Megachurches & Hyperrealism
In our class discussion today on Hall, Katie used the example of the word "church" for a term that is being "unfixed" by a group of people. Currently, there is a move away from church being synonymous with a physical institution into a meaning that represents a body of people in active faith. This transition is understandable especially in the context of mega churches, a cultural phenomenon I am particularly fascinated with. While a definitive cap on an acceptable congregation seems overly prescriptive and silly, mega churches do seem to cross a line. By mega churches, I'm specifically referring to churches with over 20,000 members, though the formal definition is any congregation over 2,000 members. I'm looking at the extreme end of congregation sizes in order to talk about the hyperrealistic implications of services like this.
Baudrillard provides the example of Disneyland as "real" disguised in the imaginary, and the surrounding areas as hyperreal. Analogously, American values in a mega church like Lakewood (pictured above) are "embalmed and pacified" (1565). The sports arena vibe with the stadium seating and flat screen TVs, the flashy lights, the snazzy music (I’m assuming they have snazzy music), it’s all there. From the picture, it’s hard to differentiate the service from a concert or some kind of celebrity interview. The prosperity gospel of Lakewood is a main criticism, and one I think that again fits into the list of American values. While under the “ideological blanket” (1565) of religious teaching, the church actually functions to conceal it’s essential Americana distillation. It’s easy to mistake the service for a concert for a reason- it functions as the same thing, as an entertaining and comforting product to consume. Outside of the church, the same values are saturated throughout other spaces, and a service simply functions as a kind of kairotic moment in which those values all come together at one time.
I don’t have specific questions for this example. If you have thoughts you should share them!
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ReplyDeleteI used to live in a suburb of Houston and I knew many people who substituted the televised sermons from Lakewood over any form of Christian community, church or otherwise. I'm not sure if these TV channels ran commercials during the services, but the fact that religion is accepted on such an impersonal and affected medium lends itself to what you’re pointing out. By affected I specifically mean that television is conceived as entertainment, relaxation, or in the best case information. The economic landscape in which television exists also leads me to feel like this is equivalent to fast food religion. The necessity of the act is satisfied with the least amount of investment. Once, mostly out to curiosity, my family decided to attend a Lakewood Church service. It was mostly as you described. At the end everyone rushed to leave just like a sports match. The church, as a community of believers, was absent, but the music was snazzy.
ReplyDeleteYeah, at issue is: What is church? If it's a facsimile of what church looks like, then you get what you see. If it's an ineffable spiritual experience of communion with God and others, then, oh my gosh.
ReplyDeleteI once attended a service at a megachurch when I was travelling around the country. We sat in movie theater-like chairs (very comfortable). The music was very snazzy--the music director and his choir had choreographed movements for each song, and there were pulsating lights/visual effects. It was very much like a concert. There were even traffic directors in the parking lot,which makes sense for such a large crowd. Upstairs the youth had an enormous sanctuary of their own with a large coffee lounge. High end contemporary decor. It was hyperreal, and definitely felt like a concert.
ReplyDeleteI also think of Christian conferences...like Women of Faith. I attended that once. There were ads between every session to buy books, performance groups that danced as we sang. It was in the stadium. It is a very interesting discussion in light of Hall.