The Christ-figure in Popular Films (original) (raw)
POPULAR feature films (1) should be put to work in the classroom, home or pulpit as a scholarly extra-ecclesiastical resource, and not relegated in a knee-jerk fashion to the status of visual aide, diversionary entertainment or student pacifier. In addition, religion, literature and film studies students should be sensitised to the numerous religious figurations hidden within their everyday video fare. After all, as Linda A. Mercadante (God 3) noted: "more than just media inundation, we have come to live in a media-mediated culture, where our understanding of life, reality and our own experience is filtered through video frames," unsettling as that may be to older generations. Mercadante's claim is of course understandable given that commercial feature films were the most persuasive art form of the 20 th century, and they will continue to be so well into the 21 st century. Not only were popular films responsible for the birth of the "Age of Hollywood" (Paglia 12) and the ascendancy of moving image culture, but for "many people today, especially the young, popular culture is culture, and [so] theology, to remain true to its calling, must take such cultural expressions seriously" (Simmons 254). The literature and teaching professions have a similar obligation. Since popular films can generate powerful aesthetic, emotional and spiritual effects, they can also significantly change ones' perceptions of love, life and faith (Kozlovic Epiphanies). For example, Kathleen S. Nash enthusiastically confessed how she now reads biblical texts differently because of her exposure to the cinema: [Take] Pulp Fiction, for example. Now, whenever I read or think about New Testament parables, I look for the motorcycle named Grace that speeds characters off into second chances and new life. To discuss the Wise Woman and the Foolish Woman of Proverbs, I invoke the demure, domestic/ated Beth [Anne Archer] and the wildly sexual Alex [Glenn Close] of Fatal Attraction. Bette Davis [playing Julie Morrison] descending the stairs in an off-the-shoulder gown [in Jezebel] is forever fused with the image of the queenly Jezebel dressed in her finest to mock Jehu from a second-story palace window, as she engineers her own death [2 Kings 9:30-37]. (2) (188) Indeed, many traces of Judaeo-Christianity can be found within the popular cinema in various genres, guises and formats, and which are not always easy to detect at first glance. For example, as Jorg Herrmann noted: This pedagogic task can thus be seen as the mission for religious educators in this postmodern, post-Millennial and increasing post-Christian age. After all: Jesus' parting words were to go into all the world (Matthew 28:19). That means not only India and China, but also New York and Los Angeles. God is calling "pop culture missionaries," as 1 CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk