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You can read my paper Seeking Serenity: Creating spaces for theological dialogue between churches and young adults through the Joss Whedon television series Firefly and film Serenity. Download it here. I am presenting this paper at the International Conference on Media, Religion, Culture. Comments are welcome.
Yahoo News posted this article by Amanda Beck on how Americans now have fewer close friends than was typical in the past.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Americans are more socially isolated than they were 20 years ago, separated by work, commuting and the single life, researchers reported on Friday.
Nearly a quarter of people surveyed said they had "zero" close friends with whom to discuss personal matters. More than 50 percent named two or fewer confidants, most often immediate family members, the researchers said...The data also show the social isolation trend mirrors other class divides: Non-whites and people with less education tend to have smaller social networks than white Americans and the highly educated.
The division of class and close friend relationships is particularly interesting. I wonder how friendship rates are chagning by class. Is it one class group that has less friends and the others are constant or is everyone less friendly now that was previously typical?
I was not suprised to see social capital theorist Robert Putnam interved for this story. He is an advocate for building strong tie relationships, the kind that Beck informs us about and that is well documented in Putnam's book Bowling Alone.
This issue seems critical for churches, being bastions of close ties and tight friendship networks. It is also well documented that church attendance is also on the decline in the United States. Putnam asserts that these phonemena are related. The way Americans relate socially is certainly changing for good or ill, and it seems that churches should be very interested in finding out more about these changes.
Henry Jenkins has followed up his original post on Firefly and the Long Tail with a look at how direct to DVD funding might work.
Henry Jenkins recently posted an interesting look at Joss Whedon’s Firefly and Serenity in the light of the Long Tail—a concept that highlights the web’s ability to make niche products or ideas accessible and viable in ways that are impossible in brick and mortar selling chains. (For a nice synopsis of the long tail and the entertainment industry read Chris Anderson’s Wired article.)
For Jenkins, the making of the feature film Serenity may have been a mistake following the cancelled show Firefly, and the development of the film moved the wrong direction of the long tail curve—toward broader appeal instead of toward the niche market.
Imagine, instead, that [Whedon] had moved in the other direction down the tail, towards the production of television style episodes directly for dvd…From the perspective of a producer like Whedon, who has a strong and existing fan base, this should be a very attractive proposition - make as many episodes as you want in whatever story structure you want with no risk that a network will stand between you and your audience, start making money as soon as the first product ships rather than waiting for syndication to turn a profit.
I like the idea of direct to DVD television series, but in the case of Firefly I wonder about the ability of such a move to generate the necessary funds for the show to continue with the same quality cast and high production value. Advertising pays for broadcast show production, a revenue stream that is not developed in direct to consumer DVD channels. You could plan to sell a large number of DVD’s but at this point we return to the start of the discussion of moving up or down the long tail.
I am a fan of Firefly, one who came to the series well after it ceased to be on network television. It seems to me that Serenity being made at all attests to the power of web networks to advance niche market concepts. From the ashes of a very brief canceled television show rose a really good feature film. Sure it didn’t have the mass appeal of your typical summer blockbuster, but it was also far more nuanced and interesting than your typical summer blockbuster. The film was made, the DVD can be purchased at your local retail outlet, and because of web organized fan support we have more of the series than we likely would have. Whether or not this was a good investment for Universal, I don’t know, but for the fans, I’d call it a win.
Last week I caught a piece of an interview on MPR's Midmorning with Karen Armstrong a theologian exploring the Axial Age. I finally had a chance to listen to the whole interview today. It is wonderful and very worth listening through the fund drive pauses in the show. She discusses the common roots and connections between many religious faiths and how the spiritual insights of the axial age have not been surpassed.
Mary Hess posted a piece about the use of Drupal at Boston College. Drupal is a handy system for multiple author sites which is great for religious organizations. I have been involved in and aware of a few religious projects that are running Drupal.
Spirit Garage
Emerging Leaders Network
Bethlehem Lutheran Church
Jacobs Well
I am also a fan that it is an open source system. However, it can require some customization that would be beyond many neophyte web developers.
I've been watching video clips from Comedy Central's Colbert Report. In a piece they did about congressional districts, Colbert interviews Georgia Rep. Lynn Westmoreland. During the interview, Colbert asks Westmoreland about a bill he co-sponsored place the Ten Commandments in the Senate and Congress. When Colbert asks him to name the Commandments, Westmoreland is unable to. Is this staged? I don't know but it is funny and sad if true.
There is a benefit show tonight at the Hexagon Bar in Minneapolis, Rock Beats ALS. It is for an great guy I know, Scott Stafne. There's several bands, no cover, w/ donations accepted to aid ALS research. See you there.
I have a new photo collection up, a behind the scenes look at film production and the work of director Jon Nowak. You can view Nowak's reel at GreenDot films.
I just learned about a photographer, Michelle Westmark, who is doing some really interesting work. She is taking portraits of people in their most comfortable and least comfortable clothing and then creating a photo composite of both images. Very cool.
Thanks Mary for the link to the Media Religion Culture Project, a new not-for-profit enterprise dedicated to promoting excellence in the academic study of media, religion, and culture around the world. It will be exciting to watch what they do.
Several weeks ago, I gave a presentation on Cult Brands and Christianity at the Christianity in a Consumer Culture Conference. The presentation was recorded, but alas only half of the presentation made it onto the recording. (Download the audio here. 43MB). Also, here is a .pdf of the presentation slide deck. For what there is, enjoy.
On a related note, if anyone has any great tricks or widgets for making audio and screen capture videos from presentations, I would love to know about what works.
Earlier this month on Speaking of Faith, Krista Tippet played an interview with Jaroslov Pelikan on the history and importance of creeds in religious communities. Pelikan, who recently died, was a History Professor at Yale and a renown writer and scholar on the history of creeds and religion. The interview is incredibly interesting as Pelikan talks about how creeds are markers of identity and faith and how creeds such as the Nicene Creed or the Maasi Creed were developed. (You can listen to the audio as a stream or download as an .mp3.)