Monday, September 07, 2009

Tangled web

One of the more interesting aspects of contemporary evangelical culture is the creation of a parallel world, a sort of demimonde, of Christian pop culture. Competing with godless secular culture, it began in the 1970s, achieved some genuine heights with CCM (contemporary Christian music), and continues apace with Christian horror novels, video games, rock festivals, ironic teeshirts, etc. I stumbled on an early example today, a fully licensed Christian parallel Archie comic from 1975. (You can download the whole volume here.) A team of cynical television reporters comes to Riverdale High looking for stories of deviancy and strife, but finds none (except Archie's accident-proneness, yuk yuk). Instead they find kids saying grace in the cafeteria, a saved ex-hippie, and everyone - even the principal - happy clappy in the Bible Club. I'm doubtful that this movement has created a securely Bible-centered counterculture. But recent events (like hysterical Texas parents objecting to President Obama's exhorting their children to work hard in school) confirm they're following Archie's example in tangling up the media.

Incidentally, I just discovered on looking back on a related post that Godtube, the Christian alternative to youtube, is now called - can you believe it! - tangle.com.