Ben Wilson: 300 and Masculinity

“Go tell the Spartans, passer-by, that here, by Spartan law, we lie.” – Simonides of Ceos

I have a strange fascination with 300. It’s not just the half-naked guys either - the excitement of an insurmountable challenge, the staunch-stubbornness, the raw virtues entailed. Obviously I’m not the only one. The influence 300 has had on mainstream culture is significant. It’s practically become a default activity on sausage fest gatherings on top of the established barbeques, wrestling and gumboot throwing. But has it actually become part of our psyches? Surely it’s only improved our idea of manhood, given us greater goals to achieve as blokes. Well…sort of.

300 speaks to a primitive part of the male brain (or at least mine) and makes it so fun to watch. While the story of Thermopylae doesn’t exactly win points with the screen writers guild, these seem to be the kind of tales that captivate us so much; The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, Harry Potter, Star Wars. None of these stories are what you’d call ‘complex’, but they’re classics because of their ‘good versus evil’ nature (on top of being actually good) and people relate easily to that.

But these are all copies of a single archetype – God’s epic story. Maybe we can’t help but replicate His narrative – something so engrained at the heart of humanity and its redemption that we just have to retell it.

Truly the story of 300 is close to the heart of God – saving a people from oppression with stern courage against impossible odds. Jesus did that Himself.

While there are few deeds I can think of that are more heroic or ‘manly’, the underlying messages 300 implies are more controversial. Its perception of people reminds me of Disney – the good guys are handsome in that rugged kind of way, ridiculously courageous, really keen to die and just when you thought this bachelorette party couldn’t get any better – they all come with a complete set of abs. Conversely the bad guys are either slaves or monstrous ninjas.

What’s a man to think? We’re feed this message time after time. I don’t think we can say it hasn’t affected us. The first time we meet someone, we’re more likely to believe they’re friendly if they’re good looking. I think the same is true of masculinity. If I’m to be a ‘true man’ do I have to work out? If I don’t, on what grounds can I say I’m a man? Does manliness originate from the way I’m seen, or the way I see myself?

Having been to the gym somewhat, I can say that having muscles is nothing special. I chat frequently with the owner, who set up the gym as a Christian ministry and through our talks I’m constantly reminded how empty a pursuit it can be. A lot of guys would like to ‘get back to the gym’, or be buff in some respect and I encourage that - It’s a healthy thing to do. But the magic word is always ‘moderation’.

Again, what does make a man ‘manly’ then? Is it by just being male? Should we even be worrying about this?

In a world of so many ideas and messages, hopes and hurts – life can be chaotic and confusing. Where you come into this world can seem insignificant when you’re only one person in a sea of many, in a planet of billions in our Milky Way and still one galaxy of many more. And here we are – pondering the meaning of masculinity. Seems almost petty. Yet we also live in world with a God who gives Himself wholly and personally to each of us, concerned with our everyday needs, troubles and thoughts. That includes manliness.

This is an issue that can leave men perplexed and frustrated and as a church we have the responsibility to engage with such matters.

Feel free to disagree, but if I had to put it down to something – true masculinity is bravery in the sovereignty of God. It’s one of the most courageous things you could do in life - men who are undeterred by a shifting world in the strength of an unmovable God – men whose significance and security is found in Him. Think of it as a ‘Spiritual Spartan’ if you like. I’m sure the world could do with more than 300 of those.

twilight adventures: part three

I am convinced that by making my way to the end of the first book, I am a less interesting person. I am still deciding whether or not to sue Stephanie Meyer for the dulling of my personality. Let me show you just how cringe worthy it all is. I'm in a state of disbelief that this was in fact written by an adult. A parent. A functioning member of society. Someone that should know better. Here we go:

'...he turned slowly to glare at me - his face was absurdly handsome - with piercing, hate filled eyes. For and instant, I felt a thrill of genuine fear, raising the hair on my arms. The look only lasted a second, but it chilled me more than the freezing wind.' p24

'I was in danger of being distracted by his livid, glorious face. It was like trying to stare down a destroying angel.' p56

'Gym was brutal. We moved on to basketball. My team never passed me the ball, so that was good, but I fell down a lot. Sometimes I took people with me. Today I was worse than usual because my head was so filled with Edward. I tried to concentrate on my feet, but I kept creeping back into my thoughts just when I really needed my balance.' p64


'He grinned his crooked smile at me, stopping my breath and my heart. I couldn't imagine how an angel could be any more glorious. There was nothing about him that could be improved upon.' p212

And finally, my personal favourite - a coma inducing minute by minute account of the psychology and inner turmoil of dress shopping:

'Jess was torn between two - one a long, strapless, basic black number, the other a knee-length electric blue with spaghetti straps. I encouraged her to go with the blue; why not play up the eyes? Angela chose a pale pink dress that draped around her tall frame nicely and brought out honey tints in her light brown hair. I complimented them both generously and helped by returning the rejects to their racks. The whole process was much shorter and easier than similar trips I'd taken with Renee at home. I guess there was something to be said for limited choices.' p134

While trying to enjoy this book, I was constantly distracted by the idea that if someone could write something like this and then sell and earn millions, it is well within my grasp to do the same. I worked as a middle school teacher for 3 years. Some of my 11 year old students could have written more engaging material than this.

I'm approaching the end of the second book now. It is a lot better. But I've realised that I need to give air time on this blog to things that are more worthwhile. Perhaps I'll write a post after I finish the series. I'm not sure. The point is, with any book series that manages to keep the reader interested, you start to feel close to the characters. Even if you really have to work hard to keep going with it, you emotionally invest in them. My hunch was right, in order to understand why people pay to go see this stuff on screen, you have to know the story in its 'filled out' form. To know why they respond like they do.

And that is why I cannot wait for the last movie. Help me.

twilight adventures: part two

In the words of Rage Against The Machine: know your enemy.

It's in your head now right?

All this talk about KONY 2012 has highlighted the incredible power of social media. People have been quick to jump behind the cause because the campaign video clearly identifies the baddie. We want to stop the baddie. But by seeing the situation in a one dimensional manner like this, there is a possibility that we are ignoring other notable issues, like our apathy towards social injustice that requires more from us than passing on a video and wearing a wristband. This is not to say that Kony isn't evil, but that often by focussing on a person like this, we are blinded to other evils lurking in the background.

I feel this is very much what is happening with the popularisation of vampires and other ideas with some sort of connection to the occult. It seems that many are on the defensive at the mere mention of Edward Cullen. The same treatment was given to Harry Potter, I still remember pastors standing up and condemning those who were reading the books (pushing those people into secret lives of undercover book clubs and naughty giggles). For some reason, Narnia and Lord of the Rings were acceptable despite the wizardry, witches and magic.

But as far as these books go, the presence of these evil buzz words often blind us from what the real danger is, and as far as I can tell, this is exactly what is happening with Twilight.

I’ve always found the concept of romantic love a confusing one. How do you know if you really love someone? What is this feeling supposed to be like? How is one supposed to behave (or not behave...) within a romantic relationship? What we need is a walkthrough, some sort of guide – a love textbook if you like. A way to navigate these tricky waters. It seems that trashy teen romance books have risen to meet this need. Twilight is more at home in this category, rather than the supernatural.

So, you open up your Stephanie Meyer textbook on love and begin to be educated on how it is all supposed to work.

It turns out the way that it presents the role of the female within romantic relationship is really unhelpful. Bella is apparently a plain looking girl, pretty clumsy and above average at being socially awkward. Nothing special. But Edward, a god-like being with outrageous good looks is infatuated with her. He is ever present (even in her sleep), always there to rescue her, he is ridiculously attentive and is always fussing over her needs. Clearly this was the real reason he had to be a non-human.

Bella, in turn, is not required to compromise outside of choosing to love a sparkling, albino forest fairy over a regular guy. She is the passive recipient, and he is the faultless guardian angel. Never once does Bella ever have to work hard to keep the relationship afloat. Essentially it is about waiting to be noticed and then pursued. It is infatuation, not admiration or anything else.

And so the role of the male is to be the saviour, and the role of the female is to be helpless until saved. If you translate this into an embodied understanding of love, all girls are being told that life only begins when found by a guy. And if this hasn’t happened, buy some chocolate and a box of tissues and find a movie in which you can vicariously live a story in which Channing Tatum takes his shirt off a lot and cries when you don’t love him until you agree to grow old together.

What a one dimensional picture of life.

What a disempowering story to live out of.

What a narrow understanding of what the good life is.

What an unrealistic set of expectations.

Which forces us to ask the question – where is the true picture?

What is love?

twilight adventures: part one

At the end of last year, I was given a significant amount of book vouchers. For someone who often prefers to hang out with books rather than people, having this much to spend on books was understandably a really exciting prospect. So much knowledge - om nom nom!

So, people were surprised to hear what I purchased with a decent chunk of that book money, to say the least.

I bought the entire Twilight series.

Because of this, I've had comments from people questioning my sanity, religious convictions and even my sexuality (possibly understandable). People can't understand it. If they aren't mocking me when I bring it up, people seem to want to know why I would do this to myself, from what seems to be genuine concern. Hilarious.

Well, while it is an empirical truth that 'haters gon' hate' I would like to explain myself because what I am actually trying to do is more than just indulging my inner 14 year old female self.

For better or worse, Twilight is a cultural phenomenon. I have a lot of friends (sure, they're all female) in their mid-twenties who love the book series. They couldn't put it down. One friend finished all four books in five days. I almost considered challenging that bench mark. The movies followed fast and for a period of time there was a lot of talk about 'Team Edward' and 'Team Jacob', closely followed by remarks from incredulous young men along the lines of "Isn't it just a story about one girl's choice between necrophilia and bestiality?" As it turns out, kind of.

It seems that some Christian friends of mine cast a disapproving eye on it all, simply because it contains characters that are vampires and werewolves, and fear for my inner spiritual life while I read it - what if I get caught up in it all and develop an unhealthy fascination for the occult? Isn't it true that what goes in comes out? If you put evil stuff in you're gonna turn evil! I’m going to intentionally dismiss that thinking because, quite frankly, it's superstitious.

My thinking is that if I want to understand the culture that I live in, and to be able to communicate the true story of love well, I have to be familiar with stories that shape thinking. And unfortunately, the Twilight series is one of them. It has helped to shape the way that millions understand true love, and to a lesser extent myths about dark creatures. So it wasn’t enough to do the research. In order to get my head around the way in which the saga has become such a phenomenon I had to get into the books. Because I would rather stick pins in my eyes than watch the movies again.

James Davison Hunter describes four main ways in which Christians can respond to culture:

Defensive Against - set ourselves up as an opposing force, kind of like a morality police where the other team gets demonized. Culture outside of Christendom is just bad, we are the goodies and so it is time to be grateful for a life watching Sunday School Musical and enduring endless movie nights crying along to A Walk To Remember.

Relevance To - in order to communicate well to those outside of the church, we pretty much have to look just like them. Lifestyle choices are secondary to being able to relate. Heaven forbid that people would think that Christians are different! No way babe, it's all good if we hook up at this party as long as we talk about Jesus afterwards.

Purity From - think Amish. The world is beyond redemption so the best thing to do is seperate ourselves from it completely so that we don't get defiled. Your school friends are dirty. Stay at home and watch Shine TV, there's a good girl.

Faithful Presence Within - and here we reach the jackpot. Really, there is no 'us and them'. There is a good and loving God desperate to be in relationship with all of humanity and we happen to be the current lucky recipients of that. The problem is, not everyone has seen what we've been shown and so we need to be able to take stories, ideas and symbols and reorient them around the person of Christ.

This is why I'm reading Twilight. I have a hunch that some of the ideas about love and relationship and spirituality that are presented in the book are distortions of the truth, but I can't really comment unless I know what I'm talking about.

So join me as I venture into what is proving to be some of the worst literature I've ever read. Hopefully we'll see what the real danger is. Pray that I won't fall for Edward. It's hard. He sparkles.