Religion and Film Research Papers (original) (raw)

One of the more controversial films of 2006 was the highly anticipated The Da Vinci Code, based on Dan Brown’s best-selling novel. Most criticism focused on the historical and religious problems in both the novel and subsequent film, leading some to claim that the storyline represented a type of radical feminism in its presumed secret marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene that led to “the greatest cover-up in history,” and ultimately the suppression of "the divine feminine" in the Catholic Church. Using insights derived from feminist theology and myth, this study examines this claim through a close analysis of both novel and film, focusing both on the mythic narrative and individual characters. It concludes that The Da Vinci Code does not present a feminist mythic narrative, but instead presents another version of the heroic quest myth that functions to reaffirm masculine power, under the guise of a faux feminism. Ultimately both novel and film fail to develop a truly transformative rhetoric but instead reinforce traditional beliefs about gender in the culture

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- Religion and Film, Feminist Film Studies
- by Tomaso Subini and +1
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- Religion and Film, Film Censorship, Catholic intervention in the film industry

The TOC and Introduction to "Religion and Film"

- by S B Rodriguez-Plate
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- Mythology, Media Studies, Film Studies, History of Religion

Hidden Figures is a 2016 film that is based on a true story about three women, Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, who worked at NASA dealing with racial prejudice. This film was set in the 1960's when it was very rare to see non-white people in the roles these three women had; it was even more unlikely to see women in them. These women were working in segregated areas and it was very difficult for their talents to be seen by other people due to the barriers of their gender and race. Taraji P. Henson played the role of Katherine G. Johnson, who was the star of the film. Katherine's role was to create a new field of science for space with her group. The film also does a great job balancing the personal lives of these women while at the same time presenting their crucial roles in NASA. These women all played pivotal roles in taking down racism in the field of science. These women were all smart and had a lot to bring with the positions they held. Katherine proves to the chief how smart she was in a scene where she presented her findings of a formula and her knowledge of a classified piece of information. The chief's main concern was how she found out this important piece of information because he was certain that mathematics could not have resulted in her knowing; she told him she held the paper up to the light, when he did so he also saw the proof. His first question to this woman, due to her undeniable intelligence, was if she was a Russian spy; yes, he asked a Black Woman if she was Russian because of all that she knew. It was obvious that she was not Russian, but it was the only thing that this man could associate with her level of knowledge. To be woman during those times were hard, and to be Black was even harder. These women had to work twice as hard to be heard due to their gender, and even harder to be heard due to their color of skin. Dorothy Vaughan's role began working with computers in her position at NASA, then due to her knowledge was promoted to supervisor. Her role was pivotal because she, not only

- by Christy Wilson
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- Theology, Film Studies, Film Analysis, Religion and Film

Il volume indaga il cinema come luogo di espressione dei discorsi religiosi dei nostri tempi: obiettivo complesso e affascinante, che richiede la moltiplicazione dei punti di vista, delle prospettive, delle interpretazioni del religioso, del sacro, dei miti, stimolando così l’incontro interdisciplinare tra linguaggi fondamentali per la comprensione della cultura contemporanea. Specialisti di cinema si confrontano, in modo inedito, con specialisti di storia delle religioni, antropologi, studiosi di letteratura cristiana antica, medievisti. Si intende così contribuire al rafforzamento di un filone di indagine, ancora parzialmente inedito nel nostro paese, che sappia guardare con attenzione al singolare rapporto attuale tra la dimensione religiosa e i mezzi di comunicazione di massa.

- by S B Rodriguez-Plate
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- Religion and Film

Review of the novel Consumed, by David Cronenberg

- by Jeremy Biles
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- Posthumanism, Religion and Film, Religion and Technology, Cultural Entomology

The Chesterton Review 37:3 (Fall-Winter 2011): 469-87.

- by David Deavel
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- Christianity, English Literature, Film Studies, Literature

I denna artikel analyseras Norges genom tiderna mest populära film, Flåklypa Grand Prix (1975), ur ett mytologiskt perspektiv. Teorier hämtas främst från religionshistorikern och religionsfenomenologen Mircea Eliade, för vilken en myt är att betrakta som en religiös berättelse. Analysen fokuserar på den homologa förbindelsen mellan fyra mytologiska handlingsplan i filmen: 1) Myten om det heliga berget och världens mittpunkt, 2) Vegeta- tionsmyten och den eviga återfödelsen, 3) Skapelsemyten, 4) Hjältemyten.

- by Peter Dahlén
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- Religion and Film
- by birud sindhav
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- Hinduism, Religion and Film, Bollywood

Indian Film Industry and screen narratives on religionThe Indian film industry is the biggest in the world when it comes to number of films produced every year and has for many years been the world's largest film producing country, with an output in different languages. India also figures at the top position for ticket sales as a vast and growing urban filmgoing public in India supports film culture and circulation (Wadia, 2008).This speaks about the fervor around films in this country. Film production in India began almost simultaneously with other filmmaking countries, beginning in 1896 (Mazumdar, 2007). In the years after independence, Indian Cinema circulated outside the country to audiences in Russia, The Middle East, and Latin America.Bombay cinema, popularly known as 'Bollywood' is the largest in India, followed by Tamil and Telugu cinema. Films are typically woven around love and romance, set in the backdrop of social, political, religious or economic crises. Rel...

- by monisa qadri
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- Religion, Sociology, Art, Film Studies

The viewer’s experience of Malick’s cinema can be arguably approached from the notion of dwelling. As Toles points out, the essence of this dwelling derives from the use of the medium’s capacities to reveal the world as something real. In contrast with earlier films, ‘The Tree of Life’ (2011) opens up the possibility of transcendence by pushing the limits of the world revealed by the film medium: here the world is no more an absolute presence, but the visible sign of a further presence, that of its Creator. The chain of revelations is thus expanded: the filmic dwelling holds the world’s presence and, in turn, this screened world points towards God’s presence. In this vein, the image of Jack O’Brien standing at the enigmatic doorframe in the wilderness might well illustrate the experience of the viewer of ‘The Tree of Life’.

- by Pablo Alzola Cerero
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- Christianity, Film Studies, Religion and Film, Film-Philosophy
- by S B Rodriguez-Plate
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- Comparative Religion, Film Studies, History of Religion, Religion and Film
- by Tomaso Subini
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- Visual Culture, Religion and Film, Film History, San Francesco
- by Gianluca della Maggiore
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- Religion and Film, Politics and Film, Italian Cinema, Film History
- by William Blizek and +1
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- Religion, Religious Education, Religion and Film, Turkish Cinema
- by Dereck Daschke
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- Religion and Film
- by Sergio Botta
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- History of Religion, Religion and Film, Shamanism, Neoshamanism

Christianity is a religion that has dominated the arena of horror film for sixty years and beyond. The representations of Christianity that the horror genre display offer great insight as to the role of religion in media and popular culture. Two of the most popular horror films to grace the 2010s, The Conjuring and The Conjuring 2 perpetuate a variety of interesting ideologies pertaining to notions of religion, morality and society. This essay delineates the methods in which these particular modern horror films portray Christianity by the means of quantitive and qualitative textual analysis, with reference to relevant academic literature surrounding the worlds of film and religion.

- by JACK ROSS
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- Film Analysis, Religion and Film, Horror Cinema, Film and Media Studies
- by Ken Derry
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- Popular Music, Documentary (Film Studies), Religion and Film, Documentary Film
- by Simon Oliver
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- Religion and Film, Film and Theology, Problem of Evil

This paper serves as an analytic film review for the film, Wings of Desire (1987), directed by Wim Wenders. This is a film that is based around two angels, Damiel and Cassiel, who spent their lives as angels watching over humans and their daily encounters. They mostly observed and discussed with each other their thoughts. Both characters were angels for eternity, Cassiel was content with his life as an angel, but, Damiel questions his existence as an angel. Damiel's desire to be human was seen very early on in the film. As Damiel and Cassiel sat and discussed life as angels, Cassiel seemed to be okay with his role, but Damiel made it clear that he longed to be human. Damiel wanted to touch and feel and be in touch with human senses, something he could not do as an angel. Damiel has a connection with another being who could relate to his life as an angel, Cassiel. As an angel, Damiel also fostered connections with humans, specifically with children and with Marion, which gave him a deeper sense of longing to become human. I think it the connection of two beings symbolizes spirituality in both his human and angel forms. Very early in the film, Damiel is seen walking down an aisle of a train and stops to stare at a child. This scene stirred a bit of uncertainty of why he did this because it was still at the beginning, however, as the movie continued, Damiel seems to connect with children and children could sense his presence. These scenes, where Damiel would see children, evokes the idea of his desire to be human. A close-up image of an eye appears in one scene, juxtaposed, then it switches into a sequence showing the up-top view of the city, with the camera at a high angle, then into a view of a being standing on top of a building with transparent angel wings. In this scene, the angel is looking down as he watches the people move around. The camera cranes down and focuses on the child, who stops, in the middle of a moving crowd of people in the street. The camera then tracks downward toward the child, then it pans upward displaying a visual of the angel on the

- by Christy Wilson
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- Theology, Film Studies, Film Analysis, Religion and Film

"Quentin Tarantino’s latest violent masterpiece Inglourious Basterds has been well yet critically received. Many reviewers have pointed out that the film is morally ambivalent the least because of the aesthetics of violence and the revised version of Europe’s darkest years of the twentieth century. Others, however, perceive it as a much needed and refreshing film - despite or precisely because Tarantino makes obvious the webs of violence.
This article suggests that violence is a deliberate and important means for Inglourious Basterds to work. To fully appreciate the multilayered message of the film, an alternative reading of its aesthetics of violence is necessary: one that focuses on Tarantino’s defiant and bold (yet intentional) use of various forms of violence to brilliantly orchestrate (or manipulate) the viewers’ emotions and bodily senses. He stages violence as spectacle, but the way he uses violence is always also more than a spectacle: it serves as irritation—or better interruption—of audience perception, audience experience, and audience expectations. Instead of offering a cathartic moment or happy ending, Tarantino, in fact, refuses to offer catharsis and thus opens up a space for reflection and trans- formation."

Een kritische theologische reflectie op de film Gravity (2013)

- by Mark Hage
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- Religion and Film, Religion and Popular Culture
- by Justin Remes
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- Epistemology, Atheism, Religion and Film, Film and Philosophy

Adapted from the 1966 novel by the Japanese Catholic writer Shusaku Endo, Martin Scorsese’s "Silence" offers a timely occasion for expanding the critical discourse on adaptive fidelity. This article explores the ways that both texts draw from historical and scriptural sources within the Christian tradition—most notably the biblical tale of Judas—to clarify the meaning of faith in their respective contexts. Employing Andre Bazin’s theory of adaptation, I argue that alongside their source texts, both novel and film compose an intertextual "ideal construct" of religious fidelity as dynamically lived across time and place, a fidelity paradoxically performed via various modes and tropes of adaptive infidelity.

- by Teng-Kuan Ng
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- Film Studies, Religion and Film, Film and Theology, Japanese Cinema

This paper demonstrates how Buddhist readings of David Fincher' s (1999) Fight Club dovetail with analyses that critique the film' s conclusion as championing heteronormativity. In contrast to previous religious studies readings that have largely overlooked the characters' sexuality, I argue that Fight Club constructs a Buddhist heteronormativity. The protagonist Narrator' s alter-ego Tyler Durden is both the object of his narcissistic homoerotic desire and an obstacle to his liberation. The film concludes with the protagonist murdering his alter-ego to reach enlightenment and embrace a heterosexual relationship with the character Marla Singer. Of significance, the film' s messaging, to an extent, finds resonance with certain contemporary Western Buddhist discourses that express homophobic or hetero (sexist) / (normative) sentiments.

Artificial intelligence (A.I.) poses a challenge to the domains of religion, culture, technology, and economics. While many have predicted great promise from A.I. there are likewise others who have warned of its potential for danger. Hollywood has not been shy about producing its own image of the potential of A.I. more often siding with A.I.-pessimists over A.I.-optimists. However, a significantly different image of artificial intelligence is found in Spike Jonez’s film Her. While Her gained acclaim for its intriguing story and superlative acting, its religious implications have not been considered. In this essay, I will argue that artificial intelligence has significant religious ramifications. The vision of A.I. most often portrayed by both thinkers and film is one that has several of the characteristics of a monotheistic god, and most often one who is wrathful, punishing, and anti-human. This perspective is inspired by the themes of Christian apocalypticism. I will contrast this with an analysis of the movie Her. I will suggest that Her presents a different vision of the possible future of A.I., one which still involves the creation of divinity, but no longer a singular divinity bent on apocalyptic wrath, instead, Her envisions a new divine pantheon leading to different religious results but not without its own problems.

- by Randy Reed
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- Artificial Intelligence, Religion and Film
- by Carole Cusack
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- Religion and Film, Cinema, Occultism
- by Gianluca della Maggiore
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- Japanese Studies, Religion and Film, Church History

The films made by the American filmmaker Terrence Malick to date - from ‘Badlands’ (1973) to ‘A Hidden Life’ (2019) - are not that many, but all of them have left a singular mark on the history of cinema. What does this singularity which has provoked both praise and rejection entail? Malick’s cinema has managed to convey, using a very characteristic film language, some concerns that affect every human being such as the search for identity, the distance or connection with the others and the finding of a home. Taking this latter issue, home, as a starting point, this book unfolds an approach to the filmmaker’s filmography of broad focus and human interest, in which two big references stand out: the biblical tradition and the thought of Stanley Cavell, a philosopher who is as cinematographic as American. In the end, it turns out that the fictional worlds and characters created by Malick, as well as the experience in which the viewer becomes immersed, converge toward the same spirit of homecoming.

- by Pablo Alzola Cerero
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- Religion and Film, Homelessness, Film-Philosophy, Stanley Cavell
- by Camil Ungureanu
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- Violence, Religion and Film, Jacques Derrida, Film and Philosophy

Part of a special roundtable on Black Panther (2018), directed by Ryan Coogler. This review analyzes engagement with the movie as a religious experience and considers some political implications of both its storyline and reception. In particular, the piece focuses on constructions of race, especially in relationship to Africa and African Americans, as well as practical tensions around commodifying dissent.

- by Laurel Zwissler
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- Religion, Film Studies, Race and Racism, Film Analysis

This paper serves as an analytic review of The Passion of Joan of Arc (1918). For starters, this has been one of the most powerful silent films that has ever been introduced to the world of film. The star lead actress, Renee Maria Falconetti, embodied her role as Joan of Arc. As I try to imagine any other actors/actresses in this role, I cannot think of anyone who would possibly embody the fullness of this character with raw authenticity like Falconetti did. The compositions are very artful and emotional. This film is very consistent and concise throughout with all of its editing and framing techniques. What makes this film unique is the way the characters are portrayed. In most of the scenes, characters were filmed individually. There is a very small number of scenes that capture more than one individual at a time on scene. In almost every scene, each character was portrayed in a close-up visual. Because of this close up visual throughout the film, I was able to emotionally connect to each character in their own ways. Besides the editing, as I saw one person in the scene, most times it made me wonder where the other cast members were and what they were doing. The multiple montages throughout the film forced me to assume what the other characters were doing and form my own opinions and expressions; in many cases, my assumptions were incorrect. I appreciate that there were montages as such that forced my mind to engage while at the same time kept me emotionally inclined to each scene. As I transition into mainly Falconetti's role, I would like to once again state how amazing she was in her role. The facial expressions throughout this film from her were exceptional. The way she gazed, and cried, and proclaimed, etc., all felt too real. I felt every emotion that she carried portrayed. I felt the fear and frustration, the scrutiny and torment, the boldness and bravery, all of it. A major part of what forced these emotions to reach outside of the screen and grasp myself, the viewer, was the mise en scène. The way they did her makeup to be so bland Christy Wilson

- by Christy Wilson
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- Theology, Film Analysis, Religion and Film, Film Review

Painter and filmmaker, Julian Schnabel has directed a film that constitutes a radical approach to Vincent van Gogh. In contrast with other feature films focused on the Dutch painter, Schnabel downplays the historical facts and the speculations regarding the artist’s death in order to imagine his most intimate and mysterious side, his relationship with the world and with God. ‘At Eternity’s Gate’ seems to affirm that the entire life of Van Gogh had its roots in the unique connection which he had with everything that surrounded him. Schnabel is aware that only a painter could glimpse Van Gogh’s relationship with the world and that only a visual medium (i.e. film) could render account of such an inexplicable mystery.

- by Pablo Alzola Cerero
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- Religion and Film, Film-Philosophy, Film and Philosophy, Dostoevsky

“There’s a nigger on the horse” marks the beginning of Quentin Tarantino’s most recent violation of filmic style, language, and good taste other directors might not get by with. As offensive as language and images might be, the film’s mise-en-scène, its language, and its dialogue express that the encounter between bodies is always shaped by a politics of bodies in/out of place and ideas about whose bodies might inhabit which spaces or what spaces are off-limits for whose bodies. This paper, then, draws on Jean-Claude Kaufmann's study of topless beach culture to analyze the body politics in Tarantino's Django Unchained.

- by Alexander Darius Ornella
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- Religion, Sociology, Social Sciences, Film Studies

The Matrix Trilogy unlike many other filmmakers, the Wachowski brothers succeed in combining ancient myths and stories that have withstood the test of time, into plausible, contemporary storylines and in this way, bring these ancient myths and religious elements to life, giving them new meaning, making them relevant to modern life. This may not be new, George Lucas achieved similar results in looking at the universality of religions and mythology in Star Wars, but they succeed in doing more by viewing these stories through their own "Wachowski" lens to make these ancient myths contemporary and fresh. In the Matrix, for example, locating the story in a virtual world means that everything can be "real" because there is no standard against which to judge what is real. In this way, tales of the Arthurian legend, or biblical stories, Greek mythology or Buddhism can be told to a modern audience in a very believable way. The virtual world gives permission to the authors for magic and wonder. The films look at traditional religious belief systems in both positive and negative ways, acknowledging that religion can provide transcendent, life-changing enlightenment, or it can merely serve the interests of the system. Nonetheless, using religious imagery or metaphor in the film is asking some of the same questions of the viewer that are posed by traditional religions, even though it is being done in a rather postmodern or even secular manner. Within this context, however, is the element of choice, reflecting a current trend in spirituality, and that is the individual's freedom to choose and to mix and match from various religious traditions to suit the individual's own taste. Does such a choice to 'mix

- by Dr. Roland Shainidze
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- Popular Culture, Religion and Film, Cinema Studies

What kind of characters represent the study of religion in popular culture? This article looks at a survey of fictional religion scholars from novels, movies, TV shows, and podcasts. They occasionally do something we would recognize as part of our discipline, but they mostly investigate miracles, sleep with students, become cult leaders, and warn about threats from Babylonian demons. After a brief survey of these lesser known characters, we pay special attention to Robert Langdon, the virginal "Religious Symbologist" of the Dan Brown novels and Edward Casaubon, the dried-up old pedant from George Eliot's Middlemarch.

- by Brian Collins
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- Religion, Comparative Religion, Higher Education, Religion and Film
- by Thomas Greenish
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- Religion and Film, Film, Horror, Philosophy and Film
- by Sophia R Arjana
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- Religion and Film, 1979 Iranian Revolution

This course explores the discipline of religious studies by intertwining four aspects relevant to the study of religion: first, by exploring dimensions of the religious experience and the phenomenon of religion, as delineated by Ninian Smart; second, by focusing on specific religious traditions (all of which are presented as examples, with no discrimination of significance); third, by presenting students with major scholarly theories about religion; and finally, by providing a platform in which to experience a spiritual journey through an unmediated encounter with inspirational texts, broadly construed as scripture.

- by Aryeh Amihay
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- Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism

Travellers and Magicians (2003) is a road movie incorporating elements of neorealism. It was directed by Dzongsar Jamyang Khyentse Norbu (1961-present) and filmed in its entirety in Bhutan and with an all-Bhutanese cast that, soon after its release, attracted world-wide attention. In its visually unassuming style, the film succeeds in tracing the delusional trajectories of human desire from a Buddhist perspective. The intimate space created by the film’s focus on a few characters, its slow narrative pace, minimalistic dialogue, and arresting yet unembellished mise-en-scène, succeeds in luring viewers into a comfortable dream-like space that incites contemplative reflection on Buddhist elements in the storyline and the ethical dangers that lie in pursuit of dreamlands. In this study, I will selectively investigate aspects that contribute to a nuanced reading of the road movie Travellers and Magicians, both as a “Buddhist film” and as a reflective experience in Buddhist practice. The present contribution will link some of the visual imagery and narrative tropes with themes and interpretations drawn from Tibetan history and culture, Buddhist doctrines, film studies, and Western literature.

- by Georgios T . Halkias
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- Buddhism, Film Analysis, Religion and Film, Philosophy of Film