Media Trends: March 2016

Movies

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With the release of Risen last month, Tinseltown is obviously continuing to churn out Bible-based shows at an unprecedented pace. Ironic, considering the continued decline of people across the Western world affiliated with any religion, much less Christianity.

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Hollywood’s persistence in producing movies based on the Bible demonstrates first and foremost that there is obviously a lucrative market out there. But is this a reflection of a rising Christian influence or acceptance of Christianity in Hollywood (and perhaps the broader Western world), or something else?

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Television

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While the concept isn’t new—the movement only came to popular attention when small houses were used to accommodate Hurricane Katrina victims in New Orleans in 2005—the number of new television shows dedicated to tiny houses indicates it has somewhat moved into the mainstream.

Tiny House, Big Living first aired in Australia with the introduction of 9Life in late November 2015, a brand new channel to free-to-air television from the Nine Network. The show highlights how with “the right layout and high-end accents” tiny home owners can still feel like they are “living in style” in structures smaller than 20 square metres. Then in January, Foxtel introduced Tiny House Australia, a series that follows people looking to buy small, alternative housing for differing reasons.

There’s also popular YouTube channel Living Big in a Tiny House by New Zealand couple, Bryce Langston and Melissa Nickerson. The show, first launched in 2013, now has more than 100,000 subscribers and documents their journey as they build their own tiny house, measuring just 15 square metres and costing them $NZ26,000.

So is the growing interest in tiny houses a response to the soaring property prices and (un)affordability of living in most capital cities? Do financial and environmental considerations play a part in this downsizing trend?

Or is this, like the contemporary popularity of decluttering our spaces—and lives (thanks to Marie Kondo)—yet another of humanity’s attempts at obtaining happiness and fulfilment with things—any “things”? After all, we’ve tried the big houses and grown adept at acquiring material possessions. If that didn’t give us the contentment we yearn, perhaps we will succeed if we try the opposite?