Pick’n'Mix: the 21st century approach to religious affiliation

In Steve Bruce’s 1995 book, ‘Religion in modern Britain: from cathedral to cult’, he wrote about how the British were not becoming any less ‘religious’ but were instead moving to a place where they picked and choosed the parts of ‘religion’ that appealed to them most. Dubbed the pick’n'mix approach to religiosity, it was seen to herald a move away from institutionalised forms of religion to those that were more diversified and increasingly privatised.

Others have since picked up on this shift. Jeremy Hardy for instance in The Guardian back in 2001 offered a more cynical reading:

The Essex Princess: ‘In the midst of life we are in debt…’

As if perfectly scripted, so the tragicomic death of Jade Goody coincided with the publication of OK! Magazine’s ‘Jade Goody obituary edition’: an obituary edition that was published before she actually died. Surely a ringing endorsement to the media handling of Max Clifford and the ongoing ‘exclusives’ agreed with OK! Magazine and the Living television channel (an irony surely) that these two events blended so seamlessly.

Seamless and choreographed in much the same way that much of ‘The Truman Show’ was (see earlier post here). In the film, the star of the show – Truman Burbank – finally unlocks the door to escape the world created for him and so ridding himself of the constant gaze of the cameras. In many ways, the door is a metaphor between the ‘real’ and ‘un-real’ worlds that we choose to inhabit. For Jade, and unlike Truman, she chose not to open the door. Instead, she chose to firmly lock it from the inside, never wanting to escape nor wanting the cameras to be turned off.

Immortalising Jade Goody: a People’s Princess for today’s Britain

A post written since the death of Jade Goody can be found here.

There is a certain irony to the fact that Jade Goody’s imminent death will no doubt earn her the public approval she has sought for much of her recent life. Yet despite the finality of death, her passing will not be the end irrespective of whether her publicist Max Clifford’s claims are true that she has found God. No, it will be the events of just over a decade ago that will ensure her celebrity beatification.

With her last breath, Goody will be miraculously reincarnated as the new ‘People’s Princess’. Somewhat miraculous when you consider that she was recently described by Time magazine as being “inadequately educated, a single parent to two boys, spilling out of nightclubs and ill-fitting dresses…a human face to…Britain’s stubborn social inequality and boozy irrepressibility”

In the same way that the flawed reality of Princess Diana became consumed by the sanctified figure she has since become so, like Diana, will Goody’s victimhood take on a whole new meaning. From the sins of the heroine and her claims to being a victim of circumstance, so the myth will remember how she eventually found love through suffering. But as the archetypal story states, she can only redeem herself through sacrifice and that ultimate sacrifice has to be death. The blood of the daughter redeeming the sins of all those worshipping at the altar of mammon, the false god of riches and avarice. Why her, why now, her desperate followers will ask.

Christmases, Past, Present and Future: “…the Old Ones are the Best” (The 12 Posts of Xmas #8)

The almost annual matra that Christmas is becoming more commercialised/ commodified/ excessive/ consumer driven/ any other criticism is something that most partake in.

It could even be suggested that age is critical in this, with your number of years being directly proportional to the number of times you say that Christmas is not how it used to be. Having done so, we then reflect on some idyllic Christmas past that was much better than any Christmas that we could have today: the Christmas present.

And to prove my point, you have to look no further than the mighty Slade who wholeheartedly agreed when in their Christmas hit, ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’ they noted how:

…your granny always tells ya that the old ones are the best…

The 12 Posts of Xmas (#4): “Mary’s Boy Child, Jesus Christ, was Born on Christmas Day…”

If ‘Mary’s Boy Child’ was born on Christmas Day, then if the scientists and astronomers are right, it is likely that this will have been on June 17th rather than the 25th December that most of us associate with it. As The Daily Telegraph explained:

…researchers claim the ‘Christmas star’ was most likely a magnificent conjunction of the planets Venus and Jupiter, which were so close together they would have shone unusually brightly as a single “beacon of light” which appeared suddenly.

If the team is correct, it would mean Jesus was a Gemini, not a Capricorn as previously believed.

Australian astronomer Dave Reneke used complex computer software to chart the exact positions of all celestial bodies and map the night sky as it would have appeared over the Holy Land more than 2,000 years ago.

It revealed a spectacular astronomical event around the time of Jesus’s birth.