Brett McCracken

Brett McCracken is a journalist and author of Hipster Christianity (Baker, 2010), a thoughtful critique of American Christian culture and "Christian hipsters." He holds a degree in History and English from Wheaton College and a Master's in Cinema and Media Studies from UCLA. In graduate school Brett’s research interests focused on transcendent aesthetics in film, Christians and cinema, new media theory, user-generated content/wikinomics, and contemporary issues in the television industry. He is currently Managing Editor of Biola Magazine and resides outside of Los Angeles, California . He comments on movies, media and popular culture issues at his blog, The Search.

Media

MTV and the Future of Music Media

Looks like MTV is back in the music video business. Now they won't just be airing music videos; they'll be funding them. With LCD Soundsystem "Pow Pow" video, the network that killed the radio star has opted back in to the business of making video stars, in a more direct way than ever. Writer Brett McCracken explores MTV's new project and what it means for the future of music media.

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Arts + Entertainment

A Film About Us: Review of Meek's Cutoff

Minimalist indie director Kelly Reichardt's latest film, Meek's Cutoff, is ponderous and gorgeously shot. But what makes this film so moving is that it is about more than one heroine's point of view; it's about our point of view. Film critic and author Brett McCracken offers his take on this frustratingly ambiguous film.

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Media

Infotaining Ourselves To Death

Is technology, and pop culture, and the leveling of information and entertainment creating a world of trivial hyperreality wherein the “important” and “superfluous” are increasingly difficult to tell apart? If so, is it something we need to be worried about?

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Church

Church: Marketing a Non-Commercial Message?

The church today has a weakness for numbers. But what happens to our faith when we turn it into a "product" to sell? What does it mean to package Christianity in a methodical manner so as to make it salient to as wide an audience as possible? What does Christianity lose when it becomes just one piece of a consumer transaction? According to Brett McCracken, these are questions that the brand managers of “cool Christianity” would do well to consider.

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Arts + Entertainment

Ten Most Transcendent Films of the Last Decade

As we enter the second decade of the second millennium AD, Q is pausing to look back on the last ten years. In the fourth of this multi-post series, author and film critic Brett McCracken considers the cinematic gems of the last decade that embodied the aches, fears, and hopes that audiences felt during that time.

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Arts + Entertainment

The Veneer of Arts + Entertainment

The world of "indie" film and music

There’s a reason why, in the worlds of movies and music, “indie” is the new mainstream. It’s because “indie” sells. Or, rather, it’s because the marketing of something as indie tends to work. Many of these “mainstream indie” brands are legitimately good but some aren't. Writer Brett McCracken warns that our flimsy, fickle, “what can a product do for my image?” consumer sensibilities are often easily duped.

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