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 | Jonathan’s Resource Ezine |
Weekly Resources, Ideas and Articles from The Source for Youth Ministry
Tuesday, September 2, 2003
| In This Issue |
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| Jonathan’s New Hit Song "I BLOCKED MY MTV!" By Jonathan McKee |
September 2, 2003
After sitting down for my once a year viewing of MTV . . . the MTV Music Awards, I couldn’t help but be a little shocked (yes- it still shocks me) and a little depressed. I don’t know what was the hardest part to see: Madonna’s open mouth kiss to yesterday’s role models Brittany and Christina, or the closing words of the opening number, "We’re bored with the concept of right and wrong." Or maybe the commercials like the one of the 13-year-old kid stealing the car from his dopey parents, yelling at them for not letting him do anything. Of course this commercial for MTV ends with the caption, "Someday You’ll Escape. Until Then there’s MTV."
I flew to New Jersey the next day to train a group of staff and student leaders how to reach out to the unchurched kids in the neighborhood. I asked the students how many of them had watched the awards. Half of them raised their hands. (And they weren’t trying to learn about youth culture!)
Our kids are seeing this stuff everyday. Not just unchurched kids, but churched kids. It’s a reality. The majority of kids get far more parenting from MTV then they do from an actual parent. Care to hear what this surrogate parent is teaching our kids?
I was going to write an article about it- but then I came across Walt’s 2 cents below. So I thought I’d just start rewriting the first few lines of Dire Straits, "Money for Nothing" to fit the occasion:
I BLOCKED MY MTV
I blocked my MTV . . .
(guitar intro)
Enter your code, that’s the way you do it
I Blocked my receiver from MTV
Madonna kissed Brittany, that’s the way they do it
If Your morals are nothin’ then you are guilt free . . .
ENJOY JONATHAN AS A SPEAKER FOR YOUR NEXT CAMP, EVENT, OR CONFERENCE
Jonathan speaks at schools, camps, and youth events all over the U.S. He also trains youth workers and student leaders at national conferences and seminars. Check out Jonathan’s speaker page and who’s recommending him!
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| MTV MUSIC AWARDS YOUTH CULTURE UPDATE |
Some of you may subscribe to Walt Mueller’s EUPDATE on www.cpyu.org
If you do, then you might have heard Walt share some incredible insight on the MTV’s annual Music Awards that were on last Thursday. He explains how MTV functions as a map and mirror in our culture. He highlights the affects of mainstream homosexuality, hip hop, and fashion today. He also raises questions about today’s and tomorrow’s celebrity role models. Walt sheds light on issues we all need to be aware of as youth workers today.
I didn’t want you to miss out on this- so I asked Walt if I could share it with you. Check it out:
Mueller’s Musings
by Walt Mueller
Tonight I did what I do on MTV’s annual Video Music Awards day – I watched and processed the show. This year, I had to head right to the computer to record my thoughts. The VMA’s – like all popular entertainment – function in our culture as both a MAP and a MIRROR. As a map, the VMA’s direct and shape the developing worldview of vulnerable children and teens who look to the music industry for guidance and direction. In that sense, viewing the three-plus hour broadcast puts me in the same “classroom” as our kids. For those of us who want to know what the kids we know and love are learning from these teachers, the VMA’s give us a front row seat in the classroom. It’s imperative that we know what our kids are learning. That way, we can affirm or correct where necessary. As a mirror, the VMA’s allow us to gaze at ourselves to see what we look like and what we’ve become. The show is an accurate reflection – although many of us won’t admit or believe it – of how we’ve changed, what we think, how we live, and who we are as a culture. Granted, the reflection I saw tonight was not something I liked. Nor was it an accurate reflection of me as an individual. But collectively. . . . I can’t argue with the fact that what I saw is a reflection of what our youth culture has become.
All that said, what does this year’s VMA map and mirror have to tell us about our culture and our kids? What follows are some random and initial musings regarding what we can learn about youth culture and how to minister in it, from this year’s VMA’s.
THE POPULAR MUSIC INDUSTRY IS GASPING FOR AIR
The popular music industry is gasping for air. With the exception of the first five minutes of the show, there was very little that was eventful or new. Popular music is looking for that “next big thing” – something to spike record sales. I think the evidence of that was the fact that Justin Timberlake won three awards (don’t get me started on that one!). Yes, Coldplay won three awards too. But overall, the industry is on autopilot. I’m not sure when the next big thing is coming along. But when they find it and it hits, its going to make a big splash.
HOMOSEXUALITY AND LESBIANISM MAINSTREAM
Now. . . . about those first five minutes. . . . homosexuality and lesbianism are no longer stigmatized or seen as sinful. In fact, they are celebrated in the mainstream. First, you’ve got Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera singing Madonna’s “Like A Virgin” while dressed in white wedding “dresses” – actually, they looked they had been purchased at Victoria’s Secret. Don’t forget that just three years ago these two were topping the charts as the reigning “good girl” queens of formulated, generic pop music – and millions of parents were buying their albums and concert tickets for their seven, eight, and nine-year-old girls. Today, those young fans are three years older and not even into their teenage years. The Britney and Christina they’re listening to are totally reinvented as bad girls. What are those young fans learning from these “maps?” Last night, Madonna joined them on stage. Dressed in groom’s black, she played the part of the man in the on-stage lesbian wedding fantasy. She broke into her song “Hollywood” and began to bump and grind with her two “virgin” brides. Somewhere near the end of the opening number, Madonna ended her song with the lyrics “I’m bored with the concept of right and wrong.” Those lyrics were sung in the context of engaging in an open-mouthed kiss with both Spears and Aguilera. That opening number set the stage for the anti-climatic appearance of the flamboyant homosexual cast of the hit Bravo series “Queer Eye For The Straight Guy” as presenters. Remember, “map” and “mirror.” We’ve got to be addressing issues of sexuality with our kids.
URBAN HIP-HOP STYLE AND ETHOS RULE
The urban Hip-Hop style and ethos rule. It is stamped all over today’s youth culture. The genre is #1 among children and teens. It’s flavored the commercials (have you watched the commercials on Nickelodeon lately?). Our kids sing and dance to the gangsta lifestyle. In our postmodern climate, there’s nothing wrong with that. Granted, not all hip-hop music and style promotes the thug life. But I think VMA host Chris Rock was pretty insightful when he joked about 50 Cent’s success and the fact that nobody talks about the music. Instead, they talk about the fact that he was shot nine times. The rise of the distinctive urban lifestyle and music into the mainstream of suburban and rural white America begs another question. . . . . now that the truly urban owners of the genre and lifestyle have seen it move into the mainstream, what will they invent and adopt as their own. As all successful youth marketers and cool hunters know, you look for the edgy stuff and market it to the world. But once it becomes a fad, those who originally owned it as their own start looking for something else. Those who work in urban ministry need to keep their ear to the ground for what’s coming next. But that too will eventually be packaged, marketed, and sold to the mainstream.
FREAK DANCING NOT FREAKY ANYMORE
Freak dancing isn’t freaky anymore. It’s been described as “having sex with your clothes on.” That’s certainly what it looks like and is also how it functions. We saw it on-stage at the VMA’s and it’s an integral part of most videos. We’ve got to do a better job of teaching our kids about issues related to modesty and a Godly sexual ethic.
NO RULES FOR SEX
When it comes to sex, there are no rules. If you were an alien sent to watch this year’s VMA’s from a sociological/anthropological perspective, what would you scribble on your notepad? What kept running through my mind is that the sex act and all things sexual are the reason for living, boundary-less, and sacramental. Our kids are growing up in a world where the hedonistic and unbridled pursuit of pleasure is integral to life. Fornication, adultery, and homosexuality aren’t even seen as naughty enough to be pursued in a sneaky way. Again, we’ve got to do a better job of teaching our kids about issues related to modesty and a Godly sexual ethic.
NORMAL LOOKING GIRLS HAVE NO SHOT
Normal looking girls don’t have a chance. If you taped the show, watch it again with that last statement in mind. The body image pressure continues and we’ll see more and more of our girls at younger and younger ages begin to self-destruct over appearance. Sadly, are guys are getting the message too. Did you hear the banter last night between Nelly and Murphy Lee as they lustily discussed females and their posteriors?
THE FUTURE OF THE OLSEN TWINS
What’s next for the Olsen twins? They were there tonight and they’re also on the cover of the latest edition of Rolling Stone. Keep your eye on them. How they grow up will set a pattern for our kids. Watch how they are marketed and reinvented. It will serve as an interesting case study.
POSTMODERN SELF RULE DICTATES HOW TO LIVE LIFE
Postmodern self-rule dictates how to live life. In today’s world, there is no objective, transcendent authority outside of self. The “I” determines all things ethical. “I” does what “I” wants to do. For a great example, take another look at 50 Cent’s performance of his hit song “P.I.M.P.” It oozed postmodern individualism. But he wasn’t alone. We’ve got to be teaching our kids about truth and authority.
WOMEN AS ORNAMENTS
Women are ornaments for men. The VMA’s featured what we so often see in the music videos – singers, dancers and women who just stand around doing nothing but being scantily-clad sexual objects for men. I’ve often used this crude analogy that isn’t very pretty. . . that so much of the music today depicts women as nothing more or less than urinals that hang on a men’s room wall. As such, they are objects used by male to relieve themselves in. We must be teaching a true Biblical view of personhood.
PAIN IS MAINSTREAM
Pain is mainstream. Who would have ever thought that Johnny Cash would be a video star in 2003? And, even more unbelievable is that he did it with a remake of Trent Reznor’s “Hurt” from the 1994 Nine Inch Nails album “The Downward Spiral.” That’s one song worth discussing with your kids. The opening line – “I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel.” Those words capture the essence of the epidemic of teenage self-abuse.
JESSICA SIMPSON AND THAT SUIT
How about Jessica Simpson’s suit?!?!?!? I stand by what I wrote about her a couple of years ago – she’s the poster girl for dis-integrated faith. When are we going to start teaching our kids that coming to faith in Christ is not just about going to heaven??? No, it’s about living the Kingdom of God here on earth and integrating that faith consistently into every area of our lives.
BEYONCE AND GOD
Beyonce never once thanked God. Unless I missed it, the winner of three moonmen stepped out of character and never once thanked the Lord. In a way, I’m happy as her music and lifestyle haven’t been especially spiritually fruitful.
MISSY AND GOD
I was thrilled to hear Missy Elliot’s words after receiving the award for “Best Hip Hop Video” early on in the show. She thanked God and then said why. . . . “for giving me the talents and the creative mind.” Hey, Missy Elliot might not be bringing glory to God through her music. But her theology was dead-on right in her comments.
As I head to bed tonight, my heart does ache. It’s the map and the mirror that I watched tonight that make me hurt. If you watched, you’re probably hurting too. Let’s use the map and the mirror as catalysts to respond as Jesus would. There’s not a kid in this world or a performer on that VMA show that is beyond redemption. Our prayers and our ministry efforts need to be built on that conviction.
CHECKOUT MORE FROM WALT MUELLER AT THE CENTER FOR PARENT/YOUTH UNDERSTANDING
www.cpyu.org
If you have any other youth ministry ideas you want to share, please email me at jon@thesource4ym.com
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KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!
God Bless,
Jonathan R. McKee
THE SOURCE
for Youth Ministry
www.TheSource4YM.com
Jonathan McKee
Jonathan McKee is the author of over twenty books including the brand new The Guy's Guide to FOUR BATTLES Every Young Man Must Face; The Teen’s Guide to Social Media & Mobile Devices; If I Had a Parenting Do Over; and the Amazon Best Seller - The Guy's Guide to God, Girls and the Phone in Your Pocket. He speaks to parents and leaders worldwide, all while providing free resources for youth workers on TheSource4YM.com. Jonathan, his wife Lori, and their three kids live in California.