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Full-Text Articles in Television
Cowboys, Angels, And Demons: American Exceptionalism And The Frontier Myth In The Cw's 'Supernatural', Joesph M. Valenzano
Cowboys, Angels, And Demons: American Exceptionalism And The Frontier Myth In The Cw's 'Supernatural', Joesph M. Valenzano
Joseph M. Valenzano III
The CW network series Supernatural (2005–) draws its text from the horror and fantasy genres as well as religious mythology. Concurrently, it transmits a core “American” mythos. As its protagonists keep watch along a supernatural frontier and eradicate threats to the American way of life, this program both reinforces and alters aspects of the frontier myth and the myth of American exceptionalism by depicting its main characters as representations of America writ large whose mission has grown from an appointment by God to being equals to God. In this manner, Supernatural forwards a new American exceptionalism through the notion that …
Explicit And Implicit Religion In Doctor Who And Star Trek, James F. Mcgrath
Explicit And Implicit Religion In Doctor Who And Star Trek, James F. Mcgrath
James F. McGrath
It has often been proposed that the original series of Star Trek reflected a modern, enlightenment perspective on religion, and that subsequent spinoffs like Deep Space Nine moved in a more post-modern direction. Doctor Who, the longest running science fiction show, provides an interesting basis for comparison. Both television shows offer similar tropes, and in both instances, the rhetoric that claims to explain away religion in scientific terms ends up treating it as literally true. Both shows depict our universe as populated with “natural gods” which are sometimes explicitly identified with the gods and demons of ancient human religious literature.