Today is a "once in a lifetime trip down teen idol lane" and I'm hoping to keep this post super short. Right off the bat Oprah starts talking about something I already knew I wanted to address in the Gospel Filter Review--I just didn't expect her to steal the words out of my mouth! She recounts the feeling of having our male crush on stage, how as a teenager we felt that he was "singing just for me" and that he was looking into our eyes.
Oprah's Teen Heartthrob
Oprah's crush was Jackie Jackson, one of the older brothers in the Jackson 5. She was sure she'd marry him but was crushed when he married someone else in 1974. Oprah tells us that she's had a ban on surprises (as in, her being surprised) since there was a Mary Tyler Moore surprise and she did "the ugly cry" but that her producers begged and convinced her to lift the ban for season 25, it being the final season and all. In a clip we see Oprah in her office the previous evening, planning the show with her producers, when none other than Jackie Jackson himself walks in and surprises her. Oprah goes nuts and says she wasn't dressed for him, so he tells her to change clothes and he'll take her across the street to get something to eat. Oprah thanks "god that Stedman is in Bermuda", stresses about not having her eyelashes or lipstick on, and goes out on her dream date with Jackie.
Jackie and Oprah spend two hours together, having dinner and talking about life. Jackie recounts memories of when they hit it big--they lived in a two bedroom house in Garry, Indiana, as a family of 10. Ten!--and Oprah tells him thank you for bringing her dreams full circle, from a 13-year-old girl on welfare to having dinner with her teen idol. Oprah brings Jackie into the studio, and jokes about eating and talking too much though she always tells Gayle to do neither. We learn that Jackie has a new single coming out soon called We Know What's Going On and we go to break.
Shaun Cassidy
In 1977, Cassidy hit it big with his single Da Doo Ron Ron. He starred in The Hardy Boys Mysteries and appeared on teen magazine covers, such as Tiger Beat, for almost two full consecutive years. Coming into the studio, women go crazy. Oprah says it's amazing that these "grown ass women" become their 13-year-old selves again when their teen idol enters the room. He tells Oprah he doesn't do this (make public appearances), and he has nothing to pitch, but he's here to thank Oprah for 25 years of what she's done.
Shaun says it's amazing to meet people now who are fully grown, and to see the 9-year-old emerge in their eyes. He feels it's more about that person than him, that it's about this amazing experience, and Oprah says that's beautiful. We then go to a clip of Shaun with his wife, Tracey, at their home in Los Angeles (on 2 acres of land--quite unusual, I'm sure!) with their small children. Tracey says he's just a family guy, not quite the superstar most women think of. Though he loves producing, Shaun says his dream is his family, his children and his wife. After a break Shaun performs a medley of his top hits, something he hasn't done publicly in about 30 years.
The Backstreet Boys
We see meet young women, Noelle and Meghan, who love The Backstreet Boys. Noelle is obsessed with them and has caused her best friend, Meghan, to love them as well. Meghan says that if Noelle had a chance to meet the BSB she'd "poo her pants." The girls think they are flying to Chicago in an attempt to find The Backstreet Boys biggest fan, unaware that the band is actually awaiting their arrival at the airport. She doesn't poo her pants, but Noelle pretty much freaks out and is completely speechless.
All five guys are in the studio, and the audience once again goes crazy. Kevin retired from the group, but all five are together and after a break they perform their #1 hit, I Want It That Way. I can't lie, I loved that song as a teen and remember feeling quite dreamy listening to it, hoping for someone to love me the way they sang about in their song. I usually fast forward through singing, but this is the first time I didn't. Still a good song :)
Peter Frampton
Oprah recounts Peter Frampton at the height of his fame, saying women wanted to be with him and men wanted to be him. She welcomes him into the studio and he performs... some song I am sure is very famous. He's a bit before my time :) After a break, Oprah sits down with him. Her executive producer, Sheri Salata, is a huge Peter Frampton fan and did not see the surprise coming. We get to see a great clip in which Sheri is leading the Monday morning staff meeting, during which time the producers discuss the plan for upcoming shows. Unbeknownst to Sheri, Frampton is backstage and when he comes out she goes crazy and I'm pretty sure she's crying, though it's hard to tell from the camera angle and lighting. He changes the lyrics of his classic, Baby I Love Your Ways, to Sheri I love your ways, and she's definitely crying then!
Oprah asks what it's like to be a rock star, and he says he's a musician now. He does concur with Oprah that there's nothing like having an entire stadium sing along with his songs. Upon being asked, he says he doesn't believe in the "r" word (retirement) and he plans to book Madison Square Garden when he's 100. Frampton closes out the show with Baby I Love Your Ways and we're done!
Gospel Filter Review
I wondered what I would review from this episode, and it's exactly what I thought it would be. As I said at the start, Oprah pretty much stole the words straight from my brain! I've written before about greatness, being inspired by talented people, but that's not where we're going today. Today we are dealing with idolatry, namely "teen idol"-atry.
To start, idolatry is loving anything or anyone more than God. It's pretty simple. It can be a person, it can be a feeling, it can be status, a material possession, a "high", you name it. If it's not Jesus, and we love it more than Him in that we chose it over worshipful, loving obedience to Jesus, then it's an idol.
I remember, as a teen, having various crushes. I love, love, loved the band Switchfoot. In fact, I was probably best known on my college campus for my first two years of college as the girl who loved Switchfoot. I was particularly obsessed with the bass player, Tim Foreman. I was quite certain that if I went to a concert, he'd see me and simply not be able to help himself--he'd fall in love with me and have to marry me. I met him first in a long line of autograph seekers. He signed my picture, thanked me, and moved on to the next person. But I thought that he just had seen too many girls--never mind the doubts eating at me about how much more beautiful so many of the other crazed fans were--and I'd have to try again.
My next experience was much more personal--I signed up to promote the band's upcoming local show on my college campus. As a result, they brought me over to meet them (it wasn't really back stage, but it was privileged access) and I was ecstatic. This was my big chance! Tim chatted with me a little and then told me that as a reward I could have any T-shirt from their merchandise table for free. I chose one exactly like this:
Tim picked it out for me, and I was flattered because he got a size smaller than my chubby body normally would fit into. But then that was it--they autographed a free picture of themselves, thanked me again, and I was on my way. No engagement, no marriage, not even a date or asking for any contact info. That was actually when my obsession with the band waned, once reality hit and I realized that I would never be latched onto their fame and success, that I was a nobody and not meant to become a somebody via Switchfoot.
I tell this story because I am not here to condemn or hate on any woman who had--or girl who has--a current teen idol. I absolutely have been there. That said, God has allowed me to see, albeit imperfectly because I'm not Him, the state of my heart. We all want to matter. As women, we ache to be beautiful. We yearn to be loved, for a man to love us and give us significance. Particularly, we are prone to developing crushes on someone who is a "somebody", someone that is basically an impossibility, but if somehow we could be with them... then we'd know we have inherent worth. All the more so, then, if that somebody is a famous somebody, a somebody millions of other girls would want to be with and yet somehow we're the one--that one special girl--they chose.
This is a desire that is not necessarily evil, but it becomes evil when it's fulfilled by the wrong person. The only one meant to fill that void and give us worth is Jesus Christ. The scripture tells us that everything was created through Jesus (and by Him, too!), and that everything was created for Jesus.
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
Colossians 1:16
You were created through and for Jesus Christ. Only in surrender to Him will you find full meaning and worth. No matter how amazing a human man is--not the most incredible husband, not even the most incredibly godly and in love with Jesus husband--he will never, ever fulfill you. The ache to be seen and known is even filled by God--one of His names is El Roi, meaning "the God who sees me." He sees and knows each of us completely, even the ugliest sinful parts of us, and yet while we were still His enemies He died for us. Jesus offered the sacrifice of His innocent blood to unite us to God once and for all if we confess our sin, and that Jesus is Lord and we need His grace.
Remember how my little heart broke when my idol didn't deem me worthy of marriage? C.S. Lewis said it perfectly:
Idols always break the hearts of their worshippers.
I've learned this is true, whether my idol was Tim Foreman or food or money or being liked by other people... my heart always broke when, ultimately, my idol let me down no matter how much I enslaved myself to it.
We don't need teen idols. We need Jesus. I pray that every female who has idolized a famous male--here's talking to you, Justin Bieber fans--would know that Jesus as their ultimate satisfaction and everything and everyone else could be enjoyed as an act of worshiping Jesus without worshiping the thing. When Jesus is our identity and we rest in our worth as defined by Him, everything else fades and we're free to enjoy said things without enslaving ourselves to them. Praise God for that!
Up Tomorrow
A 2-Day Oprah Show Event: 200 Men Who Were Molested Come Forward
Thanks for a great post!
ReplyDeleteI spent my day reading a book called "Buying In: What We Buy and Who We Are" by Rob Walker which explores the changing faces of marketing in consumer culture, how we create identity by what we buy, and the impact this all has on how we and others perceive us.
More specifically, the author's main premise is that we 1) all want to be perceived as an individual but b) also need to feel a part of the larger whole. This I think is spot-on for the pre-Christian and speaks directly to our need for Christ's personal, yet church family communal relationship.
I basically read the whole book with this understanding of how it points to our inherent desire for Jesus, and was very surprised when the author, although not a Christian, spends the first half of the last chapter suggesting that maybe Rick Warren has a point about the "it's not all about you" from Purpose-Driven Life and that maybe our desires can be satisfied in Christianity. Unfortunately I was really disappointed when he then says, "yeah, but it really is all about us" and finishes by outlining why.
All this to say, your post on Jesus as identity vs. idols was exactly the encouragement I needed before bed. I enjoyed the book (even though it's for a class), but it's wonderful to be reminded that Jesus is all that I need after spending hours reflecting on all the ways I still buy into culture instead of God's promises!
Love you!