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Weekly Resources, Ideas and Articles from The Source for Youth Ministry Tuesday, August 29, 2006
My 2 cents on the 2006 Teen Choice Awards and MTV VMAs August 29, 2006 They spent an entire week away from their computers, iPods, and TV's, enjoying instead a beautiful campground surrounded by gigantic redwoods that stretched toward the sky. On Friday night kids came forward in droves, every one of them with a small folded piece of paper clutched in their hands. Each one handed it to me and said the words, "I have some junk in my life that needs to be removed." Later, I read the handwritten words scribed by these high school aged teenagers at this particular Christian camp:
pictures on my computer bad movies pornography sexual temptations my relationship with Brian dirty pictures my music Soiled "Who Ordered the Poo Poo Platter?" (A Bugs Life, 1998) That's what I said when I watched the Teen Choice Awards. I guess if we were flies we wouldn't mind it. Our kids like this kind of stuff, but they don't see it as poo poo. "It doesn't affect me," they respond reflexively. After all, they are filling their heads with an average of six and a half hours of it per day. I'm talking about the influence of the media. This is sad for me, because I love the media. I love movies, I love music, and there are even a couple TV shows that I enjoy. But lately I feel as if I'm trying to find a clean glass in a bachelor's apartment-rarely do I find anything clean. And the stuff that is dirty isn't just a little smudged. It is soiled like the floor of a stock show. There's no denying it-kids are being molded by the messages coming through their iPods, cell phones, TVs, and computers. The difficult challenge for youth workers and parents is to become aware of what our kids are listening to, without getting poop on our shoes. Becoming Aware Without Stepping in Poop In my "Understanding the Unchurched Teenager" seminars, I'm consistently encouraging parents and youth workers to take a peek at what our kids are watching and listening to. And that's the trick... just taking a peek. I'm not recommending that we all go out and buy Justin Timberlake's new Album Futuresex/Love Sounds or Nelly Furtado's Promiscuous. I'm not recommending that we start watching MTV every day or adding teen favorite films like Wedding Crashers or Scary Movie 4 to our Netflix cue. As a matter of fact-I'm telling you NOT to do that. Keep current, but keep clean. Don't immerse yourself in this stuff. Instead, go to the places where you can take a brief but realistic glimpse of what our youth culture holds on a pedestal. Two of these sources fall in this month's calendar: Fox's Teen Choice Awards, that already aired August 20th, and the upcoming MTV Video Music Awards on MTV this Thursday night. The Teen Choice Awards Each year Fox's Teen Choice Awards gives us a glimpse of the role models our very own kids hold high, the music our kids listen to, and the movies and television shows our kids are watching. It's penetrating your own youth group-ask any kid to play their ring tone for you. The Teen Choice Awards are all chosen by teenagers (this year 14.7 million teenage votes) and the nominees are usually comprised of a good sampling of top media influence in youth culture today. Each year we learn more about our kids with awards like "best liplock." This award isn't a far leap from the MTV Movie Awards which in the past few years has given away awards for a kiss between a threesome in the movie Starsky and Hutch, and then two men in Brokeback Mountain last year. The Teen Choice Awards awarded Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves this year for their "liplock" in the movie The Lake House. When the duo accepted the award on stage, the crowd yelled, "Do it again." Sandra responded. "It's kind of bittersweet. You say, ‘Do it again.' But I'm a married woman now." The crowd continued to yell "Do it!" Sandra explains further. "Kisses that are really hot... and warm and tight... I can't do anymore. I can't do that because I'm married and they only go to my husband. You don't do that when you're married." Keanu responded. "Sandi? Weren't you married when we did that kiss?" Sandra laughed, "I'm in so much trouble right now." Of course, this was probably one of the more innocent banters of the evening. Each year we get a glimpse of the inner character of our kids' role models through what they say. Not just in their "artistic" (I use that term loosely) content, but in their interviews and as they present awards live on stage. This year we got to hear Dane Cook joke about showing his private places to Jessica Simpson, only for her to retort, "Um, show me and I'll cut those places off!" Marlon Waynes showed us a peek at his moral fiber when he began his presentation with a monologue about MySpace.
The first nominee was Black Eyed Peas, with their song My Humps: This video, which can be downloaded to anyone's video iPods or video phones, features Fergie, the Black Eyed Peas eye candy, showing off her "humps" and "lumps."
What you gon' do with all that junk? All that junk inside that trunk? I'ma get, get, get, get, you drunk, Get you love drunk off my hump. What you gon' do with all that ass? All that ass inside them jeans? I'm a make, make, make, make you scream Make you scream, make you scream. Cos of my hump (ha), my hump, my hump, my hump (what). My hump, my hump, my hump (ha), my lovely lady lumps (Check it out)
Oh I know I am on tonight my hips don't lie And I am starting to feel it's right All the attraction, the tension Don't you see baby, this is perfection Shakira, Shakira Oh boy, I can see your body moving Half animal, half man I don't, don't really know what I'm doing But you seem to have a plan My will and self restraint Have come to fail now, fail now
Wait! I don't mean no harm I can see you with my t-shirt on I can see you with nothing on feeling on me before you bring that on Bring that on [N:] You know what I mean Girl, I'm a freak you shouldn't say those things I'm only trying to get inside your brain To see if you can work me the way you say If? How could you not be sexually active after that? I'm amazed that parents allow their kids to not only watch this stuff, but show up at an event like this. Especially with the release of reports like the recent one from The Journal of Adolescent Health that states:
This year's show featured plenty of eye candy beyond the music videos and performances. Awards like "choice hottie" weren't even necessary. The show featured three bikini clad girls in a hot tub, center stage, right in front of the podium for the entire evening. Between every award and in every transition to each commercial break... roll camera three, the hot tub cam... eye candy. Fox's Teen Choice Awards always give an accurate taste (accurate, but sour) of our youth culture. If you missed it, there's another glimpse into youth culture worth watching, one that comes along only once a year. The MTV VMAs This Thursday is one of the two times a year that I watch MTV. As many of you know, MTV is one of the best reflections and strongest influences of youth culture. (Check out Jonathan's 2005 article about these youth culture "Dannys.") And twice a year we get to see a "cross-section" of this channel's content and methodology: The MTV Movie Awards, and the MTV Video Music Awards (The VMAs). I encourage you to put the kids to bed and watch the VMAs on MTV this Thursday night. If you want a glimpse at past years, check out a MTV VMA special on Thursday morning titled Scandalicious. You'll catch everything from Madonna and Brittany's controversial kiss to Beyonce's risqué outfits. This year I don't expect much different. I don't want to rewrite last year's article about what to expect from this event; instead I'd like to focus on what we can do about these influences? But for those of you that are familiar with some of the names you see at these events, I'll provide a quick rundown: The show will be hosted by Jack Black. You'll see performances from Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera, The Killers, Panic! At The Disco, Beyonce, Ludacris, The All-American Rejects, and others. The Cast of Jackass Number Two will be there, along with appearances from Rihanna, Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Lopez, Missy Elliot, Chris Brown, and many more. Red Hot Chili Peppers and Shakira both lead the list of nominees this year with seven nominations each including video of the year. You can check out this RollingStone link if you want to see the breakdown of the most popular awards. What Can We Do? I still remember the faces of the kids who came forward and handed me the confession of their "junk." These were good kids, polite kids...kids that brought their Bibles to every session. But these "good" Christian kids had the same songs on their iPods, the same movie ticket stubs in their pockets, and the same TV shows set to record on their TiVo. Youth pastors are always amazed when they discover the little disparity between the content our "Christian" kids are exposed to, compared to secular kids. They're basically letting the same stuff in their heads. And it's affecting them. So what can we do? Glad you asked. 1. KEEP TELLING THE TRUTH: In a world where these lies are so readily available, keep telling the truth. Help kids understand the danger of this kind of junk creeping into their lives. Teach them discernment. Our web site has a bunch of great free teaching resources you can use. Here's a few examples:
From our VIDEO CLIP IDEAS page: 3. KEEP CURRENT: Take a peek at the stuff kids are letting in their head. Watch a couple of these key shows each year. (I choose to only watch the three I mentioned above.) These "artists" are the people our kids are listening to. You can regularly check who's hot and who's not with web sites like Billboard's Hot 100. Then check out what they're saying at one of the many lyric sites on the web. Read articles from our web site or other great youth culture sites like Walt Muellars CPYU.org 4. KEEP CLEAN: Don't allow those songs in your iPods, those ticket stubs in your pockets, and those shows on your TiVo. Peter says is well in 1 Peter 2:11-12 (emphasis mine)
Jonathan McKee is president of The Source for Youth Ministry and author of numerous youth ministry
books like "Do They Run When They See You Coming?" and the
brand new "Getting Students to Show Up." Jonathan
studies youth culture and trends, speaking and
training across the country and providing free online resources, training, &
ideas for youth workers at www.TheSource4YM.com
Are you a youth worker? Do you drive a junky car... dare I say, "A Hideous Heap?!!" The Source for Youth Ministry is putting on a contest for all youth workers, volunteer or paid, to reward them for driving a hideous heap! That's right- our focus as youth workers who are reaching youth with the Gospel isn't on earthly things like cars . . . right? So a bunch of us drive really HIDEOUS HEAPS!!! Here's your chance to be rewarded for driving that nasty thing!
www.TheSource4YM.com/heap Delivered free via e-mail to subscribers each week. We encourage you to distribute this newsletter freely and ask only that you not change its contents. HAVE YOU MISSED PAST "EZINE" ARTICLES? CLICK HERE FOR JONATHAN'S "EZINE" ARCHIVES And for more FREE resources and ideas ... go to THE SOURCE www.TheSource4YM.com Copyright ©2006 The Source for Youth Ministry All rights reserved. |
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