The Ultimate Love Page
http://www.angelfire.com/hi/HenkFrijters/
or http://www.angelfire.com/ca/HisBodyPierced4You/
site designer: Henk Frijters
site established: September 1998
(first recorded guest in guest book)
number of hits: 7909 hits as of
21/2/00
Strategy and
design of the homepage
Evangelistic websites regularly use secular themes to expand their potential audience. However, it is still unusual to see evangelistic pages that openly attempt to tread on what is ideologically ‘enemy’ ground. That is the strategy adopted by the designer of the Ultimate Love Page, which claims to offer “the most graphic pictures on the Internet” in a clear parody of body modification/fetish sites. This premise is reinforced by the physical layout of the Ultimate Love Page’s homepage. The first elements of the page to catch the web surfers attention are the photographs that sit at the bottom of the frame. These show pierced ears, mouth and belly button. The black background, lined on either side by red hearts with the word ‘love’ embossed on them, as well as the barbed-wire graphic, lends an air of borrowed exoticism and danger – or at least that seems to be the intent of Henk Frijters, the page’s author. A bright pink warning flashes the message that all people who cannot handle “extremely graphic” depictions of love should “Leave now!” A link below this warning leads viewers to a parody of pornographic websites, or the ‘love’ section of the site. Another link is offered below the photographs, to view the “graphic” descriptions of body piercing, or the ‘piercing’ section of the site. This initial layout would be familiar to anyone who has knowledge of body art or erotica webpages – the obligatory black background with red or white fonts and graphics are omnipresent in these formats, as are the multiple warnings that accompany accessing links to pictures with more adult content. The introductory page to Pierced Pleasures[1], a site devoted to body piercing and fetishism (figure 9) shows how these conventions are typically used – a warning is issued, options to enter or leave the site are given. A black background and stylised gothic fonts complete the obligatory imagery of the site.
The first of two links on
the home page takes “those who want to continue” to an intermediate page, with
a repetition of the warning about the ‘graphic’ nature of the content to
follow, and a heart-shaped link to “the pictures”. The “graphic pictures of
love” described are revealed at the top of the next linked page to be a
stylised portrayal of the crucifixion of Jesus, entitled “The Cross: the
ultimate graphic depiction of love and the center [sic] of history”. Below this
depiction of the crucified Christ, biblical quotations from the Old Testament
are listed, presented as prophesies about the death of Christ. The page ends
with the declaration that today’s Christians are “reaping the benefits” of the
crucifixion, and ensure remembrance of Jesus’ death by celebrating communion
(re-enacting the Last Supper of Christ and his Apostles in a ritual of
ingesting bread and wine) “until He [Jesus] comes again”. The design of ‘The
Cross’ page is deliberately at odds with the opening pages of the site. The
dramatic black and red colour scheme are replaced by pastels, the photographs
are supplanted by line drawings of Jesus and the crucifixion.
The second of the two links on the homepage, which is ostensibly a link to pictures of extreme body modification, offers to show the “very brave” viewer “piercing of hands – feet – chest – his very soul: all by one person”. The link goes directly to the ‘Extreme in Body Piercing’ page. The ‘extreme’ photographs shown here are exactly the same as those shown on the home page. The text below asks the viewer: “Seen it? Done it? How far are you willing to go?”. This apparent invitation for the viewer to take part in (look at) more shocking or decadent material is another reference to a common feature of exotica or body modification pages, where viewing the visual material is portrayed as an active act of participation. The photos here are comparable to piercing photos in the Pierced Pleasures site (figure 10). The background is not black, but a green, black and grey texture, with barbed wire paragraph separators still in use. This lets the viewer know that the conventional representation of the body modification pages is going to continue. However, the clues that this is a Christian site are equally obvious to those familiar with the language and conventions of the Christian faith. The following lines of text would seem to plainly reveal the evangelistic nature of the page to any person with a cursory knowledge of Christian doctrine:
This man not only got both hands
pierced - he not only got his feet pierced - he not only got his side pierced
– He also got his soul PIERCED . . . . . . . .4
Y O U! How far are you willing to go? Are you willing to meet this man?
This use of the inclusive “you” is in a distinctively evangelistic manner, apportioning responsibility along with agency.
Another barbed-wire page-break separates this from a quote from the Book of Isaiah regarding the wounds of the Messiah, and a quote from the Book of Peter regarding redemption through the crucifixion. What follows is a quasi-historical/medical account of Christ’s last days, trial, crucifixion and death, which the page’s author describes as “an in-depth medical explanation of how this man was pierced for you”. This is an unusual approach for an evangelistic site to take, but not out of keeping with the ostensible ‘fetish’ theme of the page, as websites devoted to piercing and body modification routinely give a lengthy textual account of the experience of piercing, tattooing or scarification. The account that follows uses biblical text as the foundation, and draws out a narrative of physical suffering from Frijter’s own interpretation, as well as a variety of referenced sources.
ROMAN SOLDIERS MOCK AND BEAT JESUS
Matthew 27:28-30 (The soldiers) stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him
and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head. They put a
staff in his right hand and knelt in front of him and mocked him. "Hail,
king of the Jews!" they said. They spit on him, and took the staff and
struck him on the head again and again. Jesus was then beaten by the Roman
soldiers.
In mockery, they dressed Him in what
was probably the cloak of a Roman officer, which was colored dark purple or
scarlet… He also wore the crown of thorns. Unlike the traditional crown which
is depicted by an open ring, the actual crown of thorns may have covered the
entire scalp.(Lumpkin) The thorns may have been 1 to 2 inches long. The gospels
state that the Roman soldiers continued to beat Jesus on the head. The blows
would drive the thorns into the scalp (one of the most vascular areas of the
body) and pierce the forehead, causing severe bleeding.… Having suffered from
the beatings and flogging, Jesus suffered from severe hypovolemia from the loss
of blood. The verses above describe His dehydrated state and loss of His strength.
When the cross was erected upright, there was tremendous strain put on the
wrists, arms and shoulders, resulting in a dislocation of the shoulder and
elbow joints. The arms, being held up and outward, held the rib cage in a fixed
end inspiratory position which made it extremely difficult to exhale, and
impossible to take a full breath. The victim would only be able to take very
shallow breaths.(This may explain why Jesus made very short statements while on
the cross). As time passed, the muscles, from the loss of blood, last of oxygen
and the fixed position of the body, would undergo severe cramps and spasmodic
contractions.
This account carries on for another
page, ending in a description of the resurrection of Christ, and encouragement
for the site users to become more involved in the Christian faith. A sample
prayer is included at the end of the page as a form of initiation for
non-Christians who have been influenced by the website. The ‘piercing’
narrative, unlike the ‘love’ narrative found in the first link, maintains its
colour scheme and appearance all the way through, with a darkened background
and bright neon green text.
The descriptive narratives are the
most ‘graphic’ aspects of the Ultimate Love site. The element that most
differentiates this narrative from the sorts of narratives that one would
expect to find in a piercing or fetishism site (aside from its biblical source)
is the third person voice of the narrator, and the relatively detached and
clinical presentation. The fetish narratives that I encountered were all in the
first person, describing the pierced person’s own piercing experiences, usually
in a vaguely sexualised way. Two such accounts taken from the Pierced
Pleasures site may illustrate the similarities and differences to be found:
(from
‘nipple piercing #4’)
I sat
back and he clamped my left nipple, he put the cork in place and opened a brand
new needle. He told me to breath normally and then take in four deep breaths,
and on the forth one he drove the needle through. the feeling was so intense,
it sent a blaze of fire down my body but it was over in a few seconds, he fit
the jewelry [sic] in and prepared the other nipple, got another needle, pushed
through the second nipple and the same rush jolted through my body…
(from
‘Venom piercing’ - two barbells on the tip of the tongue)
..he
clamped my tongue and speared it... no problem, until he started moving the
jewelry [sic] through.... i began to gush blood.... jess said it was some of
the thickest, reddest blood she'd ever seen... and there was a lot of it....
they didn't tell me i was bleeding right away, I thought i was drooling...
shane clamped me and stabbed my tongue again.... when he asked jess to wipe my
face off a bit and hold a cup under my chin, i started to get freaked, but they
said there was no problem.... they looked a bit worried though.... when shane
was done tightening the jewelry, he let me go look in the mirror... after
warning me that i'd bled pretty heavily... the piercings were beautiful...
however, i had blood smeared all over my face, some running down my neck and my
shirt was ruined.... now, the aftermath.... i drank my own blood for nearly 12
hours... my tongue swelled up quite a bit...
When compared to the fetish site
narratives, the decision to present the gorier aspects of the Passion and
Crucifixion of Christ in the above manner becomes more intelligible. It is an
effort on the part of the site designer to catch and hold the attention of the
casual, fetish/piercing–interested web surfer. Interspersing these ‘medical’
accounts of suffering with Biblical text is the result of a highly unorthodox
approach to expanding the communal base of potential Christians online.
Links to other sites and other
strategies
Both the ‘love’ internal page and the
‘piercing’ internal page end with more links to other sites. The first, or
‘love’, section ends with an ‘e-mail the webmaster’ button, and a link to
another site by the same author called Jesus Christ Savior and Lord. The
Savior and Lord page provides a counterpoint for the Ultimate Love Page, as this is an
unequivocally Christian site, wallpapered in bright yellow text repeating the
word ‘Jesus’ in columns. As the page is downloaded, a Microsoft ‘Quizlet’
appears as a mini-window, asking visitors somewhat cryptically if they “believe
that HEALING as part of the atonement is for TODAY?”, giving the multiple
choice answers “Yes”, “No”, “I’m not sure” and “ I wish it were for me!”.
Clicking on an icon in the mini-window allows the user check the Quizlet’s
results. This site is essentially as series of links, including a link to Henk’s
Emporium, an Amazon.com-style book, music and video shopping site,
franchised out to the page designer. These online sales franchises are
increasingly common features of privately designed and operated webpages, as
are the brief survey pop-up windows. This makes sense as the key to attracting
surfers and spreading the Gospel is in the diverse appeal of the website. The
quizzes and shopping options are just two ways in which even an overtly Christian
site may attempt to broaden its mass appeal. There are also multiple Christian
resource sites listed on this page.
At the end of the ‘piercing’ internal
pages are similar links allowing users to e-mail the site’s author. There is an
invitation to view or sign the site’s guest book, or to look at the links and
awards that the site can boast. As with the ‘love’ section, there is also a
link to yet another site by the author, this one called Aegis’ Mind,
which target fans of science fiction and fantasy. Like the Ultimate Love Page, this link also attempts to blend Christian
messages with phrases and content that would catch the secular web-surfer’s
attention. This site is typified by the flying saucer graphic that flies at the
screen while text below it appears, “Greetings Earthlings! Have you seen
Jesus?”. Aegis’ Mind is located in the Geocities ‘neighbourhood’ called
Area 51, reserved for sites dealing with science fiction themes like aliens and
the supernatural. The Aegis’ Mind site is a less successful parody of
the science fiction genre than Ultimate Love is of the fetishism genre,
mainly because it reveals its intentions too quickly. The first glance at Aegis’
Mind reveals the evangelical agenda behind the site – an agenda that is
more slowly revealed in sites like the Michelle Akers Homepage, Stonewall
Revisited or the Ultimate Love Page.
The Ultimate Love Page is admittedly quite
different from the other pages described here, in that it is designed by a
private individual, for what is most likely an avowedly non-Christian audience.
As the product of an individual, it is expectedly different from websites like
the Michelle Akers Homepage, Stonewall Revisited and iamnext, which were designed by teams of
people with a high degree of technical knowledge and marketing techniques that
appeal to the Internet using public. The organizationally produced sites tend
to more subtly embody and interact with both secular and Christian web
communities. The Ultimate Love Page can
be contrasted to the Michelle Akers Homepage: where the former is
individually produced, the latter gives the illusion of individual production.
Both attempt to express their author’s belonging to two social groups
simultaneously, but where the Michelle Akers Homepage succeeds in
introducing Akers as an active participant in both, the Ultimate Love Page is marginalized by the sensibilities of both
genres. The Ultimate Love Page is not
as geared toward mass appeal, and it must work within a set of norms that seem
antithetical to the Christian gospel. It is the process of presenting the
widely accepted norms of Christianity to a community that is intent on
rejecting normative values that prevents the Ultimate Love Page from becoming a true embodiment of multiple
genres. The Michelle Akers Homepage succeeds in ‘delivering’ the
expectations of both sports fans and Christians. This is made easier by the
fact that individual surfers may be both sports fans and Christians themselves,
as Christianity does not preclude sport. But
The Ultimate Love Page is more similar to Stonewall Revisited in that it appropriates the symbols and
style of another genre, and through the appropriation, hopes to transform web
surfers from members of the fetish community into Christians.