Mirrors

I’ve written about this before, but I had a great conversation with a friend last night about this, and so I had to share today.

There’s this ageless debate about whether art imitates life, or life imitates art. Do children become more violent after playing violent video games, or watching violent movies? Or are these artistic portrayals that are reflecting the state of our culture? Can we blame artistic expression for our societal woes? Should we enforce limits on artistic expression in order to assure our safety?

The debate last night specifically came from discussing the television show, Sex and the City. The show is extremely suggestive, even in it’s primetime incarnation. Would I feel comfortable letting my (future) children watch it? No. I recognize, however, that some of the dialogue is very well-written. The conversation became, though, when did television begin to permit this type of material to become viewable? I remember when Married With Children became a hotly debated television show during my freshman year in college. Later, it was the Simpsons. Ironically, for all of the debate that surrounded the Simpsons, and now South Park, both offer (not with every episode, but in general) very true commentary about our society. These are artistic portrayals of our culture. Edgy portrayals, and accurate.

The same principle holds true with hip-hop culture. I loved rap during college. I find rap today less inviting. However, you can trace the content of rap changing dramatically from “old school” Run DMC, to Ice-T’s “Cop Killer,” to the development of “gangsta rap.” I’ve come to the conclusion that I dislike modern rap more because the violent urban culture it reflects has become less inviting. However, my friend thinks that it has contributed to the cultural shift. Having lived in L.A. several years ago, he said that the “gangster” phenomenon was squashed until rappers began rapping about it, and then a resurgance occurred.

Having never lived in L.A., I can’t offer any knowledge on that. But if there is a cycle that occurs, I think it happens because we as a culture, and as various sub-cultures, have to look into the mirror that artistic expressions provide. Paul TIllich, articulating his theology of art, claims that artists are gifted with the foresight to recognize societal problems, and the calling to state them. Artists, writers, and musicians are the first to recognize or predict cultural crises, and place them in the public eye. I agree with this. I think that art imitates life. I’m not ruling out that the reverse can happen, but I think it is the exception rather than the rule. Our culture has become gripped be increasing angst, and so has our art and musical expression. This can be seen in the migration from “old-school” rap to “gangsta” rap, and from “heavy metal” to “hard-core” rock.

Scripture performs the same function more authoritatively, but we all too frequently ignore the warnings from both.

“For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror,” James warns. “You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like”(James 1:23-24, NLT).

Perhaps, instead of attempting to censor Scripture and the arts so passionately, we as a society should attempt to see the warnings which they present. An even more radical thought? Perhaps we should even heed those warnings.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.