Rockin rollen

10/29/2019 Chapter 3: Culture and Media

https://ncia.wwnorton.com/ebooks/epub/youmayask6/EPUB/content/1.3.0-chapter03.xhtml 1/2

3 Culture and

Media

The year: 1977. The place: a Portland Trailblazers basketball game. The star was not on the court but in the audience—Rollen Stewart, aka Rockin’ Rollen, aka Rainbow Man. Caught on camera at the game in a rainbow-colored clown’s wig, Rockin’ Rollen began his 15 minutes of fame. His plan: First create a celebrity image; then, cash in on that notoriety by landing roles on TV or in the movies. After that first appearance in Portland, Rollen became a fixture at sports events, from Super Bowls to the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo. He was featured in a beer commercial, was invited to glamorous parties, and lived the Hollywood high life. After a few years of the extravagant lifestyle,

however, he found it “shallow and unhappy.” Watching a television program called Today in Bible Prophecy



Do mass media create social

norms or merely reflect

them? Culture is liek two

mirrors facing each other: it

simultaneously reflects and

creates the world we live in.

Transcript

Paradox

10/29/2019 Chapter 3: Culture and Media

https://ncia.wwnorton.com/ebooks/epub/youmayask6/EPUB/content/1.3.0-chapter03.xhtml 2/2

How did Rockin’

Rollen manipulate

the media to spread

his own message?

following a Super Bowl game, he experienced a religious epiphany and became a born-again Christian. Retaining his colorful wig, he decided to use major sporting events to garner media attention and share a Christian message. He sold everything he owned, lived in his car, and used his money for tickets to key sporting events. He wore shirts and signs quoting John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” He would even carry a small TV set with him into the stands so that he could best position himself to be captured on the cameras, much to the chagrin and annoyance of TV stations. Some members of the media threatened him, so frustrated were they by his co-optation of their precious airtime to spread a religious message for free. In the mid-1980s Rollen

came to believe that Judgment Day was nearing. He decided to focus on the message, discarding the wig so it wouldn’t be a distraction. To get out the final message, he decided to use negative press. He set off a series of stink bombs, mainly in Christian bookstores, and soon the FBI was hunting for him. He claimed that he was trying to direct people’s attention to religious scholars. In a dangerous and emotional media-hungry escalation, he held a maid hostage in a hotel room for nine hours, posting religious messages in the hotel window for the media. In the end, the former Rainbow Man admitted that he wasn’t receiving the press he wanted—he had lost control of the final presentation. He received three life sentences in prison. What do we make of the story of Rollen Stewart? We

might describe him as a crazy zealot. Alternatively, we might describe him as a media-savvy cultural icon. It’s this second definition we’re interested in, for the sake of this chapter, at least. What does it mean to be media savvy? What does it mean to be a cultural icon? Before we can answer these questions, we need to back up and take a look at two key concepts: culture and media.