A Sense of Presence: Mediating an American Apocalypse

Rachel Wagner

doi:10.3390/rel12010059

Abstract

Here I build upon Robert Orsi’s work by arguing that we can see presence—and the longing for it—at work beyond the obvious spaces of religious practice. Presence, I propose, is alive and well in mediated apocalypticism, in the intense imagination of the future that preoccupies those who consume its narratives in film, games, and role plays. Presence is a way of bringing worlds beyond into tangible form, of touching them and letting them touch you. It is, in this sense, that Michael Hoelzl and Graham Ward observe the “re-emergence” of religion with a “new visibility” that is much more than “simple re-emergence of something that has been in decline in the past but is now manifesting itself once more.” I propose that the “new awareness of religion” they posit includes the mediated worlds that enchant and empower us via deeply immersive fandoms. Whereas religious institutions today may be suspicious of presence, it lives on in the thick of media fandoms and their material manifestations, especially those forms that make ultimate promises about the world to come.

Highlights

Michael Hoelzl and Graham Ward observe the “re-emergence” of religion today with a “new visibility” that is “far more complex and nuanced than simple re-emergence of something that has been in decline in the past but is manifesting itself once more” (Hoelzl and Ward 2008, p. 1)
I argue, are the mediated worlds that enchant and empower us via deeply immersive fandoms, especially the American form of apocalyptic fandom that I call the cowboy apocalypse. This mode of apocalypticism draws on an idealization of the American West, melding it with post-apocalyptic expectation of a return to the frontier environment in a way that celebrates the self-proclaimed messiah who saves only those closest to him
As one vector of contemporary apocalyptic discourse, cowboy apocalypticism focuses on otherworldly spaces by imagining the imminent transformation of our present world into a new space

Summary

Introduction

Michael Hoelzl and Graham Ward observe the “re-emergence” of religion today with a “new visibility” that is “far more complex and nuanced than simple re-emergence of something that has been in decline in the past but is manifesting itself once more” (Hoelzl and Ward 2008, p. 1). As one vector of contemporary apocalyptic discourse, cowboy apocalypticism focuses on otherworldly spaces by imagining the imminent transformation of our present world into a new space This future world can be accessed through the repeated mediation of its worldview in films and games, and through the materialization of its most poignant prop: the gun. Just as religious people have always looked to other worlds for succor in times of strain, so contemporary fans of the cowboy apocalypse look to their hoped-for future as an otherworldly space in which they see their fantasies of renewed hegemony fulfilled Mediating this future world in the form of apocalyptically themed films, video games, and live-action role plays, fans can enact a kind of ritual devotion that allows them to temporarily inhabit the desired future world while still residing in this one. The “new visibility” of religion here takes a dark and dangerous form

Enchantment and Presence

The Apocalyptic Impulse

Video Games

Pervasive Games

Conclusions