Taylor, Oliver, ‘Barbie,’ ‘Freedom’: Pondering 4 Summer Sensations
Brett McCracken You can understand where a culture is at by paying attention to its hits. What in pop culture is resonating with masses of people right now? This question isn’t only interesting to ponder; for Christians, it’s instructive for mission. Pop culture sensations have explanatory power—revealing the loves, longings, pain points, and paradoxes of the populace we’re called to reach with the gospel. Surveying the pop culture landscape of summer 2023, four big sensations stand out: two movies ( Sound of Freedom and Barbie ) and two musical artists (Taylor Swift and Oliver Anthony). Each pair represents our cultural fragmentation in microcosm, its polarities indicative of widening cultural divisions. I’ll consider each of the four “hits” first on its own terms and then as duelling “pairs” that, I argue, map onto contemporary cultural tensions. Taylor Swift We knew Taylor Swift’s Eras tour would be big. But few expected it would be so jaw-droppingly big that it would significant