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Film and Media Studies

Journal of Religion & Film

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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

Sujo, Christopher R. Deacy Jan 2024

Sujo, Christopher R. Deacy

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Sujo (2024), directed by Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez.

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From Patriarchal Stereotypes To Matriarchal Pleasures Of Hybridity: Representation Of A Muslim Family In Berlin, Rahime Özgün Kehya Dr Oct 2023

From Patriarchal Stereotypes To Matriarchal Pleasures Of Hybridity: Representation Of A Muslim Family In Berlin, Rahime Özgün Kehya Dr

Journal of Religion & Film

Sinan Çetin’s blockbuster Berlin in Berlin (1993) is a Turkish-German co-production. In contrast to certain representational tendencies with German orientalism or Turkish occidentalism, it deconstructs the intersectional structures of migration, religion, and gender. The portrayal of religion in films about Turkish-German labour migration is a kind of cultural narcissism often projected into national cinema by denigrating the faith of the other and glorifying one’s own religion. However, perspectives at such intersections are critical and require sensitivity in filmmaking, as films can create prejudice or help build peaceful relationships around these sensitive issues. The paper employs discourse analysis in linking Derrida’s …

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Herrens Veje: A Catalyst To Reflect Upon Military Chaplaincy And Ecclesial Issues In A Nordic Context, Jan Grimell, Mariecke Van Den Berg Oct 2023

Herrens Veje: A Catalyst To Reflect Upon Military Chaplaincy And Ecclesial Issues In A Nordic Context, Jan Grimell, Mariecke Van Den Berg

Journal of Religion & Film

This article is based on an analysis of the first season of the Danish series Herrens Veje (The Way of the Lord; Price 2017). The series portrays the young, idealistic pastor and military chaplain August, who is deployed to a conflict zone with a military unit. He accompanies the unit on a patrol to win the trust of the soldiers. During the patrol, they engage in combat and August kills an innocent civilian woman. Upon return, the transition from military to civilian life proves to be increasingly challenging and troublesome. As the series proceeds, August’s mental health deteriorates and his …

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Just Right, William L. Blizek, Monica Blizek Feb 2023

Just Right, William L. Blizek, Monica Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Just Right (2023), directed by Camille Wormser.

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When Sexuality Becomes Healing: An Interview With Elsbeth Fraanje On Her Documentary Sexual Healing, Johan Roeland Jan 2023

When Sexuality Becomes Healing: An Interview With Elsbeth Fraanje On Her Documentary Sexual Healing, Johan Roeland

Journal of Religion & Film

This is an interview with Elsbeth Fraanje, the director of Sexual Healing.

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Sexual Healing, Johan Roeland Jan 2023

Sexual Healing, Johan Roeland

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Sexual Healing (2022) directed by Elsbeth Fraanje.

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Okay! (The Asd Band Film), Michele M. Desmarais Jan 2023

Okay! (The Asd Band Film), Michele M. Desmarais

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of OKAY! (The ASD Band Film) (2022) directed by Mark Bone.

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A Still Small Voice, Dereck Daschke Jan 2023

A Still Small Voice, Dereck Daschke

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of A Still Small Voice (2023), directed by Luke Lorentzen.

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Bagdad On Fire, John C. Lyden Jan 2023

Bagdad On Fire, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Bagdad on Fire (2023), directed by Karrar Al-Azzawi.

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Good Grief, John C. Lyden Jan 2023

Good Grief, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Good Grief (2023), directed by Rob Sharp.

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Don't Worry About It, John C. Lyden Jan 2023

Don't Worry About It, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Don't Worry About It (2023), directed by Melissa Kong.

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Landscape With Invisible Hand, John C. Lyden Jan 2023

Landscape With Invisible Hand, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Landscape With Invisible Hand (2023), directed by Cory Finley.

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Religious Hegemony And "Muslim" Horror Movies, Shaheed N. Mohammed Sep 2022

Religious Hegemony And "Muslim" Horror Movies, Shaheed N. Mohammed

Journal of Religion & Film

The present paper examines horror films originating in Muslim contexts and available on U.S. streaming services. Using Gramsci's concept of hegemony, the paper examines how such films negotiate and articulate with the dominant Hollywood mainstream horror genre with particular attention to the hegemonic power of the mainstream with its Christian iconography and assumptions.

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Interview With Natasha Ofili, Monica Blizek Apr 2022

Interview With Natasha Ofili, Monica Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

Natasha Ofili, the star and screenwriter of The Multi, was interviewed by Monica Blizek about the process that led to the creation of the film.

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Brian And Charles, John C. Lyden Apr 2022

Brian And Charles, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Brian and Charles (2021), directed by Jim Archer.

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Jihad Rehab, John C. Lyden Apr 2022

Jihad Rehab, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Jihad Rehab (2021), directed by Meg Smaker.

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Iron Family, William L. Blizek Apr 2022

Iron Family, William L. Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Iron Family (2021), directed by Patrick Longstreth.

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The Multi, William L. Blizek, Monica Blizek Apr 2022

The Multi, William L. Blizek, Monica Blizek

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of The Multi (2022), directed by Storm S. Smith and Mikhail Chowdhury.

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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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Films For The Colonies: Cinema And The Preservation Of The British Empire, Thomas Barker Mar 2021

Films For The Colonies: Cinema And The Preservation Of The British Empire, Thomas Barker

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Tom Rice, Films for the Colonies: Cinema and the Preservation of the British Empire (University of California Press, 2019).

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By And For Jewish Women Only: The Musical Film "The Heart That Sings", Celia E. Rothenberg Mar 2021

By And For Jewish Women Only: The Musical Film "The Heart That Sings", Celia E. Rothenberg

Journal of Religion & Film

The musical film, “The Heart that Sings” (2011), written and directed by Robin Saex Garbose, is part of a genre of films created by and for Orthodox Jewish women. Heart provides a case study that illustrates the depth and breadth of Lubavitch Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson’s (1902-1994) influence on Jews and Jewish life well beyond his own community members. Schneerson’s outreach work via his shlichim, or emissaries, to unobservant Jews is well-recognized. The extent and nuance of his influence on a broad cross-section of Jews, however, has yet to be fully traced. Heart tells its viewers that Jewish women …

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Apocalypse And Eschatology In John Ford's The Grapes Of Wrath (1940), Nancy Wright Mar 2020

Apocalypse And Eschatology In John Ford's The Grapes Of Wrath (1940), Nancy Wright

Journal of Religion & Film

John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath (1940) visualizes conventions of the apocalypse genre to represent not simply a particular historical setting, the Great Depression, but also a vision of history to be interpreted in terms of eschatology. Expressionistic photography transforms the characters’ experiences into enigmatic visions that invite and guide interpretation. A comparison of montage sequences in Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath and Pare Lorentz’s The Plow That Broke The Plains (1936), a Farm Security Administration documentary, clarifies how Ford’s narrative film aligns spectators within and outside the mise-en-scène.

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The Gaze And A Sufi Ethics Of Vision In Majidi’S The Willow Tree: Form, Meaning, And The Real, Cyrus A. Zargar Mar 2020

The Gaze And A Sufi Ethics Of Vision In Majidi’S The Willow Tree: Form, Meaning, And The Real, Cyrus A. Zargar

Journal of Religion & Film

In his 2005 film The Willow Tree (Bīd-i Majnūn), Majid Majidi offers a complex moral commentary on the faculty of sight. To do so, the filmmaker draws from Sufi theories of gazing, in which desire must be for ultimate meaning (maʿnā), as conveyed through the vehicle of perceivable form (ṣūra), a distinction with both metaphysical and ethical implications. Majidi presents sight, when devoid of contemplation, as a sort of voyeurism, especially in contrast to the privacy and immediacy of speech and especially within the context of the modern city. Moreover, his use of a …

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Yalda, A Night For Forgiveness, John C. Lyden Jan 2020

Yalda, A Night For Forgiveness, John C. Lyden

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Yalda, A Night for Forgiveness (2019) directed by Massoud Bakhshi.

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Into The Deep, Jodi Mcdavid Jan 2020

Into The Deep, Jodi Mcdavid

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Into the Deep (2020) directed by Emma Sullivan.

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Screening Religiosity In Contemporary Polish Films. The Role Of Religious Motifs In Visual Communication., Mariola Marczak Dec 2018

Screening Religiosity In Contemporary Polish Films. The Role Of Religious Motifs In Visual Communication., Mariola Marczak

Journal of Religion & Film

In the paper the Polish contemporary cinema has been explored as a vehicle through which films can reflect and communicate social issues, such as religiosity of Polish society, the character of it, the ways of expression and values promoted by it. The main components of modern Polish religiosity are shown as they are exhibited in film works perceived as part of modern visual culture. The examination also comprises most frequently and typically tools used for communicating or revealing the transcendent sphere in the contemporary Polish films, such as Christ-figures - including apocryphal ones and parables. They are considered as a …

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Visual Grandeur, Imagined Glory: Identity Politics And Hindu Nationalism In Bajirao Mastani And Padmaavat, Baijayanti Roy Dec 2018

Visual Grandeur, Imagined Glory: Identity Politics And Hindu Nationalism In Bajirao Mastani And Padmaavat, Baijayanti Roy

Journal of Religion & Film

This paper examines the tropes through which the Hindi (Bollywood) historical films Bajirao Mastani (2015) and Padmaavat (2018) create idealised pasts on screen that speak to Hindu nationalist politics of present-day India. Bajirao Mastani is based on a popular tale of love, between Bajirao I (1700-1740), a powerful Brahmin general, and Mastani, daughter of a Hindu king and his Iranian mistress. The relationship was socially disapproved because of Mastani`s mixed parentage. The film distorts India`s pluralistic heritage by idealising Bajirao as an embodiment of Hindu nationalism and portraying Islam as inimical to Hinduism. Padmaavat is a film about a legendary …

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Classroom Cannibal: A Guide On How To Teach Ojibwe Spirituality Using The Windigo And Film, Brady Desanti Mar 2018

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, …

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Dreams, Doubt, And Dread: The Spiritual In Film, Joel Mayward Sep 2017

Dreams, Doubt, And Dread: The Spiritual In Film, Joel Mayward

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a book review of Zachary Settle and Taylor Worley, eds. Dreams, Doubt, and Dread: The Spiritual in Film. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2016.

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Religion And Violence In Jesse James Films, 1972–2010, Travis Warren Cooper Apr 2017

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 …

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