by Tyler Young
Days after the big event, people are still talking about the Super Bowl. Even though it was one of the better championship games in recent memory, it’s not football the media is discussing, nor this year’s much anticipated, but generally unspectacular, commercials. The talk is all about what took place on the field, alright, but not during the game. It is the halftime debacle that has everyone abuzz—and appalled.
With some one billion worldwide and 140 million national viewers, the Super Bowl is the most watched American television event (in fact, the ten most-watched programs in television history are all Super Bowls). It is a cultural experience which, regrettably, has come to represent to international audiences the essence of American culture, the epitome of our rank materialism and excess. Traditionally, it has been a family affair, with friends and relatives gathering at Super Bowl parties across the land to enjoy food and fellowship as they watch the big game. But in recent years, many of the commercials have become increasingly offensive, and the half-time shows—which used to raise objections only for the degree of boredom they generated—have devolved into tasteless displays of pop culture vulgarity. (An exception to this trend was the outstanding, post 9-11 program performed by U2, which including a rousing tribute to the 9-11 victims.) This year’s half-time entertainment, however, reached an all-time low, fomenting a national outrage that has yet to die down.
In case some of our readers are among the few who did not watch or have somehow yet to hear about it, this year’s half-time show was produced by that bastion of family values, MTV. At the close of the half-time program, teen idol Justin Timberlake joined has-been pop diva Janet Jackson. As the duet finished, Timberlake reached over and pulled off part of Jackson’s costume, resulting in internationally televised partial nudity. According to one source, some 90 million people were watching, including an estimated 8 million children, as Jackson’s body was exposed on prime-time network television for all to see. Stunned church groups, which had gathered around big-screen TV’s in homes and fellowship halls throughout the country, stood aghast. A shocked and disturbed public protested, and apologies were issued by CBS and the NFL. The performers and MTV have also apologized, claiming the nudity was a “wardrobe malfunction,” but most remain skeptical of the claim that this was a spontaneous stunt gone awry. Some see this as a ploy for media attention to generate interest in Jackson’s new album about to be released.
The Federal Communications Commission is considering levying fines against all CBS affiliates which carried the striptease act. According to FCC rules, broadcast channels cannot air “obscene” material at any time and cannot air “indecent” material between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. (Viewers have to tune in to cable networks to meet their prime-time indecency and obscenity needs.) “Obscenity” is defined as that which describes sexual conduct “in a patently offensive way” and lacking “serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.” If that is the case, the entire half-time show should have been censored.
That brings us to a bothersome point in this Super Bowl scandal. Jaws dropped and fingers wagged because of the brief, partial nudity at the close of the half-time program, but the fact is that entire show was filled with rank filth from beginning to end. We can’t help but think that if there had been no “wardrobe malfunction,” there would have been little stir over the rest of the show’s offensive antics. The NFL stated it was “extremely disappointed” and that “the show was offensive, inappropriate and embarrassing to us and our fans.” But there was no apology for Britney Spears cavorting lustfully at the half-time show a few years back, or for using someone like Beyonce—the pop queen famous for her sexual explicit lyrics and lascivious videos that would make a hardened sailor blush—to sing our nation’s anthem before this year’s game. What about using the vulgar and irreverent Kid Rock, who took the stage donning an American flag with a hole cut in it for his head, or P. Diddy and Nelly, hip-hop artists known for their pornographic songs and videos? What about inviting someone like Janet Jackson, who has appeared nude on magazine covers and in her CD liner notes? Or Nelly rapping at the half-time show, “It’s getting hot in hear, so take off all your clothes” in front of near-naked dancers, or Timberlake singing, “Bet I’ll have you naked by the end of this song” just before he disrobed Janet Jackson? If we are going to invite “artists” known for their contempt for traditional values and their flaunting of the hedonistic lifestyle, if we ask them to sing their lewd songs and we applaud their licentious choreography, why should we be so appalled when they actually do what we are paying them to sing about and glorify? And on what grounds can CBS or the NFL claim to be shocked when they turned the half-time program over to MTV to begin with? What did they expect from a network which pumps out an around-the-clock, steady stream of salaciousness? Lawrence Welk?
Perhaps this will serve as something of a wake-up call for parents, including our own parents in the church. What shocked moms and dads in the finale of the half-time show is basically the same filth America’s youth—including many in the Lord’s church—have been feeding on day in and day out for years. MTV is the leading network among teens, and many parents do not know (1) how much their children watch music videos (including those aired on VH1 and Fuse); (2) how sexually explicit most of those videos are; and (3) the degree to which this rank material influences their kids. It’s past time that parents say enough is enough, and either make television off limits to their kids altogether, or make concerted and diligent efforts to monitor and control what they see.
What we know from experience is affirmed in scripture: what we watch affects what we think and in turn, how we behave (Prov. 4:23; 1 Cor. 15:33; Phil. 4:8-11). And as far as our church Super Bowl parties go, let’s decide now that next year we’re going to turn off the half-time show and do something wholesome, like pray that we be holy lights to a nation that is, sadly, growing darker and darker, and that therefore needs us more and more to hold forth our Savior and his will.