Is Rapture worth visiting again?  Much of the allure of the original lies in its unique underwater world which celebrates human acheivment and consequently human moral failure.  The shock of this world is what made the game such a powerful piece of art alongside a very uniquely told story.  I am not sure the second installment can impact me as profoundly as the first.  What do you think?  Will you pick up a copy of Bioshock 2 tomorrow?

In the meantime, you can read or watch a review of the game at IGN.

• Bioshock
• The Choice is Yours
• “It’s about important stuff!” “No, it’s about shooting people in the face”

• Making Heisman History
• The real meaning of Tim Tebow’s pro-life Super Bowl ad.
• Not what we’ve been led to think…

• If Filmmakers Directed the Super Bowl
• The real meaning of Tim Tebow’s pro-life Super Bowl ad.
• Hey Look, An Adulterer…Let’s Throw Rocks!

• Always Settle Scores at Noon
• Are These Redeeming? Does it Matter?
• Earthquake in Haiti

People watch these ads because they know that the companies who pay huge amounts of money to have them played during the Super Bowl will do anything to take advantage of that opportunity. We are quite literally seeing the best they’ve got. Beyond simply spending money on well-known celebrities or incredible special effects, they want to produce something that will be memorable and persuasive. More than anything, they want to disarm the viewer and speak to them on a gut level. By definition this almost always means appealing to either the best or the worst in us.

This played out quite clearly this year. Lesser ads harped continuously on a prominent theme, that men everywhere are suffocating and stifled, and dying to be free of the shackles and chains of marriage, society’s expectations, and responsibility. This viewpoint is demonstrated most succinctly and most frighteningly in Chrysler’s Dodge Charger ad, in which an exasperated, frustrated and demanding voice details the various ways in which his life is maddening and miserable. The resentful tinge in his voice when he says things like “I will be civil to your mother,” and “I will carry your lip balm,” made me glad I’m not going to be around that guy on the day that he snaps. But of course, he’s not going to snap, because he has acquired that which he is apparently entitled to: a fancy car.

It’s a truly dismaying thought that anyone watching this ad might find it persuasive, even on a subconscious level, and yet there it is, being vouched for with the millions of dollars that were paid to produce and air it. It’s safe to say that it resonated with someone. Sure, I feel bad for their wife and kids, but even more than that, I feel bad for them, because the one thing they have to live for is the right to own something. It’s the right to receive their dues.

Give me my stuff, or give me death.

The Bridgestone tire commercial makes a “hilarious” joke out of this concept by showing us a guy who would rather give up his wife than his car’s tires. What a guy. The commercial is set in the future because if it were set in the present it would just seem ludicrous and mean-spirited. Of course, it should still seem such to thinking people.

And there’s plenty more where that came from. Commercial after commercial convinced us that life is about the product, told us that we are entitled to something, or merely sought to get our attention by dangling half-naked ladies in front of our faces.

If this is what it means to be a man, I want no part of it.

Of course, our culture has gone a long time without any real sense of what it means to be a man. It’s probably true that many of us are too weak or ill-prepared to do physical labor. It’s probably accurate to say most of us these days are pansies. These setbacks deserve a cultural response. But real manliness isn’t being distracted by Megan Fox, lured to GoDaddy’s site for “exclusive uncensored content”, resentful of our wives or frustrated by our responsibilities. It’s not claiming what’s rightfully ours.

One refreshing twist, and the commercial that gave me hope in humanity makes this clear, not by providing a direct answer to these ads, but by simply telling a story of the life and experiences of a real man, was Google’s “Search On.”

Ambition, drive, sincerity, thoughtfulness, determination, commitment, initiative, and the ultimate embrace of responsibility. That’s what we see in that man’s search queries, and what I hope someone would see in mine.

• The real meaning of Tim Tebow’s pro-life Super Bowl ad.
• In Praise of Television
• If Filmmakers Directed the Super Bowl

Because human beings are made in the image of God, there is much that we can do that is worthy and admirable. Theologically speaking, this is the product of “common grace.” But it is possible to be far too impressed by wealth, power, architecture, fame, learning, physical prowess, and technology, with the result that we do not think through the moral and spiritual dimensions of the world around us. We may see the glory, and overlook the shame; we may detect human accomplishments, and neglect the undergirding idolatry; in short, we may be impressed by all that impresses God’s fallen image-bearers, but fail to assess these realities in the light of the cross and in the light of eternity.

[For the Love of God, February 10 entry based on Mark 13.]

• Don’t Blame the Technology
• Is There Integrity in the Work Place?
• Piper, Pop Culture, and Joy in God

Is this a good idea?  Owen Strachan says no and mostly summarizes what I think about this development.

• Podcast #15: Sniping for Christ?
• He owns a Mac? He’s got my vote!
• Can you put this any more perfectly?

The crowds at big-time college sporting events do not sit passively, the way they do at a movie theater. They roar, suffer and invent chants (especially at Duke basketball games). Mass college sports are the emotional hubs at the center of vast networks of analysis, criticism and conversation. They generate loyalties that are less harmful than ethnic loyalties and emotional morality plays that are at once completely meaningless and totally consuming.

There are the obvious recruiting scandals and greedy coaches, but for all the sins, big-time college sports have become emotional reactors, helping to make university towns vibrant communities. Gillespie is right to appreciate the moral power of sports. But bigness has virtues as well as vices. Big-time college sports are absurd, but we would miss them if they were gone.

• Podcast #9: Football – America’s Gladitorial Spectal?
• Why is there no great game criticism?
• The moral crisis of American sports

Every week, Richard Clark and Ben Bartlett acknowledge and respond to the big issues in popular culture. We love feedback! If you’d like to respond you can comment on the website, send an email to christandpopculture@gmail.com, or go to our contact page. We would love to respond to feedback on the show, so do it now! Subscribe to us in iTunes by clicking here. While you’re at it, review us in iTunes! We’ll love you forever!

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• Podcast #64: Where Are the Wild Things, Anyway?
• Podcast #68: Tiger, War, Peace, and Climate Change
• Podcast #71: How “Chuck” “Lost” the “Assassin’s Creed” While Emerging from Church

• Dave’s Idea
• The real meaning of Tim Tebow’s pro-life Super Bowl ad.
• Jesus on Film