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Journal of Religion & Film

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Frederick Wiseman's Essene (1972): The Duality Of Mary And Martha, Nilita Vachani Oct 2021

Frederick Wiseman's Essene (1972): The Duality Of Mary And Martha, Nilita Vachani

Journal of Religion & Film

America’s legendary documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman shot Essene 50 years ago at the height of the commune movement in the United States. Unlike his previous institutional films which showcase an insane asylum, a public high school, an inner city police force, a hospital, and a military training school, Essene's canvas is the far less turbulent terrain of a serene and austere Benedictine monastery devoted to the love and service of God and the divine spirit. This paper undertakes a close textual and hermeneutic analysis of Essene alongside an appraisal of Wiseman’s working methodology, his cinematic portrayals of character and dramaturgy, …

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“He Who Laughs Last!” Terrorists, Nihilists, And Jokers, William S. Chavez, Luke Mccracken Mar 2021

“He Who Laughs Last!” Terrorists, Nihilists, And Jokers, William S. Chavez, Luke Mccracken

Journal of Religion & Film

Since his debut in 1940, the Joker, famed adversary of the Batman, continues to permeate the American cultural mediascape not merely as an object of consumption but as an ongoing production of popular imagination. Joker mythmakers post-1986 have reimagined the character not as superhuman but as “depressingly ordinary,” inspiring audiences both to empathize with his existential plight and to fear his terroristic violence as an increasingly compelling model of reactionary resistance to institutionality. This article examines the recent history of modern terrorism in conjunction with the “pathological nihilism” diagnosed by Nietzsche in order to elucidate the stakes and implications of …

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The Non-Place Between Sacred And Profane: Utopian Gestures In The Apparatus Of Semiocapitalism In Laurent Cantet’S L'Emploi Du Temps, Tamas Nagypal Apr 2015

The Non-Place Between Sacred And Profane: Utopian Gestures In The Apparatus Of Semiocapitalism In Laurent Cantet’S L'Emploi Du Temps, Tamas Nagypal

Journal of Religion & Film

This paper demonstrates the possibility of the utopian use of late capitalist non-places through Laurent Cantet’s film L'emploi du temps, arguing that the protagonist’s mental breakdown caused by cognitive overstimulation open up an unexpected critical perspective through which the contradictions of the system become visible. With the help of Agamben’s theory of profanation I argue that the hero’s inoperative, free use of former sites mediating semiocapitalist flows offers an example of a form-of-life that is not captured by the apparatuses of commodification.

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Iranian Women, Iranian Cinema: Negotiating With Ideology And Tradition, Najmeh Moradiyan Rizi Apr 2015

Iranian Women, Iranian Cinema: Negotiating With Ideology And Tradition, Najmeh Moradiyan Rizi

Journal of Religion & Film

Throughout the ruptures of Iran’s history, Iranian women have been at the core of any social and political changes and challenges. In this historical context, Iranian women’s body, sexuality, and individuality have been confined within the constitution of religion and tradition. In recent years, however, the new generation of Iranian women is negotiating the notions of femininity, sexuality, and modernity in Iran’s society. Along with this negotiation, Iranian cinema, as the visual showcase of Iranian culture and society, has recently represented an unprecedented portrayal of Iranian women on the screen. This portrayal stems from the gender consciousness of Iranian women …

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How To Be A Genuine Fake: Her, Alan Watts, And The Problem Of The Self, David L. Smith Oct 2014

How To Be A Genuine Fake: Her, Alan Watts, And The Problem Of The Self, David L. Smith

Journal of Religion & Film

Spike Jonze’s Her brings the twentieth-century religious writer Alan Watts back to life in more ways than one. It reanimates him as a character, but more importantly, it incorporates and revivifies many aspects of his thought. More than a story about artificial intelligence or the uses of technology, Her is a film about what it means to be human, and Watts’s approach to this question informs Jonze’s at every step. Above all, Watt’s understanding of the nature of the self, and his broadly Buddhist analysis of how and why people and their relationships tend to go wrong become unifying themes …

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Tron: Legacy, Joseph Laycock Apr 2011

Tron: Legacy, Joseph Laycock

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a review of Tron: Legacy (2010).

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The Matrix: Reloaded, Diana Pasulka Oct 2003

The Matrix: Reloaded, Diana Pasulka

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a review of The Matrix: Reloaded (2003).

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Reassessing The Matrix/Reloaded, Julien R. Fielding Oct 2003

Reassessing The Matrix/Reloaded, Julien R. Fielding

Journal of Religion & Film

Much has been written about Larry and Andy Wachowski's film The Matrix and on practically every angle: from philosophical precedents to the realities of artificial intelligence. Religious scholars, too, have thrown their hats into the academic ring, expounding on the Gnostic, Buddhist and Christian aspects found therein. But as many have discovered, the Wachowski brothers are syncretists, pulling bits from here and there and then mixing it all together in a science fiction-martial arts stew. They do this so thoroughly that when one tries to impose a singular religious paradigm on top of the film(s), slotting in the characters one-by-one, …

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Minority Report, Michael Karounos Oct 2002

Minority Report, Michael Karounos

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a review of Minority Report (2002).

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Wake Up! Gnosticism And Buddhism In The Matrix, Frances Flannery-Dailey, Rachel L. Wagner Oct 2001

Wake Up! Gnosticism And Buddhism In The Matrix, Frances Flannery-Dailey, Rachel L. Wagner

Journal of Religion & Film

The Wachowski brothers' 1999 hit release The Matrix draws on multiple religious traditions to establish its complex worldview. Two of the most prominent are Gnostic Christianity and Buddhism, which, like the film, pose humanity's fundamental problem and its solution in terms of ignorance and enlightenment. Because of ignorance, people mistake the "material" world for something real, but they may "wake up" from this dream with help from a guide who teaches them their true nature. This article explores the film's pervasive allusions to Gnosticism and Buddhism, which in turn opens up the question of the film's overarching message and ultimate …

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Buddhism, Christianity, And The Matrix: The Dialectic Of Myth-Making In Contemporary Cinema, James L. Ford Oct 2000

Buddhism, Christianity, And The Matrix: The Dialectic Of Myth-Making In Contemporary Cinema, James L. Ford

Journal of Religion & Film

This essay analyzes the recent film The Matrix from the perspective of modern-day myth-making. After a brief plot summary of the film, I note the well-documented parallels to the Christian messianic narrative of Jesus. I then go on to highlight the often overlooked parallels to the Buddhist existential analysis of the human condition. In particular, I note a remarkable resonance between The Matrix and the fourth century (C.E.) philosophical school of Buddhism known as Yogacara. By highlighting the syncretic or combinative nature of the film's symbolic narrative, I submit The Matrix as a cinematic example of the dialectical process of …

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Armageddon At The Millennial Dawn, Conrad E. Ostwalt Apr 2000

Armageddon At The Millennial Dawn, Conrad E. Ostwalt

Journal of Religion & Film

The New Year has come and gone and presents a time for reflection on popular culture's fascination with eschatology and apocalypticism. In the few years leading up to the year 2000, we witnessed a growing interest in end-of-the-world scenarios as they were portrayed in the movies and other forms of popular entertainment. Looking back but a short while, our imaginations were stimulated by such movies as 12 Monkeys, the critically abused Waterworld, the comedic Independence Day, and the visionary Contact. These promising movies suggested the last couple of years of the millennium would see a crop …

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