A Criticism of Modern Christian Media and Creativity

[Blaise-Ingram]

I'm Elaine, I'm about to graduate college with a BFA, and I've been a Christian for about 6 years now. I've been on this guild for a couple of years (I also designed the current "One Million, One God" logo we're using) but I'll just get straight to the point:

I think that the majority of Christian media (particularly movies/cartoons/music) is tacky, lacking in creativity, and unappealing. I think that the majority of the ways the Christian message is presented is just completely unappealing, especially when it tries to be. So before you get offended (and if you are offended, I understand, and I apologize for offending you), please hear me out and understand where I'm coming from.

As an artist and someone who creates things, I get very frustrated when I see how many Christians just don't DO things. They worship God, but they don't create, they don't help build their fellow human up, they don't do anything but maybe go to church and go to school/work. And maybe they sit at home and watch TV or play videogames. The modern Christian has become just another media consumer like everyone else, but where are the media creators in our faith? What's the point of worshipping God if you don't DO something?

Not everyone is "creative", and I can understand that, I'm not here to attack anyone on an individual level. I'm here to challenge our own faith as a whole; and this is why I hope no one is offended.
I feel like the Christian body as a whole lacks original and creative people in the art and entertainment world. We are far behind in quality when compared to mainstream media. For example, when I hear Christian music playing on the radio, it all sounds approximately the same. Usually the same instruments are used, roughly the same tempo, and same soft and elongated use of vocals.

I would say that 90% of Christian music sounds the same, and granted while some of it is created as worship music for God's ears, some of that music is also created to encourage other Christians in some way... but that other 10% of Christian music is different. I won't go into the argument of what makes "good or bad" art/music because that's not the subject I aim to discuss, but I will say that I really value music like Fireflight's "Unbreakable" or Skillet's "Whispers in the Dark" because they strive to BE CREATIVE. They stand out from the rest, and even non-Christians will listen to their music and enjoy it.

I know many Christians get worried when non-Christians like certain things, because they begin to draw a line and say "Well if non-Christians like it, there must be something wrong with it, and it is not communicating the message of Christ", which may be true for some instances, but certainly not all of them.
The message stays the same, it's just how it is presented that makes a huge difference in what other people think about Christianity.

A trend I've noticed is that many Christian media executives try to gain young followers by being "hip" or "cool", which, to me, is what creates tacky media. I don't think that Christians should cut-and-paste trends from mainstream media, it's like trying to put a square peg in a round hole. Christians in media should come up with their own original ideas, instead of ripping off mainstream secular media (and worst of all, doing it poorly). That way, we can put a round peg in a round hole, because we have fully manufactured both the peg and the hole.

I feel like Dreamworks has nailed down Christian media that appeals to non-Christians, with films such as "The Prince of Egypt" and "Joseph: King of Dreams", which are masterpieces of art, story, and music. I would like to see more Christian media like The Prince of Egypt, and less media like Veggie Tales. You can still teach children Christian values and messages without being corny, preachy, and in-your-face about it.

So with that, I'd just like to conclude that it's a big life goal of mine to help reform Christian media. I feel like we're already on the right track by having this guild in place on this lovely website where others can check us out, and where people can express their creativity by making cute little avatars and stuff.

I feel like Christian media doesn't focus as much on Christ and the lessons he taught as much it does Old Testament stories. I feel like Christ's message is more relevant, and needs to be expressed more. But in these modern times, millions of people don't see Christians or Christian media as being credible in the world of art and entertainment, and I would like to change that. I believe God is credible, and I want to help other people see that too. But we have to reflect that credibility in everything we think, say, and do. This includes entertainment, advertisement, and artwork.

When making new, quality, creative media... there is one thing I want you to take away from this, if you just skimmed over what I read because it's tl;dr:
The Christian message doesn't need to change; what needs to change is how we present that message to others, both Christian and non-Christian.  

[manticore has left]

I think you pretty much summed up how I feel about Christians in the media (and pointed out all the flaws I have when it comes to the topic, lol).

Another problem concerning the sort of media presence Christians have today, at least in my opinion, is that the messages we get are fairly superficial. Mainstream Christian songs and media have kind of a tendency to focus on "God is love, gracious, kind, caring, some other good quality here" and that's it. It's partly why I dislike worship music; though worship is definitely not wrong, the genre wasn't meant to answer (or even ask) questions we may be struggling with. The genre wasn't meant to give people an idea of what it's like to be living a life that's spiraling out of control with no way to fix what's going on. Worship is for worship.

I think that's why bands like Relient K, Skillet, and Switchfoot deserve the popularity they've gotten. They're not afraid to address the harder issues and try to make sense of life--for instance, in Skillet's "Looking for Angels", we get an idea of the broken world we live in, and we're asked what we will do about it. And sometimes you get satires--"Faking My Own Suicide" by Relient K is kind of a critique on how someone would pretend to pull such a drastic, life-changing move just to affirm the love of someone else.

Unfortunately, most Christian media doesn't do what these bands have. Good as worship and appreciation of God may be, what are you supposed to do when you confront the darker aspects of life? How do you cope with learning that your cousin has killed himself when all you've been told is "God is love"? How do you understand why suffering happens when all you've been told is "God is love"? How can you begin to fathom the corruptness of everything around you when all you've been told is "God is love"?

Again, I'm not saying that message isn't good. But if you aren't inquired about the truth behind many things in this world, and instead are made to be content with the superficial, your faith is going to be rocked to the core. We need firm foundations in God if we want to stay rooted in our faith and if we want to get a deeper knowledge of Him. We need to do more than skim the surface of Christianity--and that's not something the "tacky" and "unappealing" media Blaise described are appropriate mediums for. There are so many themes, genres of music, fields of art, video game ideas we can tackle. Why not seek them?

That, and I'd also definitely like to see Christians branch out into other genres of music. I'd raise my eyebrows if I ever hear of Christians who've made a drum and bass or progressive house (the chill kind, not the "we're actually electro house guys who want to classify our music under a different genre" kind razz ) act. Not so much for pop.  

[Blaise-Ingram]

Ikatsui-Karite Manticore

I think you pretty much summed up how I feel about Christians in the media (and pointed out all the flaws I have when it comes to the topic, lol).

Another problem concerning the sort of media presence Christians have today, at least in my opinion, is that the messages we get are fairly superficial. Mainstream Christian songs and media have kind of a tendency to focus on "God is love, gracious, kind, caring, some other good quality here" and that's it. It's partly why I dislike worship music; though worship is definitely not wrong, the genre wasn't meant to answer (or even ask) questions we may be struggling with. The genre wasn't meant to give people an idea of what it's like to be living a life that's spiraling out of control with no way to fix what's going on. Worship is for worship.

I think that's why bands like Relient K, Skillet, and Switchfoot deserve the popularity they've gotten. They're not afraid to address the harder issues and try to make sense of life--for instance, in Skillet's "Looking for Angels", we get an idea of the broken world we live in, and we're asked what we will do about it. And sometimes you get satires--"Faking My Own Suicide" by Relient K is kind of a critique on how someone would pretend to pull such a drastic, life-changing move just to affirm the love of someone else.

Unfortunately, most Christian media doesn't do what these bands have. Good as worship and appreciation of God may be, what are you supposed to do when you confront the darker aspects of life? How do you cope with learning that your cousin has killed himself when all you've been told is "God is love"? How do you understand why suffering happens when all you've been told is "God is love"? How can you begin to fathom the corruptness of everything around you when all you've been told is "God is love"?

Again, I'm not saying that message isn't good. But if you aren't inquired about the truth behind many things in this world, and instead are made to be content with the superficial, your faith is going to be rocked to the core. We need firm foundations in God if we want to stay rooted in our faith and if we want to get a deeper knowledge of Him. We need to do more than skim the surface of Christianity--and that's not something the "tacky" and "unappealing" media Blaise described are appropriate mediums for. There are so many themes, genres of music, fields of art, video game ideas we can tackle. Why not seek them?

That, and I'd also definitely like to see Christians branch out into other genres of music. I'd raise my eyebrows if I ever hear of Christians who've made a drum and bass or progressive house (the chill kind, not the "we're actually electro house guys who want to classify our music under a different genre" kind razz ) act. Not so much for pop.

Amen to that.

Maybe it's just a personal preference, I do prefer media that deals with the harsh reality of this world instead of the superficial messages (which are indeed good messages, I agree, but it's difficult to understand them completely unless they are put into some kind of context, such as the Bible) that people mindlessly spew just because they hear them at church, or they hear them elsewhere. We can still be a generation of critical thinkers while still worshiping and glorifying God. And I wish Christian media would realize that, and do something about it.