Eyes Wide Open: Looking for God in Popular Culture Review

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Eyes Wide Open: Looking for God in Popular Culture ReviewWilliam Romanowski is Professor of Communication Arts & Sciences at Calvin College. He teaches courses on film, communication and cultural studies, and is a well respected authority on the interaction of Christianity and popular culture. He has written numerous articles and a handful of books on popular culture, with an emphasis on film. The thesis of Eyes Wide Open is that "Christians should help preserve the best features, improve the weakest parts, and eliminate the worst traits of popular art" (21).

Romanowski goes about defending his claim in a very engaging way. He speaks of modern day Christians who propose to shun all `evil' things such as movies, rock music and dancing, yet they are just as immersed in popular culture as the next person, only in the form of a ghettoized Christian subculture. The reality is that very few truly avoid popular culture, only prefer those elements of it which are, or appear to be sterile and safe. It is within this context that Romanowski argues for discernment. He believes strongly that this oversimplification has created Christians who have no idea how to discern good from bad, truth from error. The easiest way for evangelicals to make judgments is to simply count swear words, violent acts and sexual innuendos. Romanowski notes the Biblical mandate to cultivate: to create and tend to culture. Cultural forms, like anything else in creation, are corrupted by sin and in need of transformation, and we do a disservice to everyone when we make rigid divisions between sacred and secular. It is a sign of secularization that we would even think to label activities in God's world as secular.
The popular arts aid us in cultural communication (reflecting cultural ideals), social criticism (challenging or dealing with culturally contentious issues), social unity (when we've all seen the same movie) and collective memory (the way we view history is shaped by pop culture). This is what pop culture should be doing, but Romanowski notes that the primary venue for popular film in western culture is the melodrama, a dramatic genre with oversimplified depictions of good and evil, with prepackaged endings that end in "domestic bliss or harmonious community" (111). These melodramatic categories absolutely dominate the "Christian, family-friendly" genre and Romanowski wants to challenge this. The Biblical narrative conveys no such clear cut pattern, and he argues that this emphasis on sentimentalism indicates assimilation to, rather than a break from mainstream popular culture.
Christians who want to engage popular culture need to keep these things in mind. We are called to discern beyond whether something is "family-friendly" or not. The presence of violence and swearing and even sex is not always anti-Christian, but can very well be a catalyst for a story of redemption. And what we see as a story of redemption is often brazen individualism where someone pulls themselves up by the bootstraps and defeats the odds. This tells more about the autonomous human than redemption that can only come from God.
So beyond a "Jesus' per minute" scale and an "f-bomb count," Christians are called and even mandated to discern truth from error in popular culture. We are not to become mere consumers, but people who take seriously the message presented in a piece of popular art. He offers a helpful "matrix" for analyzing popular culture which lists questions to ask, but I feel that so many Christians are so far out of this discussion that more direction is needed. Romanowski presents a full analysis of Titanic through this matrix, also helpful, but I wish he gave further direction on how we can practice this act of discernment as Christians. We are conditioned to think that the acceptable Christian films are G, PG, and occasionally PG-13 (The Passion of the Christ excluded, of course), and we need time to learn to see God's beauty in culture again. In light of these facts, I would recommend this book to individuals and even church small groups. I hope it will help us all keep our eyes open a little wider.Eyes Wide Open: Looking for God in Popular Culture Overview

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The Big Picture: The New Logic of Money and Power in Hollywood Review

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The Big Picture: The New Logic of Money and Power in Hollywood ReviewThis is a very detailed and insightful book on the movie entertainment business. Epstein researched an enormous amount of proprietary financial information from the Motion Picture Association All Media Revenue Report (MPA). This is a report disclosed only to the studios that details movie earnings. It is unclear how Epstein obtained access to this proprietary data. Epstein leveraged this proprietary data into an incredibly insightful analysis of the movie-entertainment industry. Thanks to Epstein lively writing style the book is a quick read despite the volume of information provided.
The movie business is not an economically viable stand-alone business. Indeed, over 95% of the movies loose a ton of money at the Box Office even if they often generate hundreds of millions in such Box Office revenues. Movies have become extremely expensive advertising for a very risky long-term investment in an "intellectual property" right. The pioneer of such a business model was Walt Disney who fully grasped the possibilities of the ancillary businesses more than half a century ago.
Related ancillary revenues generated by videos, Pay TV, and Networks dwarf the revenues at the Box Office. While the major studios derived 100% of their revenues from Box Office in 1948, this percentage has continuously dropped to only 18% in 2003. Additionally, these ancillary businesses are almost all profits. The vast majority of the production costs have already been absorbed within the Box Office business.
However, a majority of movies still loose money when you figure the full life cycle of its "intellectual property." Epstein details throughout the book such a cycle for "Gone In 60 Seconds" with Nicolas Cage. At first, the movie seems a roaring success as it grossed $242 million in worldwide Box Office. But, when you figure the whole cycle, as of 2003 the movie including the ancillary businesses was still $150 million in the tank.
The reason movies still get made is because there are so many willing equity partners absorbing the brunt of the losses in financing movies. The studios survive because they are supported by their strong parent holding companies whose businesses are diversified in technology, news, media, and consumer products. The directors and stars make a fortune. And, the equity partners are the ones loosing their shirts.
After reading this book, one assesses that movie stars are the most overpaid human beings on the planet. In one single movie, they often make more money than sports stars make over their entire career (tennis or golf comes to mind). Even though some stars do attract the public, the underlying economics of their movies over the full cycle is not attractive. If it were not for equity partners making irrational investment decisions, the castle of cards would crumble.
The book also breaks or confirms many interesting myths. For one, Tom Cruise does not do his own stunts despite what you see in DVD bonus features. This is because insurers cover the risk that Tom Cruise will not be able to complete the shooting of the movie. The face of an actor is now digitized on to the body of a stuntman. So, when you see a close up of Tom Cruise jumping off a cliff it really looks like him. Another interesting concept is that movie theatres make more money from selling popcorn and sodas than from showing the movie. It is true! The movie represents foot traffic. The popcorn and sodas represent the high profit margin business segment they don't share with the studios.
There are a zillion more interesting facts mentioned within the book embedded in a coherent and very entertaining history of the movie business from its inception to nowadays. Thus, I strongly recommend this book.
The Big Picture: The New Logic of Money and Power in Hollywood Overview

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