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Articles 1 - 13 of 13
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Rape Jokes, Sexual Violence, And Empire In Revelation And This Is The End, Meredith J.C. Warren
Rape Jokes, Sexual Violence, And Empire In Revelation And This Is The End, Meredith J.C. Warren
Journal of Religion & Film
The Book of Revelation is one of the most borrowed-from texts of the New Testament when it comes to popular culture. Although there are dozens of other ancient apocalyptic writings, it is John’s apocalyptic visions that directly inform contemporary ideas of apocalypse. The apocalyptic comedy This Is The End (Dir. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, 2013) not only invokes imagery from Revelation but also adapts portions of the text in its portrayal of the end times. However, it also reproduces and expands upon the use of sexual violence as a means of punishment found in Revelation. This paper will examine …
Justice For All: Moira, Tyche And Nemesis In The Marvel Cinematic Universe, Jason Osborne
Justice For All: Moira, Tyche And Nemesis In The Marvel Cinematic Universe, Jason Osborne
Journal of Religion & Film
This article explores the ways in which the ancient concepts of moira, tyche, and nemesis permeate the films and series of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Neo-Gnosticism At The Movies, Michael Kaler
Neo-Gnosticism At The Movies, Michael Kaler
Journal of Religion & Film
A number of American films released in the mid/late 1990s drew on, or have been discussed in the context of, gnosticism—a loose, imprecise umbrella term usually applied to a number of heterodox early Christian literary traditions. The Matrix is the most famous of this group of films, which also includes such films as Pleasantville, Dark City, The Truman Show, and Thirteenth Floor. This curious trend would not have been possible had it not been for the emergence of gnosticism in mainstream culture generally; as well, gnosticism’s emphasis on the spectacular, constructed and ultimately illusory nature of apparent reality became especially …
Editorial In(Ter)Ventions: Comparing The Editorial Processes Of The Hebrew Bible And The Star Wars Saga, Timo Tekoniemi
Editorial In(Ter)Ventions: Comparing The Editorial Processes Of The Hebrew Bible And The Star Wars Saga, Timo Tekoniemi
Journal of Religion & Film
Canonicity and authority of one textual form over another, textual plurality, and scribal freedom in the early transmission of the Hebrew Bible have in the recent decades become prominent topics in the methodological discussions of biblical scholars. Since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls, it has become clear that, when attempting to discern the oldest text of the Hebrew Bible, we are in need of new and better models of textual transmission that take into account all extant textual evidence. Working solely on the basis of the so-called Masoretic Text is no more methodologically tenable, especially when it comes …
Classroom Cannibal: A Guide On How To Teach Ojibwe Spirituality Using The Windigo And Film, Brady Desanti
Classroom Cannibal: A Guide On How To Teach Ojibwe Spirituality Using The Windigo And Film, Brady Desanti
Journal of Religion & Film
This paper is intended as a pedagogical guide on how to teach elements of Ojibwe religious and philosophical beliefs using the windigo and its depictions in the films Wendigo and Ravenous. The windigo complex is exceedingly complex and remains an enduring component to the cultures of Ojibwe and several other Algonquian-speaking communities in the United States and Canada. While the windigo enjoys exposure in a variety of popular entertainment sources, film remains one of the most useful methods to incorporate in the classroom to help students comprehend how an anthropophagus “monster” directly relates to Ojibwe ideas of personal balance, …
Now That Was A Nice Hanging: The Hateful Eight As Parable?, Richard G. Walsh
Now That Was A Nice Hanging: The Hateful Eight As Parable?, Richard G. Walsh
Journal of Religion & Film
The opening of Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight conjoins the iconic landscape of the Western, Christianity’s chief symbol the crucifix, and Tarantino’s oeuvre. The film gives the crucifix so much screen time that one wonders what its significance might be. That the film climaxes with the lynching of Daisy Domergue renders the crucifix teasingly parabolic. The opening-closing frame parallels the two hangings, as do the various eulogies associated with the lynching. That Daisy’s lynching takes place at the hands of the film’s two surviving characters—who, like the horses that lead the stagecoach team delivering Daisy to her fate, are black …
Religion And Violence In Jesse James Films, 1972–2010, Travis Warren Cooper
Religion And Violence In Jesse James Films, 1972–2010, Travis Warren Cooper
Journal of Religion & Film
This essay analyzes recent depictions of Jesse James in cinema, examining filmic portrayals of the figure between the years of 1972 and 2010. Working from the intersection of the anthropology of film and religious studies approaches to popular culture, the essay fills significant gaps in the study of James folklore. As no substantial examinations of the religious aspects of the James myths exist, I hone in on the legend’s religiosity as contested in filmic form. Films, including revisionist Westerns, are not unlike oral-history statements recorded and analyzed by anthropologists, folklorists, and ethnographers. Jesse James movies, in other words, have much …
Satanic Humans: Using Satanic Tropes To Guide And Misguide The Audience, Adam L. Porter
Satanic Humans: Using Satanic Tropes To Guide And Misguide The Audience, Adam L. Porter
Journal of Religion & Film
One of the differences between Christ and Satan is that the former is clearly described in the Gospels, but the latter is not. Rather, a large number of different stories grew up around the character of Satan over the last 2000 years. Authors and artists can dip into the pool of Satan myths and find different versions of the character they can adapt for their own purposes. I am interested in identifying what satanic symbols have become popular in Hollywood films, so in 2013 I wrote an essay that analyzed several films featuring super-human characters and identified several traits beyond …
Superhero Films: A Fascist National Complex Or Exemplars Of Moral Virtue?, Chris Yogerst
Superhero Films: A Fascist National Complex Or Exemplars Of Moral Virtue?, Chris Yogerst
Journal of Religion & Film
This paper deals with the "why" regarding our collective desire for superhero narratives. My goal is to build on the many definitions of a superhero and find a framework that we as scholars can use to evaluate how superhero films present inspirational moral virtue and not zealous nationalism of any kind. In the process I want to address the problems with some of the scholarly work done on the connection to superheroes and heroism both historically and immediately after 9/11, particularly those who have argued that American superheroism is a fascist myth, and show how the recent evolution of the …
Climbing A Ladder To Heaven. Gnostic Vision Of The World In Jacob's Ladder (1990), Fryderyk Kwiatkowski
Climbing A Ladder To Heaven. Gnostic Vision Of The World In Jacob's Ladder (1990), Fryderyk Kwiatkowski
Journal of Religion & Film
Contemporary film-makers quite willingly employ motifs typical of various gnostic trends. The author shows that ancient gnosticism is a treasury of motifs and a source of aesthetical and narrative strategies present in contemporary cinema. The article treats Jacob’s Ladder (1990, dir. Adrian Lyne) which is analyzed through Gnostic beliefs. In the author’s opinion, this film can be treated as a model where the gnostic thought has been presented in a coherent and systematic manner.
"If You Can Hold On...": Counter-Apocalyptic Play In Richard Kelly’S Southland Tales, Marcus O'Donnell
"If You Can Hold On...": Counter-Apocalyptic Play In Richard Kelly’S Southland Tales, Marcus O'Donnell
Journal of Religion & Film
Richard Kelly’s Southland Tales (2006) presents a dystopic, post-apocalyptic, near-future through an aesthetic, which fuses contemporary postmodern screens with the phantasmagorical of traditional apocalyptic visions. This article argues that Southland Tales is an example of what feminist theologian Catherine Keller calls the “counter-apocalyptic” (Keller 1996:19-20). Through strategies of ironic parody Kelly both describes and questions the apocalyptic and its easy polarities. In situating the film as counter-apocalyptic the paper argues that the film both resists the apocalyptic impulse however it is also located within it. In this sense it produces a unique take on the genre of the post-apocalyptic film …
The Sins Of Leo Mccarey, Richard A. Blake S.J.
The Sins Of Leo Mccarey, Richard A. Blake S.J.
Journal of Religion & Film
Leo McCarey has received little attention from film scholars. His sentimentalizing his Catholic background and his preoccupation with anti-Communism obscured the lasting value of much of his work. His concern with sin and forgiveness form a major motif of his works, from the early comedies to his later serious dramas.
Satanic But Not Satan: Signs Of The Devilish In Contemporary Cinema, Adam L. Porter
Satanic But Not Satan: Signs Of The Devilish In Contemporary Cinema, Adam L. Porter
Journal of Religion & Film
Scholars have paid much attention to identifying and analyzing Jesus and Christ-type characters in film. The parallel cases for Satan and satanic characters have been less studied. Some attention has been paid to examining Satan/Lucifer/the Devil as a character (akin to movies about Jesus), but I could find no systematic typology of satanic traits, that would parallel the well-developed Christ-typologies. This article examines six films to begin the process of describing what makes a character "satanic" without being Satan.