Film and Media Studies Commons^™

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 …

“To See My Home Before I Die”: The Trip To Bountiful, Memento Mori, And The Experience Of Death, Margaret Sullivan

Journal of Religion & Film

This article analyzes the portrayal of death in Peter Masterson’s 1985 film The Trip to Bountiful. My claim is that the experience of death, in the film, functions as a tool both for the elderly main character’s increased self-understanding and for her conscious, ethical action. I enter this discussion through an examination of late deconstruction’s ethical turn and the argument that aporetic unknowing, if experienced and endured, leads to the chance for real, authentic action. I then demonstrate how the film depicts such an aporetic encounter with death, and do so, in large part, by focusing on the film’s final …

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 …

Gnosticism, Technology And The Soul In Cuarón's Gravity, Karli Brittz

Journal of Religion & Film

Situated within the Digital Age, where technology and science have made life in space possible, Alfonso Caurón's award-winning space-thriller, Gravity, explores critical notions of the relationship between technology and the soul. More specifically, Cuarón’s depiction of space voyage illustrates the dualistic approach to the soul in relation to technology, especially the gnostic mind/body split and its manifestation in the Digital Age. This intersection between technology and the soul is a notion of increasingly importance in contemporary society, however it is often evaded in literature. Accordingly, it is crucial to analyze and unpack films, such as Gravity, that confront audiences with …

Two-Spirit Mexica Youth And Transgender Mixtec/Muxe Media: La Mission (2009), Two Spirit: Injunuity (2013), And Libertad (2015), Gabriel S. Estrada

Journal of Religion & Film

Independent directors Peter Bratt, Adrian Baker, and Avila-Hanna create differing trans-border queer Indigenous media that resist Eurocentric cic-heteropatriarchy. While Bratt’s feature-length narrative film La Mission (2009) features a masculine Mexica gay teenager who survives fused homophobic and trans*-phobic violence, Baker’s short animation Two Spirit: Injunuity (2013) makes stronger trans* and two-spirit Mexica youth identity affirmations. Avila-Hanna’s short documentary Libertad (2015) offers the clearest transgender narrative of the three films as it focuses on a California transgender Mixtec immigrant activist who is coming of age as a woman with the aid of hormones and gender affirming surgery. This article’s trans*- and …

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 …

Global Catastrophe In Motion Pictures As Meaning And Message: The Functions Of Apocalyptic Cinema In American Film, Wynn Gerald Hamonic

Journal of Religion & Film

The steady rise in production of American apocalyptic films and the genre's enduring popularity over the last seven decades can be explained by the functions the film genre serves. Through an analysis of a broad range of apocalyptic films along with the application of several theoretical and critical approaches to the study of film, the author describes seven functions commonly found in American apocalyptic cinema expressed both in terms of its meaning (the underlying purpose of the film) and its message (the ideas the filmmakers want to convey to the audience). Apocalyptic cinema helps the viewer make sense of the …

"I Do Feel The Fire!": The Transformations Of Prison-Based Black Male Converts To Islam In South Central, Malcolm X, And Oz, Kameron J. Copeland

Journal of Religion & Film

Historically, imprisoned Black male converts to Islam have been known for their narratives of redemption and struggles for religious freedom behind bars. While Islam possesses a strong visible presence throughout predominately Black areas of inner cities, it has become a natural feature of Black popular culture in mediums such as hip-hop, film, and literature. By the 1990s, the portrayal of Islamic conversions yielding Malcolm X-style transformations among young Black men, who formerly embodied self-destructiveness, were visible in films featuring Black male protagonists. The prison-based transformations typically involved highly influential Black Muslim leaders improving the social conditions of the inmate, the …

How To Attain Liberation From A False World? The Gnostic Myth Of Sophia In Dark City (1998), Fryderyk Kwiatkowski

Journal of Religion & Film

In the second half of the 20th century, a fascinating revival of ancient Gnostic ideas in American popular culture could be observed. One of the major streams through which Gnostic ideas are transmitted is Hollywood cinema. Many works that emerged at the end of 1990s can be viewed through the ideas of ancient Gnostic systems: The Truman Show (1998), The Thirteenth Floor (1999), The Others (2001), Vanilla Sky (2001) or The Matrix trilogy (1999-2003).

In this article, the author analyses Dark City (1998) and demonstrates that the story depicted in the film is heavily indebted to the Gnostic myth of …

Problem-Based Learning And Two Studies Of The Journal Of Religion And Film: Self-Sacrifice And Music, Ken Derry

Journal of Religion & Film

This article offers a case study for using problem-based learning (PBL) in a religion and film course. PBL is an open-ended, experiential approach to teaching, which requires students to engage with a real world problem in groups. While many university classes are based on a lecture format and variations of that format, PBL asks students to take greater ownership of their learning. The problem drives what students will learn, how they will learn it, and what they produce to assess that learning. Students in a fourth-year PBL class at the University of Toronto Mississauga were given the following problem: analyze …

Amar Akbar Anthony: Bollywood, Brotherhood, And The Nation, Kathryn C. Hardy

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of William Elison, Christian Lee Novetzke, and Andy Rotman, Amar Akbar Anthony: Bollywood, Brotherhood, and the Nation (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2016).

Coen: Framing Religion In Amoral Order, Richard Goodwin

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Elijah Siegler, ed., Coen: Framing Religion in Amoral Order. Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press, 2016.

The Innocents (Les Innocentes), Joshua Canzona

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of The Innocents (Les Innocentes) (2016), directed by Anne Fontaine.

Silence, Caesar A. Montevecchio

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Silence (2016), directed by Martin Scorsese.

Hidden Figures, Carol Miles

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Hidden Figures (2016), directed by Theodore Melfi.

I Love Dick, William L. Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of I Love Dick (2017), directed by Jill Soloway.

Sundance Film Festival 2017, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

Introduction to our coverage of the Sundance Film Festival 2017.

The Modern Jungle, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of The Modern Jungle (2017) directed by Charles Fairbanks and Saul Kak.

Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World, William L. Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World (2017), directed by Catherine Bainbridge and Alfonso Maiorana.

The Discovery, William L. Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of The Discovery (2017), directed by Charlie McDowell.

Interview With Jessie Auritt, Director Of Supergirl, William L. Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is an interview with Jessie Auritt, the director of Supergirl (2017), conducted by Bill Blizek.

Supergirl, William L. Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Supergirl (2017), directed by Jessie Auritt.

Slamdance Film Festival 2017, William L. Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is the Introduction to the Slamdance Film Festival 2017.

I Dream In Another Language, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of I Dream in Another Language (2017), directed by Ernesto Contreras.

Aerotropolis, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Aerotropolis (2017), directed by Jheng-Neng Li.

Automatic At Sea, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Automatic at Sea (2017) directed by Matthew Lessner.

To The Bone, William L. Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of To the Bone (2017), directed by Marti Noxon.

Menashe, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Menashe (2017), directed by Joshua Weinstein.

The Hero, William L. Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of The Hero (2017) directed by Brett Haley.

The Wound, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of The Wound (2016), directed by John Trengove.