Pop culture gets religion
Religion News Blog : Pop culture gets religion
Interesting religious trends.
The Wall Street Journal, via The Baltimore Sun (USA), May 17, 2004
http://www.baltimoresun.com
By Stephanie Kang, The Wall Street Journal
T-shirt with a cartoon kitten purring, "Jesus loves me" isn’t the kind
of thing Jaye Hersh usually sells at her trendy West Los Angeles boutique,
called Intuition.
"I’m Jewish … and a
lot of my clientele are hip, upscale Jewish women," said Hersh, who
nonetheless is selling the shirt, along with leather cuffs and belts stamped
with the Ten Commandments. "A year ago, I probably wouldn’t even have looked
at it," she added, "but right now it’s a trend."
From tank tops to toe rings, secular fashion with a Christian message is
pushing into the mainstream and grabbing the attention of finicky teens and
others with a sixth sense for fads.
Madonna, who is devoted to a form of Jewish mysticism, has been spotted
wearing a "Mary
Is My Homegirl" T-shirt. So has Pamela Anderson.
Some of the merchandise works on two levels: fun fashion for the faithful,
irreverent commentary for others. Either way, Christian apparel is enjoying
a moment of hip legitimacy.
"You don’t have to be hard-core
Christian to think
Jesus is my homeboy," said Samantha Lee, a 19-year-old who bought a shirt so
emblazoned at the Steve Madden store in Beverly Hills, Calif., after seeing
it in magazines.
The homeboy shirts’ maker is Teenage Millionaire, an apparel company
previously known for shirts with the slogan "Hot Punk." The new religious
references are ironic, but the purpose isn’t to shock, said Doug Williams,
creative director at the Los Angeles-based company.
"It’s 2004," he said. "People have been shocked to where it doesn’t work
anymore. T’s can be thought-provoking, and I hope these T’s make people
think."
Yes, or no
A few major teen retail chains, including Urban Outfitters Inc. and Journeys,
are carrying the homeboy shirts, but others are taking a pass.
Mall retailer Hot Topic Inc. caters to trendy teens with T-shirts and music
from such Christian rock bands as
Blindside and
Payable on Death. The stores won’t sell merchandise with religious
references or symbols, whether Christian crucifixes or pagan pentagrams.
"We have a general rule," said Cindy Levitt, general merchandise manager for
the 518-store chain, based in City of Industry, Calif. "If someone who isn’t
familiar with our store walks by our window display and is offended by what
they see, we won’t carry it."
Some believers like the T-shirts.
"The shirts are cool," said John Peterson, a youth pastor at the New
Beginnings Christian Fellowship, in Brick, N.J. "It might have been started
as a joke, but it could still have spiritual significance for people. It
could also be a means of identification for a Christian kid."
‘The Passion’ effect
Christian themes, often marginalized in the past, now are increasingly
present in pop culture. Most noticeable has been Mel Gibson’s "The
Passion of the Christ," which since its February opening has sold more
than $360 million in tickets and ranks No. 7 in terms of all-time U.S. box
office.
In addition, "Joan of Arcadia," on Viacom Inc.’s CBS, about a high school
girl who talks to God, won a People’s Choice Award for best dramatic series
this year. And Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc.’s United Artists subsidiary is
planning to release "Saved!", a subversive comedy about a girl named Mary at
a Christian high school who gets pregnant by her gay boyfriend.
"Religion in its own way has become a brand — and right now it’s hot," said
Jane Buckingham, president of Youth Intelligence, a New York
trend-forecasting company. But before too long, fashion-conscious teens and
the retail buyers who cater to them may move on to the next thing, she
warned.
Americans spend $200 billion a year on clothes, according to research firm
NPD Group. Sales of "Christian apparel" — including sweatshirts with Bible
verses or midriff-baring T’s — are just a tiny sliver of about $100 million,
according to the Christian Booksellers
Association.
Still, retailers are turning up the volume on figure-hugging clothes with
Christian messages.
Datomana, the Los Angeles maker of the kitty "Jesus Loves Me" shirts, has
other Christian logos that are more ambiguous, including "gee/oh/dee"
and "Fear No Evil."
The company has sold about 5,500 of its shirts since November. Beyonce
Knowles and TV’s Carson Daly have been seen sporting them, and MTV2 has
aired a Datomana commercial.
Makers of more-traditional Christian T-shirts also are taking note.
Vic Kennett, president of Kerusso Inc.,
a Berryville, Ark., Christian apparel and gift company, said the bulk of his
$5 million-plus T-shirt sales comes from shirts with traditional Christian
references, with such slogans as "Tougher
than Nails" or "Dead to Sin, Alive to Christ."
These days, teens want "something cool, so they don’t feel like the Church
Lady from ‘Saturday Night Live,’ " Kennett said.
New Testament for teens
Meanwhile, Thomas Nelson Inc., of Nashville, Tenn., has put a teen-marketing
spin on the Bible.
The company publishes a teen-targeted "BibleZine"
edition of the New Testament. It looks a lot like teen magazine CosmoGirl!
and, besides the biblical text, offers reviews of popular Christian bands
and pop quizzes such as "Are you dating a Godly guy?"
While a new edition of a Bible may sell 40,000 copies a year, Thomas Nelson
said its first BibleZine sold more than 300,000 copies since July — which,
at $16.99 a pop, is the largest sell-through in the company’s 200-year
history.
So far, Nelson is resisting the temptation to take BibleZines to the bank
with aggressive marketing.
Nelson has turned down several offers of tie-ins from Christian record
companies and said it won’t rely on endorsers or advertising. "It’s the
Bible; we don’t want
to mess with it," said company spokeswoman Laurie Whaley.