Two quotes

Mae West in her prime

To err is human, but it feels divine. Mae West

...For God doth know that in the day ye eat [of the fruit], then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil
The serpent in paradise

The connection between sin and playing at god goes way back, so it should come as no surprise that things of the dark has a special taste for dressing up as religion, using its symbols and language for self-justification and provocation. But more of that later.

I´m not completely illiterate then it comes to black-and-white cinema, but Mae West has thus far escaped my attention. She´s interesting in being one of the first sex symbols in Hollywood of the “blonde and bosoms”-variety, in fact with so much of the latter that she coined her own word in popular culture. The American fliers during the Second World War called their life vests “Mae Wests” in reference to their bell-shaped form (and that is quite clever...).

Now ms West had brains as well, beyond looks and sex appeal. With a certain amount of rethorical force she popped quotes like the one earlier mentioned, often appearing as the prophet of hedonism. At the time they must have felt as kicks in the groin of the decency ideals of the time, but also a tad tickling in their indiscretion, for she certainly drew in the crowds to her pictures. I´m not too keen on moralizing over this, really I guess it put the searchlight on the hypocrisy of a society in irretrievable decline. But surely now all this must be yesterdays news, yet we still hear comments like hers all the time. I can´t really see what is to be gained with mocking Christian morals and ideals. You don´t speak ill of the dead, as they say. Yet it´s absolutely abundant and overwhelming in the present day, though seldom done with the sofistication of early cinema, when one had to fly under the radar of censors and guardians of moral standards. What could be more harmless today than the glamourized (should I say deified) pleasure culture, in music, literature and cinema? Harmless that is with regard to social sanctions (such as Mae West experienced), what it does to the soul I know not.

Or? Let us briefly state that Christianity no longer lives in Western public and popular culture. But really the corpse may not be Christianity as such, rather public and popular culture itself? I´m speaking of the kind of culture that is a ritualized lifeform based on mutual and complete participation, a participation one is born into, of grace if you will, or compulsion at the other end of the scale. There´s nothing like it today. There are ritualized lifeforms, some for participation even, but mostly for consumption and spectacle. All are options, one of many. Our culture is a smorgasbord, we choose what tastes best for the moment, define good and evil at pleasure. The advantage of smorgasbord is that when you tire of one particular dish, there´s always something new, which feels exciting for a time before it too lose its flavour. And then the next dish, and another after that. You´re hungry and you´re eating, but never satisfied. Or eating though you´re full, but can´t stop though you´re sick of it. Maybe next time will be better, if you try another dish?

Christian faith is about resurrecting people, not cultural systems. In that regard we´ve lost nothing and have little to mourn. There is this very moment gospel being preached and listened to all over the world. The forms of faith are worse than nothing, when the content is missing. It´s an empty egg shell that will break at the very first touch. But as we can see the house is never left empty for long, when faith has left the building pretty soon the rats are dancing on the table. As Dylan sings, “You gotta serve somebody / Well it might be the devil or it might be the Lord / But you gotta serve somebody”