The Sacred and Profane: The Pope and Breakfast TV
In an increasingly gloablised and commoditised world, the role that popular media and television play in the mainstream understanding of religion, religious issues and spirituality becomes increasingly intriguing. The recent papal conclave and selection of Pope Francis I as reported in popular media is a prime example of the role the media plays in mixing the sacred with the profane, and mobilising attitudes towards religion and spirituality among its viewers.
Colleen McDannell (2012) makes a case study of modern American Christianity and its use of material culture in expressing and accessing religion and the sacred. Thus, McDannell suggests that the lines between the sacred and the profane in modern American Christianity are becoming increasingly blurred, and the relationship between the two transient and ever-changing. McDannell suggests that material gestures of religion create great meaning for many modern christians, as a response to the increasing enchantment people have with commodities.
Emile Durkheim set the standard understanding of the sacred and profane in 1912 (McDannell, 2012: 135). Durkheim's sacred, and indeed the accepted understanding in theological and sociological circles was made of places, spaces, rituals and people that were set a apart from the experience of everyday. Religion, in this understanding, was best practiced on an intellectual and spiritual level that transcended material culture. Those who used images or other material in religious practice were seen as lesser Christians.
Sociologists in the 20th century moves towards an examination of the magical influence advertising, pop culture and consumerism had on sociedy. As Sut Jhally suggested in the 1980's, commodities and material culture offer through advertising "magical feats of transformation and bewitchment" (McDannell, 2012:138). This magical dimension performs as and delivers to society where religiosity and spirituality once did.
In watching the selection of Pope Francis I unfold on breakfast television, it was evident that to many, the excitement, hysteria and consumerism of the event far outweighed the spiritual and social justice implications. Channel 7's Sunrise program, which although understood to be a rather sensationalist and unreliable news source, is watched by nearly half a million Australians every morning. Sunrise covered the papal conclave at the Vatican in a similar fashion to the Royal Wedding, The Olympics and the Oscars. On top of the sunrise agenda was investigating what the Sistine Chapel looked like inside, how the Vatican managed to change the colour of smoke and how many people showed up each day to watch events unfold on a big screen erected in St. Peter's Square.
It was quite apparent that the order of the day for the Sunrise crew was not to postulate on the spiritual intellect of papal candidates. The show was broadcasting the sacred in the profane. Does this detract from the sacredness of the place and people involved as Durkheim imagined it? Or, in the material commodity world, does a hashtag about the papal conclave make a meaningful statement about religion and spirituality? Furthermore, how can commentators tell the difference between an empty gesture and a deeply felt, meaningful material connection to the sacred?
One could imagine that today's " #praisethelord" is equivalent to Jesus' disciples drawing a fish in the sand to symbolise a deep and mutual connection to their faith. After all, one can hash-tag about the profane, the same way the apostles may have counted their hauls in the sand. While some may suggest that media circuses and commercialisation move the sacred away from its true understanding, McDannell's comments are apt in suggesting that we should not immediately assume materal religious gestures are empty ones.
Sources:
McDannell C. 2012. Scrambling the Sacred and the Profane. In Lynch G. and J. Mitchell with A. Strhan. Eds. Religion, Media and Culture: A Reader. 135-146. London & New York: Routledge
Sunrise, Channel 7, March11-12 2013
The Daily Telegraph, "Channel Seven celebrates Sunrise's Strongest Start in 5 years", 11 March 2013 http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/sydney-confidential/channel-7-celebrates-sunrises-storngest-start-in-five-years/story-e6frewz0-1226551766270
