NOTICE
Christian culture goes pop
Christians are producing and buying merchandise that imitates mainstream media products
By Nina Libby nlibby@kansan.com
Type any word into the search engine of Conservapedia.com, and you'll most likely find heavily biased conservative content. Andrew Schlafly, Princeton graduate and creator of Conservaledia.com, was so frustrated with what he viewed as Wikipedia's liberal slant that he decided to create his own version of the online reference site specifically for evangelical Christians.
Hillary Leibold, Chicago senior, says she was shocked when she read the site's entry on "feminism," because it referred to it as a term used by liberals representing people who favored abortion.
Web sites are not the only new media technologies Christians are producing and consuming these days. Christian-themed video games, computer games and movies are just a few of the other products companies are generating.
Diana James-Kairns, marketing director for Digital Praise Inc., says the company's goal is to create family-friendly entertainment software for Christians.
One of the products Digital Praise offers is Guitar Praise, a PC guitar game similar to Guitar Hero but with Christian music. Players can play along with Christian rock tunes while the song plays and the lyrics scroll across the screen.
Jon Simon, Lenexa senior, says he can't imagine Guitar Praise would be any fun to play.
"Christian rock music isn't very good. The whole point is to play difficult songs." Simon says. "I've never heard a Christian song that, you know, wailed."
Another product Digital Praise offers is Dance Praise, in which players stand on a dance platform and use their feet to hit colored arrows laid out in a cross.The game is exactly like Dance Dance Revolution,but with contemporary Christian music.
James-Kairns says Dance Praise is one of the company's best-selling products because consumers love the family-friendly Christian songs and graphics that accompanied the game.
The computer and video games produced by Digital Praise are just a few examples of products that emulate mainstream products but express a different set of values.
Media scholar Heather Hendershot discusses different kinds of Christian media in her book, Shaking the World for Jesus.
Hendershot says she examined the vast industry of books, films, videos and magazines that have targeted the evangelical middle class since the 1970s.
"Most evangelical media are not propaganda designed to induce a political or spiritual conversion." Hendershot writes. "Christian music, videos, films and magazines are not uniformly designed to convert consumers. More often, consumers are assumed to already be saved, or it is hoped that this media might soften the unsaved consumer's heart."
With the emergence of media technologies, Christians can identify and enjoy the products made with their ideology in mind.
David Noffsinger, 2008 graduate and resident of the Campus Christian House at 1320 Ohio St., says he would love to play a Christian-themed game like Guitar Praise.
"I listen to Christian rock and I play Guitar Hero," Noffsinger says. "I think it would be fun to play a game like Guitar Praise, which combines the two."
Beyond providing clean-cut entertainment, companies can also cash in on the sales of Christian media products. The success of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, which made $125 million in its opening weekend in 2004, is one example of the fiscal success of producing Christian products.
Barbara Barnett, professor of journalism who teaches a course on media and society, says she doesn't think Christians are producing popular culture products only to make money.
"I think what's happening with a lot of groups of people, especially Christians, is that they feel disenfranchised by mainstream media. I think it's more of meeting an audience's needs than it is to make money." Barnett says.
After all. Christians are not the only group of people who have used technology to produce and consume their own cultural products.
"This is part of a trend that we have seen over the years with a lot of demographic groups more than religious groups. Blogging is an example of people creating media that fits a particular group's needs." Barnett says. "Christians are just following a trend."
Other praiseworthy goodies
- Good Spirit Car Air Fresheners are Christian-themed air fresheners for your vehicle. They come in packs of six. (www.christianaudigier.com)
- GraceWorks Interactive is a company that produces Christian-themed computer games like The Interactive Parables, which recites parables to players for memorization purposes.
(www.graceworksinteractive.com)
- Heavenly Harmony Karaoke is a Christian karaoke computer game that lets you sing along to Christian songs. (www.cloud9games.com)
- Inspirational Totes are bags accented with an embroidered Scripture quotation from Philippians 4:13.
(www.christianbooks.com)
Graphic by Becka Cremer
October 2,2008
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