Gods Behaving Badly - Ward (introduction)

Name of author, name of essay/chapter reporting on: Pete Ward, Gods Behaving Badly – introduction.

Your articulation of their thesis (i.e. in your own words):

            In this introduction, Ward writes about the blurring lines between religion and pop culture (aspects of religion are continually filtering into media, finding their way into TV, movies, music, books, etc.) and explores it using the context of celebrity. Ward argues that whether or not you like or loathe celebrities is not important – they still affect you. A celebrity merely represents something else – a bigger idea, value, or “take” on being human. If you are the type to frown upon celebrities and everything they stand for, you are no better than a cultural elitist. Instead, you must view celebrities for the symbols they are and define your opinions of the topics they represent. Increasingly frequently in modern society, celebrities have come to be very nearly religious figures – they have obsessive fans who are said to ‘worship’ them and are called ‘gods.’ Ward explains this occurrence by citing the release of mainline Protestantism’s “stranglehold” on society – without religion in their everyday media, fans latch onto the nearest celebrity and worship them in the place of religion, using religious vocabulary to describe both the celebrities and their actions and turning celebrities into semi-divine figures. This “religion” tells us much less about Christian theology than it does about the nature of ourselves—we much prefer fallible, human idols than perfect, Christian ones – celebrities are the exact right mix of sacred and profane. In essence, we are knowingly labeling fellow humans as gods while still being perfectly aware that they are not, in fact, perfect – false gods. We set them up in our heads as sacred and perfect, but we almost seem to delight in their failures more than we do in their successes. We love hearing about the latest failings of our fake gods, and we especially enjoy sitting in judgment of them when they do so – media has become our way of keeping an eye on our gods.

At least three links (websites, blogs, articles, music) or images that illustrate the

ideas of the article:

1. Ward talked a lot about how people love celebrities who show their humanity – by making mistakes, doing bad things, etc. These celebrities do not usually suffer ill effects from their recklessness, stupidity, and/or maliciousness – they simply receive more attention because of it. A prime example of this is Chris Brown, a rapper infamous for having physicallybeaten his then-girlfriend, Rihanna, multiple times. Brown’s career barely even took a hit from the media backlash against him, and today he is a top-selling artist in the United States. It’s horrendous, but it really exemplifies the celebrity-glorifying culture we have in America – everyone was horrified by what Brown did, but it only served to make them more fascinated with him.

2. Ward also talks about the growing use of religious terms and vocabulary to refer to parts of celebrity culture and celebrities themselves. Nothing is a better example of this linguistic shift than the title Justin Bieber fans unite themselves under: “Beliebers.” An obvious play off of the word “believer,” these young people are very up-front about the way they equate Bieber with a semi-deistic figure.

3. Ward tells us that celebrities are not famous precisely because they are particularly intelligent, talented, or special, but because they show a unique “take” on what it means to be human (or black, or a woman, or short, etc.). As I tried to think of reasons Ward would say this, only one example came to mind: the cast of The Jersey Shore. None of these people are especially remarkable human beings, with no super-exciting talents to boast about. Why, then are they so ridiculously famous? Because they show an intriguing way to be human. Other humans are fascinated by the way they live their lives – not necessarily because they think it’s a good way to live, but because it’s new and interesting.

At least two discussion questions that will help your reader develop the ideas of

the article (i.e., keep us talking):

1. Have you ever found yourself building up a celebrity (and/or celebrities) to be a “false god?” Did they live up to your expectations of them? Did you expect them to?

2. What do you think it is about celebrities that makes everyone else think there is something special, something remarkable about them – what makes them better god-material than anyone else in the world? Money? Fame? (Perhaps nothing at all?)