Bad Art

"Just because you are a follower of Christ, does not give you permission to make lazy art."

Heather Zempel spoke at church this weekend about God's beauty. It was a great message and like the last time she spoke a series of blogs will be spawned. I took a lot of notes and I'm sure as I process things this week, I'll continue to post things.

But the statement above is one I completely agree with and I'm pretty sure I've soapboxed this topic before. And I usually come at it from a music angle and I'll probably do so again because music is my life and the art form that matters most to me.

And I guess because I've harped and harped numerous times about Christians making bad or mediocre music, I want to ask a different question; Why are Christians so willing to just accept bad art made in Jesus' name?

I know it's a big and unfair question to as and it's not entirely true. But I think there is a truth to this question. And it doesn't just apply to music. Anyone who's ever bought a t-shirt with the Pepsi logo but Pepsi was replaced with Jesus knows what I'm talking about. Well... I guess if you bought that t-shirt you're part of the problem and willing to disagree with me. So I'll rephrase that. Anyone who's ever seen someone wearing a Pepsi t-shirt but the Pepsi was replaced with Jesus and shook their head in mild disgust and embarrassment knows what I'm talking about.

Even though my dad loves it, I know there's probably a good chunk of Christian fiction flying off shelves somewhere that isn't worth the paper it's printed on. And I can't talk about bad Christian art and no bring up the Left Behind movies. There was another series of Rapture and most rapture films that my parents had at one point but I can't remember the name of that series. They were shitty bad films. One of them starred Gary Busey. Enough said.

And we all know there is some Christian music out there we wish would go away because it's embarrassing. I won't name names because I feel bad for picking on people who are trying to glorify God with their music and doing what they feel called by God to do. But I've heard music that's awful and worse, I've read lyrics that are so cheap and easy, and they honestly make me a little sad.

But someone is buying these books, films, albums, t-shirts, and so forth to give someone a reason to continue to make mediocre art. And people buy bad and mediocre art forms all the time. That's why Transformers can make a lot of money and Lady Gaga can sell out concerts (am I right?). I mean, Soulja Boy isn't really what I consider quality anything and people seemed to love him for a minute.

So what's the point? I guess my ultimate question is should we as Christians demand better art from their artists, musicians, writers, filmmakers, etc? And I know this is a ridiculous example but we would never eat awful tasting cookies just because a Christian made them. Am I right? Of course I am. Who wants to eat bad cookies?

Like I said, I know it's a stretch to try and compare cookies to art but I think the idea works. I know responsibility should fall on the artist to create better, deeper, more meaningful art. But if people won't ask for it, demand it, then why change? Instead of complaining about how bad things are, why not demand better? Why not just create better ourselves?