Unpop Culture

It’s not every day you get to announce the official release of a book you contributed to. As many of you know, I’ve had the privilege of working with Drs. Joshua Chatraw and Karen Swallow Prior on an anthology about Christian engagement with cultural beliefs. Dr. Prior asked me to contribute an essay a year and a half ago, and it has been a tremendous pleasure and privilege to be involved in this project. The book, Cultural Engagement: A Crash Course in Contemporary Issues , releases today. It explores nine controversial topics—sexuality, gender roles, human life & reproductive technology, immigration & race, creation & creature care, politics, work, the arts, and warfare & capital punishment—from a variety of angles. Contributors to the book include Makoto Fujimura, Rod Dreher, Rosaria Butterfield, Andy Crouch, Joe Carter, and Katelyn Beaty. There is a wide range of beliefs represented in this book, not because all positions are equally valid, but because ...

In the last few weeks, we’ve been examining the claim that simulated sex scenes are not real sex. Some argue that, because mainstream movie sets are tightly controlled and highly contained, these scenes cannot be categorized as sexual in nature. As I heard one person put it, “Even when filming sex scenes, film sets are the least erotic places on earth.” Thus far, we have looked at three problems with that line of reasoning. Let’s complete this blog series by examining two more problems. 4. Sometimes the Sex Isn’t Simulated I said earlier that a typical sex scene in a film, TV show, or stage play doesn’t involve actual penetrative sex. I used the word “typical” for a reason: there are atypical mainstream forms of entertainment where actual sex does take place on set. I won’t link to them, but there are plenty of lists of which films show actors (or body doubles) engaging in bona fide copulation. Furthermore, to quote a 2012 article from The Independent , “films wher...

After last year’s Video Music Awards, Christianity Today posted an article mourning over how Miley Cyrus gave in to the cultural idea that “in-your-face sexuality is the easiest way to get attention.” Four months later, the magazine used a different emotional tone when addressing Martin Scorsese’s film The Wolf of Wall Street , which revels in depictions of explicit sexuality. The article states , “ The Wolf of Wall Street is a great and possibly terrific movie.” In another corner of cyberspace, Christ and Pop Culture examined the implications of Miley Cyrus spending “the majority of her 6 minutes on stage ‘ twerking .’” The magazine summarized the sexualized spectacle as “exuberant, banal, nihilism.” Several months later, while examining Scorsese’s filmmaking and stylistic choices, this same magazine adamantly proposed that The Wolf of Wall Street was not only “redeemable,” but also “an incredibly moral film.”           ...

You may have noticed some changes taking place around here lately. Several weeks ago, I updated the layout and design of the blog. It is slightly more modern, but without completely abandoning the ancient, historical feel I intended at the beginning. Now the big revisions have taken place: switching the URL from 4scores.blogspot.com to capstewart.com, and replacing the original blog title, Four Scores and Seven Films Ago , with a new title, Happier Far . When I first created this blog in January of 2006, I decided on a title that incorporated my love of American history and my affinity for instrumental motion picture scores. The lengthy subtitle of the blog gave me practically unlimited freedom to write about whatever I wanted: Art. Life. Joy. All find their greatest expression in and through one Source: the Creator of the universe, the Savior of the spiritually dead, the Fountain of lasting pleasure. Apart from Christ, art is a mere distraction, life a mere triviality, ...