Essentializing the Evangelical - Representation: Kon (Part 6)

This is a paper that I have developed for a class I am taking at New York University on Interpreting Popular Culture.

I would love to hear your feedback and recommendations.

If you have missed any parts of this paper, you can click on the following hyperlinks:

Part One: Introduction
Part Two: Defining the Evangelical: Melting Pot or Mosaic?
Part Three: Constructing the Mythology of the Evangelical
Part Four: Defining Evangelical - The KKK Evangelical Mythology
Part Five: Representation - Kook
Bibliography
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“The ‘K’on (Con)” representation is commonly represented by the radical bifurcation between what Christians say they believe and how they behave.

For example, on the popular sitcom, The Office (NBC, 2006), the character of Angela (Angela Kinsey) is an uptight, overzealous Christian - who happens to be secretly dating Dwight (the assistant to the manager - not the assistant manager!).

Angela Kinsey says of her character:

"She's a little bit of a pill, but I think every office has one," Kinsey said of her grim character. "She loves to be miserable. If she's not judging you, I'm not sure she knows what to do with herself."

Recently it was revealed that Angela is secretly dating Dwight. Only Pam knows. "They're both militant, aggressively crazy people," Kinsey said of the secret lovers. "It's such an opposite romance to Jim and Pam. It's dark, deviant and kinda creepy, so I just think you're going to see little moments" (Post-Gazette, 2006).

In episode 10 entitled, The Fire, the group is forced out of their building due to a fire alarm going off. While waiting for the fire department to arrive, Jim initiates a game of Desert Island where they have to identify what movies or books they would take if stranded on a desert island.

When Angela is asked which books she would take, she only wants to take The Bible... after which she quickly adds that she would also like to take The Purpose Driven Life. That's all - no other books. Like narrow-minded, isolationist Christians who choose to live in isolation from reality, but are uptight, self-righteous hypocrites who talk about being holy, but whose behavior is mean-spirited and nasty.

When one of the other characters say they would like to bring The Da Vinci Code, Angela interjects saying that she would also take this book - to burn The Da Vinci Code. Not only does Angela come across as uptight, but she also comes across as militant. She is not just a kon, she is also a konquistador (see next post). This representation is repeated ad nauseum when evangelicals are represented in the media.

The Kon representation is also well illustrated in reality television. Each season, it seems that The Amazing Race often chooses a token-Christian team to discredit (e.g. Season 5 - models Brandon and Nicole). Season 8 it was the Weaver famil's turn to play the stereotype (TV.com 2, 2006). Well-crafted editing always leaves the viewer angered and frustrated with the obnoxious, over-zealous hypocritical zealot team.

The family team was comprised of Linda (46), and her two daughters, Rebecca (19), Rachel (16), and son, Rolly (14). Two years prior to participating in this reality show, they lost their father to a car accident at the Daytona International Speedway. They are self-proclaimed evangelicals (Amazing Race 1, 2005). However, their attitudes throughout the show highlight a disconnect between what they were saying they believe – and how they were acting.

This was illustrated most clearly in episode 9 of the show, when the following dialogue took place between host Phil Keoghan and the Weavers after they were marginalized from the larger group of contestants because of their hypocritical talk and behavior:

• Phil You’re standing in third place, but you don’t look happy?
  
• Rachel We’re all low… We’re all low.
  
• Phil Well isn’t this going to feel better if you win this?
  
• Rebecca Exactly
  
• Rachel Yeah, but I mean, it’s really frustrating because those people are, like, classless. It’s hard to just cooperate with people like that.
  
• Phil Did you hear what your Mother said? You’ve just got to run this your own way…
  
• Rachel (crying and interrupting Phil) What is this don’t cuss? It’s just hard to deal with people like that, and then have them group up against you, and be, like, the only family that’s trying to live a Christian life and it’s just hard… (Amazing Race 2, 2005)

One of the most scathing blogs which seems to capture public sentiment about this family states, “‘We hate the Weavers’ seems to be the emotional bond that’s bringing the other teams together… The embarrassing Weaver clan – I mean the three crazy females, not poor, shy Rolly Weaver – are self-professed Christians who are often caught on-camera spewing more hate than a neo-nazi rally” (Biggest Stars Blog, 2005). Reality Magazine states that, “The Weaver family continues to trash the other teams while espousing their Christian virtues. Rebecca Weaver explains, ‘It’s greater to be hated for who you are, then loved for who you are not. We’re being ourselves and we’re being hated for it. Why make buddy-buddy friends? No, we’re competitors” (Reality Magazine, 2005).

According to the Mirriam-Webster Dictionary, a hypocrite is “a person who puts on false appearance of virtue or religion” (Mirriam-Webster, 2006). The Weaver family seems to embody another mainstream media representations – the con-artist. A person who is outwardly puritanical, but inwardly degenerate; an actor who wears a pious mask of self-righteousness, but points fingers at the lack of righteousness in others. The idea of evangelical-as-hypocrite is also a prominent representation which aids in essentializing this group.

I think it’s important to ask the question about whether Rachel and Rebecca’s grumbling and inappropriate comments were because of a lack of genuineness… or whether this is just part of being a teenager – regardless of creed? Considering the stress of losing their father; and being on a race which is being recorded and broadcasted internationally, I think it’s worth cutting this family some slack!

A friend of mine lives close to the Gaghan family who said the Weaver family weren’t as bad as they were portrayed through concentrated editing process. I am wondering whether this show identifies more about the editing of reality shows than it does the emotional stability of a grieving family?

One of the most common misunderstandings (and misrepresentations) about evangelicals is that there is that we stress being perfect, when in reality, the gist is actually focused on being forgiven.

Go to Part 7 - Essentializing the Evangelical: Representation - Konquistador