Customer Reviews

Eyes Wide Open: Looking for God in Popular Culture

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

William 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.

Christians are not that much different than non-Christians when it comes to consumption of popular culture. All but the most legalistic watch many of the same movies, listen to the same music, and watch the same TV shows as everyone else. Romanowski realizes this, and with this book (along with others he has written) he analyzes the culture from a Christian perspective and gives the Christian, who is in the world but (hopefully) not of it, valuable tools for being a cultural critic. I would have rated this book higher, but for me it doesn't break a lot of new ground, and the appendices concerning an analysis of the movie "Titanic" could have been better utilized on a movie with more depth and meaning (even though I do admit that, like everyone else, I cried at the end of the movie). On the other hand, you've got to love a book with a chapter entitled "Christians Who Drink Beer" (even though, personally, I don't). Others who haven't read widely in this field like I have would surely give it a higher rating, because it is a very competent, easy to read book on an important subject.

Eyes Wide Open is an important read for Christians living the 21st Century. Romanowski dives deep into the heart of music, television, and movies. It is a constant struggle for Christians to remain separate from the world while still remaining in the world. There is a struggle to balance and maintain the sacred and secular in our personal lives. There is a never-ending pull to embrace the culture that surrounds us in order to be effective and relatable.
Christians need to recognize certain things before submersing oneself into pop culture.
The entertainment media is consumed with so much corruption and inappropriate material that it can easily make a believer stray. As Christians we have to discern what is worth partaking in. Are we being a light in this darkened world if we watch/listen to this? Are we being relatable or are we just enjoying this for the wrong reasons? People of faith need to be informed and ready to defend what they believe. It is so important to be well-rounded and knowledgeable about all different areas. The entertainment world may be the most important because it involves almost every person in society in some way. But ultimately as a Christ follower they need to be grounded and know when to draw the line.
Coming from a Christian prospective it is important to recognize the difference between popular art and entertainment because the idea of popular art was meant to be taken as an artists purpose behind work rather than its entertainment value. "Understanding the roles that contemporary popular art plays in our lives, culture, and society is central to the development of a critical approach." The arts were made to "help understand our lives and culture." So as a Christian it is important to recognize the difference before critiquing them under the same standard. Knowing this before analyzing the two is a more fair way to go about ones approach.
This book is important for any Christian living in today's society to gain prospective and insight on how to be well informed and prepared for any apologetics discussion.

"Eyes Wide Open" is, in my opinion, one of the most important contemporary works on engaging culture available. Romanowski traverses the often complicated landscape of contemporary culture, challenging his reader as he goes to use discernment when approaching the visual arts, film and music. Both accessible and intellectually stimulating, Romanowski's book is a "must read" for any aspiring apologist.

Book Reviews *****


Marianna Caplan. Eyes Wide Open.

Marianna Caplan has written a series of down to earth, no nonsense books about the spiritual path and its pitfalls. Each of these books is valuable in pointing to the numberless errors that we humans are prey, to and that manifest themselves in spiritual practitioners, teachers and communities. Her writings are a refreshing antidote to the superficialities, errors, egocentric misuses and commercializations of spiritual practice that abound in the marketplace.

Eyes Wide Open is an excellent example of the spiritual discernment it tries to teach. With its aid we are more likely to end up with mature teachers, doing effective practices, and using them for ego transcendence rather than ego aggrandizement.

The book is clearly and intelligently written and a gift to us all.

Eyes Wide Open provides a look at the arts of contemporary culture through the eyes of an American Christian. While asserting the need for critical thought on issues of the morality and messages of pop culture's media, Romanowski is not terribly firm on any sort of position either in criticism of the arts or of the Christian culture. This book provides at best an interesting look at the historical aspects of popular culture, but does not provide any real sense of direction in analysis or assesment of the morality of contemporary media.

This book gives interesting insights on how Christians should appreciate and critique popular art. Romanowski gives different approaches to popular art, identifies which approaches are appropriate and inappropriate, and gives sound advice on how to properly appreciate popular art. A good read for anyone who wants to get everything they can from popular music, and films.

"Eyes Wide Open" by William Romanowski is a well done book about the vaules behind pop culture (and America) and how Christians should evaluate pop art. The book is filled with tons of examples from movies, songs, tv, and more. EWO gives a Christian perspective on pop art, by telling the Christian reader to engage in pop art instead of hiding from it by critically analyzing it. Great read for those who who want to know the relationship between pop art and religion.

Romanowski's "Eyes Wide Open" was certainly an interesting read. While there were some theological points I didn't agree with in his writing, Romanowski hit the nail on the head in dealing with popular arts. He made a great point in saying that there is value and aesthetic beauty in popular art and that Christians need to be more accepting of that. His point doesn't mean we have to accept everything presented within the work of art, whether it be a movie, a painting, or a novel; we need to be appreciative of the art presented in it while also being critical of the culture, the worldview, and the ideas within the work. If you're interested in finding out how to learn to be fair and critical while approaching works of art, this would be a great read. He uses excellent and current examples that fuel and are the crux of his book.

Eyes Wide Open: Looking For God In Popular Culture is an easy-to-read, highly engaging guide for interpreting and evaluating popular culture from a Christian perspective and framework. William Romanowski (professor of communication arts and sciences at Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Michigan) offers a practical, analytical, and Christian-based approach to movies, music, and television programs, enabling the reader to engage the media that so saturates modern life. Romanowski's illuminating examples range from Casablanca to Titanic, from The Simpsons to ER, from Bruce Springsteen to Amy Grant. Eyes Wide Open is informative, rewarding, insightful, and strongly recommended reading for parents, pastors, teachers, and teens.