C.S. Lewis Meets Pop Culture

Lewis, C. S. (1961). An experiment in criticism. Cambridge: University Press.

Velarde, R. (2015, July 13). C.S. Lewis Meets Pop Culture. Retrieved December 04, 2016, from http://blog.cslewis.com/c-s-lewis-meets-pop-culture/

Robert Velarde discusses how C.S. Lewis’s views on literature can be applied to pop culture today. While Lewis’s generation did not have all the reality TV shows and dramas that we currently have access to, his analysis of literature can certainly help us discover some value in today’s pop culture. Velarde cites Lewis’s An Experiment in Criticism in which Lewis argues that instead of analyzing the quality of the material itself, we should investigate how the material is received and digested. In this way, according to Lewis, we must distinguish between “using” and “receiving” the material. It is not enough to mindlessly ingest what we see on TV. Rather, it must be thoughtfully applied to our analysis of our own lives to determine the value of the material.
In class, we discussed the value of myth in allowing us to view our reality through another perspective. This process provides a deeper understanding of our own reality. Lewis argues that the value of fictional material is “an enlargement of our being. We want to be more than ourselves… We want to see with other eyes, to imagine with other imaginations, to feel with other hearts, as well as with our own…” In this way, we are provided the opportunity to view reality through another person’s eyes. In turn, we are given a more insightful perspective into our own reality. There is a cliche that says you cannot truly understand me until you have “walked a mile in my shoes.” Lewis’s concept is relevant here because it is through seeing reality from another person’s perspective that we are better able to navigate our own reality. Applied to pop culture, we are able to see through the perspective of a (usually) fictional character living in the same culture as ourselves and are therefore better able to understand our own reality.