The other day a Facebook friend posted a link to a video called “Nativity Dance” made at Highland Park Presbyterian Church to the tune of Chris Brown’s “Forever.” The video looked and sounded familiar, probably because it’s a copycat of the “JK Wedding Entrance Dance” that went viral on You Tube five months ago.
Probably the duplication was meant to be cute, but as I watched Joseph and Mary dance down the isle, with Mary holding what appeared to be a basketball under her blouse, along with shepherds, wise men and angels, I sort of cringed inside.
Not because I thought it was sacrilegious. It's just this co-opting isn’t exactly new. I have a vague memory of an old bumper sticker that said “Give the Master Charge of your life.” For the longest time after Master Charge changed its name to Mastercard, I thought it was because of the way their trademark had been co-opted by Christians (rather than the negative connotation of “charging” items).
A creative writing instructor was fond of saying she didn't borrow, she stole. It's not unique to Christians to take inspiration from someone else's creativity. The problem is that not all copycat works are exactly, well, inspired.
The youth paster or whoever thought up the “Nativity Video” probably thought it would be a great idea to play off a viral video, hoping to introduce the same “virus” into Christianity. But though the young people in the audience seemed to enjoy the entertainment, they didn’t seem quite as elated as the audience in the church for the wedding video. This native was so restless that when the video paused to rebuffer, she paused it and didn’t realize till later that Mary gave birth to the doll she’d held under her blouse during the dance.
The thing that made the wedding video so appealing was that it was the expression of the bride’s creativity and of her friends’ and future husbands’ willingness to ham it up to make the day special. It was this uniqueness that made the video so popular, giving the viewer thoughts of “why didn’t I think of that?” or “it must take a special sort of person to do something so adventurous on her wedding day.” None of that appeal came through in the “Nativity Dance.” At least, it didn’t for me.
TIP:
Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!
Sparking
John Jacob Di Gasbarro
GaryBaumgarten
Britomart
Dave Scriven
Gwendolyn Glover
Salon.com
Comments
Children's pageants are a hybrid between worship and performance art, and anything can happen. Two years ago, I had a little sheep strip off her furry sock gloves like Gypsy Rose Lee, climb into the manger and sit there grinning. Everybody loved it. Everybody will remember it. But was the focus on the Incarnation?
High Lonesome: I confess I like the spontaneity of kids' programs and am willing to forgive a little bit of irreverence. But you make a good point: are they missing the point? Even beyond the spiritual element, I think about a woman getting ready to give birth in a dirty stall and the last thing that comes to mind is dancing.
Dave: I loved that JK video when I first saw it. Though it's not something I would have done at my own wedding, I would have loved to be one of the guests at that wedding. Maybe that's why it didn't work as well for me the second time around.
Jodi: Good suggestion. I thought the whole "giving birth" thing during the performance was a bit odd. Didn't think about shaking the baby.
Jean: The song is called "Forever" by Chris Brown. There might be more to the title than that. The ITunes popup doesn't seem to come through on embedded videos.
Matthew: I'm kind of neutral on the song. Not my favorite style of music, but I can see how it might appeal to some.
Reminds me of folk masses when I was a kid. The churchy people trying to be hip and falling very short.
i've been to and participated in lots of these performances and found that the good ones give time and space for the lows and highs, including the spontaneous mistakes and performances of the little kids, who always get to be sheep (i love the sheep).
charliemk: Well said. You definitely lose the nuance on a story that is happy only in the context of modern-day church traditions. Reminds me of a man I knew who insisted without support that Jesus was a member of the middle class.
Hi,Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,Here are the most popular, most stylish and avant-garde shoes,handbags,Tshirts, jacket,Tracksuit w ect...Nike shox(R4,NZ,OZ,TL1,TL2,TL3) $35Handbags(Coach lv fendi d&g) $35,Tshirts (Polo ,ed hardy,lacoste) $16
thanks... For details, please consult http://www.kkshoe.com
Upstate: Yeah, especially when carrying a basketball/baby under one's apparel!
I thought this particular event was just plain tacky.
dog training
Redstocking Grandma: I single out Christianity partly because I am a Christian, and also because Christian doctrine doesn't list "everybody's doing it" as a legitimate excuse for behaving in a particular fashion.
eteleon
hid lights
Toronto wedding photographers
Watch Movies Online For Free
Cheap textbooks
snow shovel
sexyrussian: Interesting! The antichrist does appear to be a reference to first century Gnostics, something I've considered writing about, since it's often conflated into end-times prophesy (where it's not even mentioned).
wikigrrrrl: Thanks.
volterra
elottery syndicate
registry cleanup
http://www.bloggymedia.com/
As for copying I would have to say TV is the largest offender by far. There are very few new ideas, most are reworks of other work. And even original ideas have elements of past work. Maybe that is because the creative is a accumulative process build on each generation of work.