Page 120 - Religion in the Media Age Media, Religion & Culture

Articulating culture in the media age 109

most of what we see him talking about here (and, indeed, the whole inter-
view).
How then are the media and religion linked in his narrative? It is inter-
esting to note that, for Glenn, religious tradition and religious institutions
are not particularly important. He has shifted from Catholicism to
Evangelical Protestantism, and while he attends church regularly he is far
more involved in the Evangelical “para-church,” in the form of the
Promise Keepers and Focus on the Family organizations, than he is in any
church institution. This is also rooted in his own biography and his experi-
ence with recovery. It was something he experienced individually, and it
enabled a kind of self-reliance that connected him in a strong personal way
with faith, thus sidestepping institution and doctrine. For Glenn, his social
philosophy serves as “doctrine” for him, inflected of course with his
interest in apocalyptic literature.
Glenn’s relationship to the media is even more interesting. On the one
hand, he is heavily involved in Evangelical popular and media culture.
While he eschews religious broadcasting at one point in the interview (not
presented here), he and Liz are regular readers of printed literature,
including books and magazines, from a variety of sources. The Christian
Booksellers Association would consider him to be an ideal market demo-
graphic.
On the other hand, he draws a boundary between those media and the
secular media. The secular media are “religious” to Glenn – in a sense –
because they are so heavily involved in the dark side of what he sees to be
the spiritual question of victimhood versus self-reliance. They also carry
significant markers of materialism and moral turpitude. They run counter
to the upright and ascetic vision of the moral life that he would like to
stress. It is problematic, though, because he must at the same time recog-
nize the important role that media culture plays in the social lives of his
children. He accepts tacitly that they will consume secular media; there is
nothing he can do about it. He is further reluctant to be seen as a parent
who would direct his children’s media lives.
Glenn also sees this boundary operating within the realm of the secular
media. There are secular media, such as Andy Griffith, that are acceptable.
In the anecdote he shares about the film-viewing sessions, though, he
recounts having to contend with the idea that even media that carry
morally disturbing markers can have a deeper meaning. But, the boundary
still functions. He clearly believes that there are larger institutional forces
at play – a popular theme in Evangelical pop culture, by the way – and
that whatever positive “nuggets” might appear in Hollywood films are
probably there by accident.
It almost goes without saying that Glenn Donegal is someone for whom
a life narrative will be a normative self-presentation. He wishes to think of
himself and present himself in a certain way. Consistent with Ricoeur’s