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Full-Text Articles in History
The Transformation Of The Pope: The Agony And The Ecstasy (1965) And The Second Vatican Council (1962-65), Jennifer Mara Desilva
The Transformation Of The Pope: The Agony And The Ecstasy (1965) And The Second Vatican Council (1962-65), Jennifer Mara Desilva
Journal of Religion & Film
In 1965 the film The Agony and The Ecstasy (dir. Carol Reed) presented Renaissance artistic culture, Catholic iconography, and the papal court in Rome to a popular, broad, and non-denominational audience. Based on the novel by Irving Stone (1961), the narrative follows Michelangelo and Pope Julius II through the decoration of the Sistine chapel ceiling (1508-12), outlining a relationship between the two protagonists that suggests some spiritual equality. In the same way that the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) strove for spiritual renewal and an emphasis on the wonder of humankind’s relationship with God, The Agony and The Ecstasy portrays the …
King Of Masks: The Myth Of Miao-Shan And The Empowerment Of Women, Kevin Dodd
King Of Masks: The Myth Of Miao-Shan And The Empowerment Of Women, Kevin Dodd
Journal of Religion & Film
King of Masks represents a particular type of mythic film that includes within it references to an ancient sacred story and is itself a contemporary recapitulation of it. The movie also belongs to a further subcategory of mythic cinema, using the double citation of the myth—in its original integrity and its re-enactment—to critique the subordinate position of women to men in the narrated world. To do this, the Buddhist myth of Miao-shan, which centralizes the Confucian value of filiality, is re-applied beyond its traditional scope and context. Thereby two prominent features of contemporary China are creatively addressed: the revival of …
Menstruation As Heroine’S Journey In Pan’S Labyrinth, Richard Lindsay
Menstruation As Heroine’S Journey In Pan’S Labyrinth, Richard Lindsay
Journal of Religion & Film
I propose that the Guillermo del Toro film, Pan's Labyrinth (2006) follows the narrative outline of Joseph Campbell's hero's journey as experienced through the biological process of onset of menstruation in its young protagonist. I suggest a reading of the film that takes into account the visual and mythological symbolism of the figure of Pan, as well as the cultural context of menstruation in mythology and religion. I offer interviews from the director that support this interpretation, but ultimately I value a folk interpretation, or a "viewer's hunch" that the strange and fertile symbolism of the film represents a coming-of-age …