Clarify juxtapose, subvert, and amplify

One of our students wrote to ask if Steve could say a bit more about how to recognize the three patterns he talked about in DJing. Here's Steve's response:

In Reading 12 I would juxtapose happening at the "arms folded moment" when I place the Bible text alongside our Western individualism. I make this point even stronger when I talk about political parties and how everyone in a country today does not follow the "one" leader. This is juxtaposing, placing one sample - the Bible text of 2 Corinthians 5, alongside another sample - Western individualism.

I see amplification happening when I point to Edmund Hillary. The sample - of the $5 note and of Hillary, is placed alongside the sample - one died for many. And as I trace the ways that Hillary points to values held by New Zealanders and how he "represents" us in some sense, this is amplifying the "one died for many."

I see subversion happening in the Whale Rider sample. Subversion happens in a number of ways. First, the film is making no obvious claim that Paikea is like Christ. Yet when placed alongside elements of the Jesus story - one dying, to build a new community - there is some sense I am subverting the film. Perhaps a bit like Paul in Athens, who points out the Altar to the Unknown God and says - well you believe x, but can I tell you what this really points to. Second, I am subverting the audience. It is a primarily Pakeha congregation, so using a positive example of a young Maori woman is a challenge to their attitudes toward Maori culture.

I hope that helps. At the end of the day, DJing is just a map, a way to describe a part of the communication process. I simply want to make 2 points, the first is the potential to see cultures as made of little moments, fragments. The second is that we can engage these fragments in multiple ways - sometimes to find God in them, other times to critique, yet other times to realise that in placing two new things together, fresh insights emerge.