You’ve heard the terms “modern” and “postmodern,” but what about “metamodern”? My colleague Brett McCracken introduced me to this term during a phone conversation. He applied it to a phenomena he and others had observed in film and TV. After a 30-minute conversation, as an ever-opportunistic editor, I told him explain the concept for TGC’s readers.

In “Understanding the Metamodern Mood,” Brett asks, “Why does so much today feel random, disconnected, contradictory, aimless, and altogether void of coherent logic and purpose?” By looking at three movies from the past year, Brett explains how this new trend shows that the incoherence we see in our cultural moment is not a bug but a feature. The change in pop culture is more than just an artistic style but reflects the tectonic plates shifting in the modern West. We have, according to the South Korean–born and German cultural theorist Byung-Chul Han, a “crisis of narration.” When you understand this, then much of today’s incoherence starts to make sense. We’re a culture of contradictions.

I have to admit that these recent metamodern films make my eyes roll. I guess I’m too much of a cultural curmudgeon. But the good news is the metamodern shift presents the church with invaluable inroads in our evangelistic task. The yearning for sincerity, the desire for existential meaning, and the hunger for certainty are all longings Christianity can satisfy. As Brett concludes, “The church is well positioned to meet people in the acedia of postmodernity’s afterglow and invite them into a time-tested community of truth, growth, and purposeful mission.”

That’s something even a modernist Puddleglum like me can rejoice over. 

Ivan Mesa
Editorial Director

P. S. — Another thing that brings me joy is our annual Essay Contest for Young Adults. If you’re between the ages of 16 and 22 and interested in writing, we encourage you to apply. See details here. I look forward to reading your submissions!