Eyes Wide Open

I've been wanting to blog about "Eyes Wide Open" but I figured it best to reflect on the book as a whole. Thus, now that we've finished reading and discussing it, I'll offer my response. In a positive sense, I feel little need for this post to take on the nature of a critique; rather, I would prefer to examine my expectations, reactions, and conclusions regarding Romanowski's work.

Admittedly conservative (particularly in regards to mass media), I was skeptical about what standpoint Romanowski would take in his writing about the relationship Christians should pursue (or avoid) with popular culture. I have consciously resisted the pull to just dive headfirst into the dangerous waters of our sinful culture on the premise of "relating" to my non-believing neighbors. Frankly, I'm sick of the notion that in order for our Christian message/lifestyle to be effective, we must first submerge ourselves completely into contemporary media in order to establish a common ground with unbelievers. I uneasily expected Romanowski to advocate such treatment of culture, and I assumed the title of the book implied such a standpoint.

I was wrong. From the beginning pages, I began to realize that Romanowski's viewpoint was much the same as my own, and although his familiarity and comfort with popular media was far greater than mine, he treated it much the same as I try to. I was impressed by the delicate balance with which Romanowski treated our culture, contemporary media, and the way it should be approached by Christianity. His assertion that "the popular arts are not outside God's judgment - or beyond God's redemption" struck me as a poignant expression of the way I've always felt that media should be treated. Far too often, Christians treat the popular arts as if its creators and viewers are not responsible for its content. This has always bothered my spirit, but unfortunately, this awareness has inclined me to simply hide from all the negative influences of contemporary media (admittedly missing the good, but considering myself better for it in the end). I have struggled to know where the fine line is between being actively involved in media without gratuitously giving myself over to the sinfulness it often condones. Romanowski's suggestion that we should work to redeem the popular arts resonated with me tremendously.

There are numerous aspects of the book that were also affirming for me, and though I will not expound on them I would like to list them here: that faith is not the issue, but rather the context; also, that "Christians need not shy away from the reality of evil in favor of sentimentalism, but a difficulty for artists is to treat the ugliness, brutality, vice, and meanness of sinful humanity without falling into the kind of gratuitous and exploitative depictions that characterize many productions."

Again, an exhaustive account of the things in this book that impacted me would make this post excessively long (as if it's not already). I will conclude by saying the I appreciated Romanowski's profound ability to advocate involvement with popular art while strongly cautioning against a passive intake of it. With "eyes wide open," we must not simply absorb all of the entertainment we can in efforts to simply familiarize ourselves with it; rather, as Romanowski makes clear, we should constantly look for ways in which we can become involved in God's redemptive plan for our culture.

3-31-09 Lecture Summary

Professor Rudd taught us about parasocial interactions. The interactions are defined as a one-sided relationship with a media figure, and were thorougly studied by the psychologists Horton and Wohl. As Rudd pointed out, parasocial interactions aren't really relationships at all, since a "relationship" necessarily involves at least two people. Still, parasocial interactions have a profound impact on our lives and the way we interact with other people.

Rudd then explained the interpersonal relational theory and how it is applied to parasocial interactions. The theory states that people don't disclose secret information until they're confident that the listener has earned their trust (over time). This effect can be thought of visually as a bull's-eye, in which each ring signifies a different level of the depth of information willingly disclosed. The outer ring signifies casual, surface information such as name or physical appearance. While moving toward the center of the bull's-eye, each ring signifies increasingly personal, secretive details that require more time and comfortability with someone in order to be readily shared.

Interestingly enough, we also learned that there is no correlation between loneliness and high parasocial interactions. Likewise, social skills do not correlate to high parasocial interactions. However, research has found that fewer opportunities for social relationships predict higher parasocial interactions.

Lastly, Rudd described ways in which media producers use parasocial relationships. One way is that producers focus on making productions (and personalities) seem more realistic. Other ways are frequency and consistency of appearance (of a certain actor, host, etc.), stylized behavior and conversational manner, and the effective use of the formal characteristics of television.