“In the world but not of it: Keep Calm and Carry On” for
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The ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ poster, designed by the British Government in 1939 as a response to war, has become global cultural icon of the early twenty-first century, drawing a nostalgic response for a time ‘when we all pulled together’ in the current time of economic crisis. This paper considers what Christians have contributed to, and drawn from, fan culture around this poster, as part of their call to be ‘in the world but not of it’: are they also drawing on nostalgia, or seeking cultural relevance? When the posters were originally produced in 1939, churchgoing was the cultural norm, in a way that it is not now. Many wartime posters had visibly religious discourse embedded within their designs, offering a clear moral and ethical perspective. As ‘the church’ has found itself discouraged from participating in the public sphere by an increasing sacred-secular divide, it has had to find new ways of engaging with the world. We question how Christian versions of the design and slogan (many as questionable as those produced by secular copyists) highlight the interaction between church and popular culture, whether separatist, conformist, or transformist. Working with the concept of ‘whole-life discipleship’, we consider what the uses of subverted designs indicate about the stories that Christians want to tell about themselves: are they fans of Jesus, or fans of content? We question what they might offer as opportunities to open or participate a conversation - in a fragmented digital age - in a way that bridges culture and religion.
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“In the world but not of it: Keep Calm and Carry On” for
- 1. “In the world but not of it: Keep Calm and Carry On” Dr Bex Lewis (@drbexl) Research Fellow in Social Media and Online Learning, CODEC Centre for Digital Theology, Durham University July 2015 for http://www2.le.ac.uk/departments/lifelong- learning/events/fandomconference, Leicester http://www.slideshare.net/drbexl/in-the-world-but-not-of-it-keep-calm-and- carry-on-for This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International @drbexl
- 2. KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON 1939 - 2015 @drbexl
- 3. 2010: BBC Inside Out @drbexl
- 4. Total War • During the war, a ‘shared sense of national identity had to be mobilised amongst the people of Britain’. Achieved partly through propaganda posters, more and more people ‘were encouraged to identify themselves as active citizens, as active members of the nation’, a citizenship ‘to be earned by communal and individual service of one’s nation in wartime’. • PhD thesis (2004), quoting Noakes, L., War and the British: Gender and National Identity, 1939-91, 1998, p.48. @drbexl
- 5. Benedict Anderson ‘Imagined Communities’ what ‘makes people love and die for nations, as well as hate and kill in their name’ http://tinyurl.com/i maginedcommuniti es @drbexl
- 6. What can you buy? https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150159936105685.293432.180104880684@drbexl
- 9. “There is nothing timeless and unchanging about this culture; fandom originates as a response to specific historical conditions (Jenkins, 1992, 3). Those conditions stem from shifts in the media and their tendency to reconfigure everyday experience.” Duffet, M. Understanding Fandom: An introduction to the study of media fan culture, 2013, p.5 @drbexl
- 10. “The often cited ‘battles over hearts and minds’ … all do not solely depend on rational discourses but on the ability to present a cause or public figure in which we, as readers, can find our selves and to which we emotionally relate.” Gray, J., Sandvoss, C. & Harrington, C.L. Fandom: Identities and Communities in a Mediated World, 2007, p.10 @drbexl
- 12. @drbexl
- 13. @drbexl
- 14. Christian Versions Intertextuality assumes that the meaning of one text is shaped through the lens of other texts. For Christians, our interpretation is likely to be shaped through our faith, and some of the strongest designs have clear biblical resonance. “Keep Calm & Pray On”, draws on Philippians 4:6: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. or Matthew 6:34, whilst Matthew 5:44 can clearly be seen in “Love Those Who are Foes”. “Keep Calm and Know that I am God” has origins in Psalm 46:10, a verse that in our overly busy lives we should take more notice. http://www.transpositions.co.uk/keep-calm-and-pray-on/@drbexl
- 15. Muslim @drbexl
- 16. Jewish @drbexl
- 17. Hindu @drbexl
- 20. Third Way Magazine, 2010 “Where some have pointed at a kind of existential emptiness in the original, such reinvention offers a constructive variation of the theme, reminding people in times of crisis that they are not alone, have something to hold onto, and can trust in God to provide a deeper meaning and identity.” @drbexl
- 21. Thank you for your time… QUESTIONS? @drbexl
Editor's Notes
- “In the world but not of it: Keep Calm and Carry On” Topic: Uses of popular culture by religious groups The ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ poster, designed by the British Government in 1939 as a response to war, has become global cultural icon of the early twenty-first century, drawing a nostalgic response for a time ‘when we all pulled together’ in the current time of economic crisis. This paper considers what Christians have contributed to, and drawn from, fan culture around this poster, as part of their call to be ‘in the world but not of it’: are they also drawing on nostalgia, or seeking cultural relevance? When the posters were originally produced in 1939, churchgoing was the cultural norm, in a way that it is not now. Many wartime posters had visibly religious discourse embedded within their designs, offering a clear moral and ethical perspective. As ‘the church’ has found itself discouraged from participating in the public sphere by an increasing sacred-secular divide, it has had to find new ways of engaging with the world. We question how Christian versions of the design and slogan (many as questionable as those produced by secular copyists) highlight the interaction between church and popular culture, whether separatist, conformist, or transformist. Working with the concept of ‘whole-life discipleship’, we consider what the uses of subverted designs indicate about the stories that Christians want to tell about themselves: are they fans of Jesus, or fans of content? We question what they might offer as opportunities to open or participate a conversation - in a fragmented digital age - in a way that bridges culture and religion. You will have up to 20 minutes to present your paper, and then up to 10 minutes for discussion. You will either be in a 1-hour session with two papers, or a 1.5 session with three papers. The detailed arrangements of the sessions will be made nearer the time of the conference.
- The ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ poster, designed by the British Government in 1939 as a response to war, has become global cultural icon of the early twenty-first century, drawing a nostalgic response for a time ‘when we all pulled together’ in the current time of economic crisis – bit of back-story, 1939 – set of 3 posters – (1994-2004 research) – focusing on the other 2 – planned pre-war, published asap war These posters also distributed, but so far as we can tell, never officially released – negative reaction to first 2 – seen as ‘wrong’ kind of message – no need for ‘morale boosting’, rather content that would indicate that people were ready to be contribute/be told what to do, so should have been pulped… 2001 – ‘discovered’ in Barter books, 2005 featured in the Guardian, 2009 (tied to economic crisis) – really took off – keep expecting it to die off, but it has become part of British heritage.
- Total war - government was looking for ‘active’ citizenship, self-regulation, democratic, not driven by the overt force behind the totalitarain states… In the 1930s Aldous Huxley recognised that propaganda ‘canalises an already existing stream’; it is only effective on those already in tune with the ideas expressed. Propaganda encourages its audience further along the direction that they are already moving, and reinforces partly formed ideas…
- .. And what is it about that sense of belonging that means for Brits, this still makes sense, and is something they want to buy into (or, to be honest, more that the tourists want to buy because it’s a “British” thing?) Anderson indicated that citizens are likely to work together in ‘imagined communities’, “imagined because the members of even the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them, of even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion.” Anderson examines how tradition is constructed, invented and appropriated, often through symbolism based on false tradition – does this ring any bells for religious faiths/organisations? It’s very much about the 21st Century and the time of crisis we are in … end of 2008 I returned from global travels … realising that I’d returned, with no job, no savings, to a time of recession… the slogan definitely resonated with me… and I wasn’t the only one…
- I collected a range of them (still do sporadically), and there was a range of good ones, and poor ones … especially around the Royal Wedding .. I love the regional ones (which I can’t pronounce), not such a fan of e.g. “Keep Calm and Eat a Sausage” … considering “The aims for the first poster were ambitious. It was agreed that the first poster slogan, supported by the pictorial design, should if possible: ‘attract immediate attention and evoke a spontaneous reaction’; ‘exert a steadying influence’; ‘incite to action’; ‘harmonise with general preconceived ideas among the public’; ‘be short’; and ‘be universal in appeal’.” – using a design that would be difficult to copy!! Anything and everything… so – unsurprisingly…
- … are also Christian versions – and like the general culture, some are ‘stronger’ than others’ This paper considers what Christians have contributed to, and drawn from, fan culture around this poster, as part of their call to be ‘in the world but not of it’: are they also drawing on nostalgia, or seeking cultural relevance?
- When the posters were originally produced in 1939, churchgoing was the cultural norm, in a way that it is not now. Many wartime posters had visibly religious discourse embedded within their designs, offering a clear moral and ethical perspective – although it was just a ‘normal’ part of life – the moral message in particular = strong for VD (not seen as unusual to have a vicar and a dr contributing to the conversation)… (and note ‘This is the Enemy’ is a US poster – clearly much stronger than any British ones!) Woman in Christlike post Church at centre of village life (although could argue church/village not related to religion) VD as a moral argument, sense of ‘evil’, ‘shadow’, which I don’t think we’d see now A ‘crusade’ with burning cross (US) Saving – sense of heading towards the light Some less obvious than others…
- Nostalgia - clearly the world as a whole post ££ issues = looking back to ‘happier times’… (we all drunk tea) – something that can be shared – which in the digital age is particularly key (memes developing from 1970s when video mashups became popular – Duffet, p11) – in both the popularity of its take-up, it’s adaptation, and the repeated calls that ‘enough is enough’ (but it persists). The variations produced are not socially atomised, because there is a variation on a meme, and then a counter-variation … people will converse around different variations, but is it more a sense of ‘personal fandom’ – on Facebook – making a public declaration of interest (mine is pretty specific!). How are we performing our identity – as human beings, as Brits, as part of the debate about being ‘publically Christian’ and ‘culturally relevant’.
- This is not always high culture, but a message designed for a previous time of crisis appears to work here … the ‘keep calm’ makes sense to us…
- And there’s the particularity of the rediscovery of the poster in 2000 that gives the 21st C poster version it’s story – a certain ‘Britishness’ that tapped into nostalgia, which is certainly what the tourists are buying – now. A feature in The Guardian in 2005 gave it impetus, and as the recession bit in 2008 – it rocketed and this is when the subverted messages really started to kick off, and celebrities started to wear variations. We question what people are actually a fan of – the British outlook, the wartime sympathies, the poster itself, or its story. It is interesting that in all this, despite having come across the poster in the 1990s in The National Archives & IWM, it was worth the ‘pilgrimage’ to Barter Books to see the specific ‘original’ (and I’m not the only one) – and also interesting to note that Stuart/Mary don’t like the variations (snobbery or …?)!
- As ‘the church’ has found itself discouraged from participating in the public sphere by an increasing sacred-secular divide, it has had to find new ways of engaging with the world. If everyone else is doing this, then shouldn’t we be too (similar with see Christian variations on e.g. YouTube videos) to be ‘relevant’ (other qus about whether relevance goes too far…)? So, these are some of the ones that we get for Keep Calm/Christian (can defo see some fan culture for Christian Grey there too )…. How close are these to some of the ‘motivational posters’ we have seen before…
- And just to add another dimension, as I’ve spent the past 3 years working with trainee vicars… so many variations of the same thing!
- How far will Christian versions of the design and slogan (many REALLY BAD - as are those produced by secular copyists)impact culture – are we keeping ourselves apart, conforming with the world, or transforming it from the inside… and you could get people who would say our interaction with this design come from all perspectives!
- Christians are not the only one – see Muslim…
- … Jewish…
- … and Hindu versions (just for example). I’m not sure how much this has to do with faith, and more to do with a general trend, and the fact that those of faith happen to be human beings, and participate in everyday culture (back to the debate of how much, how influence it, etc.)
- I’m not sure these designs ALONE are going to change things…. Got to ‘canalise a pre-existing stream’ as was identified in the 1930s … but I get lots of likes when I share anything KCCO, inc Christian ones. I spend a lot of time working with Christians encouraging them to be ‘authentically themselves’, with their online presence, as well as their offline presence, being a representation of God if we are public about our Christian faith – what stories do we tell about ourselves in sharing this kind of content – is is about Jesus, or is it about content? In a fragmented digital age where it’s all too easy to get caught in a bubble of ‘people like me’, visuals (particularly based on FB algorithms) can start conversations – whether it be about the theological message or the design… As we see here, there can be a deeper ‘call-to-action’ in there.. .
- … see this one from Eden Network, who live and work long-term on deprived estates, have produced a number of designs. “Move in and Live Deep” works very well with the design, but also reflects what they are doing in a tight slogan (but is also likely to open questions rather than be ‘obviously’ Christian. In a design particularly appropriate for their team members, they also have “Here I am. Send Me” (Isaiah 6:8). http://eden-network.spreadshirt.co.uk/
- … and this is how I summarised it in a short article for Third Way Mag (Dec 2010), which gives the deepest thinking of it yet … the sentence finished that it reminds us of Matthew 6:34 (Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself, each day has enough trouble of its own’, so we should Keep Calm and Carry On living our daily lives!