Wednesday, March 12, 2008
On August 13, 1997, Comedy central piloted an animated sitcom named South Park. Situated in the fictional town of South Park, Colorado, the new cartoon centered on the brazenly foul antics of four third grade boys – Cartman, Kenny, Kyle and Stan. It immediately became a hit.
Filled with pop-culture parody, some really bad language and intense satirical handling of everyday events, the show instantly became a 30 minute mirror on all things hypocritical, especially religion. Unfortunately back then, as now, the church wasn’t watching.
In episode 709, titled “Christian Rock Hard,” Cartman and the boys decide to start a Christian rock band instead of a regular rock band because they think they can dupe Christians into buying their CD’s.
Kyle: I think our band better buy a whole bunch of music CDs to listen to for inspiration.
Cartman: [stops] Inspiration. Wait a minute, [turns right and walks away from them] that's it. Inspiration, you guys. Don't you see?
Stan: See what?
Cartman: [turns around] Our band should play Christian rock! [beams with pride]
Kyle: Christian rock?!
Cartman: [races back to the band] Think about it! It's the easiest crappiest music in the world, right? If we just play songs about how much we love Jesus, all the Christianland will buy our crap!
Kyle: That's a retarded idea, Cartman!
Cartman: [protests, takes a step towards Kyle] It worked for Creed!
Stan: I don't wanna be in a stupid Christian rock band!
Cartman: [steps towards Stan] You just start that way, Stan, then you cross over. It's genious!
Christians used to be known for producing great art and classic literature, now we’re so afraid of the evils of the culture at large we’ve created a Christian subculture where we buy and sell sub par Jesus junk. Purged of bad language and suggestive dress, we’ve insulated ourselves from the non-Christian culture at large.
Christian has become a corporate marketing niche. In America we have Christian paraphernalia galore. We have Christian bookstores, Christian television stations, and Christian websites. Those who are curious can flip through a Christian best seller, thumb through a multitude of Christian magazines, or sit back and enjoy a blockbuster Christian motion picture. One can quickly find Christian solutions for any and every problem a bewildered American faces—there are Christian exercise videos, Christian weight-loss programs, and now, thank goodness, even Christian vitamins.
I’ll never forget walking out of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” and saying to Frank Chiapperino, “That was the biggest evangelical hype since Y2K. We were dupped.”
I wish I had watched South Park’s critique of Mel Gibson’s anti-semitism in their episode, “The Passion of the Jew” beforehand.
I would have saved $8 and a wasted afternoon.
South Park – Christianity’s Greatest Critics – Part 2
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6 comments:
I always found this "Christian Isolationism" to be odd. It seems that lots of Christians get so wrapped up in seperating themselves from modern culture that they always look for the "Christian alternative." It's a shame that we can become so self-centered and put so much effort into sheltering ourselves and our families, that we lose touch with the culture at large and thus have no relevence when attempting to witness to the general populace. We have to remember that Jesus ministered directly to some of the seediest people in his time and though he never ascribed to the popular beliefs of those cultures, he never shut himself off completely from them either.
What a great suggestion. It never occurred to me to watch South Park as a means of equipping the saints for the work of the ministry. And Mel Gibson? Just more "Jesus crap." Keep up the good work, Brian!
great post, Brian.
thank you.
Then why did you just play a clip from the Passion at church on Sunday?
Hey, great question!
Why did we show it?
Because it fit the theme for the day. We show movie clips from lots of movies that I thought were stupid and created by people I didn't agree with but somehow fit the point of the message.
Just because we show something from Pulp Fiction doesn't mean we endorse the views and lifestyle of Quentin Tarantino.
Same with passion of the Christ -- great scenes of horrific suffering -- horrible narrative construction and even worse manipulation in the evangelical community to get people out to see it.
I felt ashamed afterwards for having promoted it so hard in our church. I really felt dupped and used.
Fool me once...
Isolation is not good thing, but I think that it is yet nice, that there are bands, which plays christian rock.
Like HB.
http://www.myspace.com/hbmetal
Blogger wrote:
"Christian has become a corporate marketing niche. In America we have Christian paraphernalia galore."
Perhaps it is true in America. In my home nation it isn't a good marketing niche, if your product is "christian". In fact you can sell your products here much better here, if your products are NOT "christian". "Christian rock" is not popular here: even anti-christian music is more popular and sells many times better.
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