAONGA magazine is published three times a year and distributed to all Anglican ministry units and agencies. TAONGA also publishes occasional booklets on church, ministry and sacraments. The General Editor of TAONGA is accountable to the Communications Commission of General Synod / te Hinota Whanui, 200 St Johns Road, Meadowbank, Auckland 1742.
Comments on this story
Log in or create a user account to comment.