Religion In Film Research Articles

Religion, Female Sexuality and Magic in (Post)Modern Film

The paper strives to investigate the relationship of female sexuality, magic and religion in film based on the comparison of two selected films. The three themes have been often seen as intertwined especially by religion, which has built an image of a female witch in alliance with the devil, or evil forces. The research aims to answer the question whether postmodern cinema embraces the combination of the aforementioned themes often associated, historically, with the notion of witchcraft practised especially by female witches. The scope of the research is limited to two films; however, the possibility to expand the research in the future and include newer films exists. Comparative methods and analysis are used throughout the paper. The paper is structured according to the analysed themes found in both films – Carrie (dir. Kimberly Peirce, 2013) and Thelma (dir. Joachim Trier, 2017). The author claims that these themes are similar and rooted in the same perception of the female monstrosity in both films, with different outcomes of this combination. The authors suggest that this is due to feminist tendencies becoming more prominent in every artform. However, this claim needs investigating from the feminist studies’ point of view.

Representing Religion in Film

Representing Religion in Film

Sacred Subtexts: Depictions of Girls as Christ Figure and Holy Fool in the FilmsMoanaandWhale Rider

Christ figures and holy fools are familiar religious symbols often repeated and adapted in film making. They have historically most often been depicted as male, and among the slowly growing body of female filmic christ figures, they are usually depicted as adult White women. In this article, I consider two films, Niki Caro’s Whale Rider and Disney’s Moana, in which young Indigenous girls are depicted within this trope. I engage in close reading of the films, in relation to Anton Karl Kozlovic’s theoretical framework for structural characteristics of the filmic christ figure, as I focus my discussion here on the christological symbolism of the two female child figures in these films, while also folding this back to the long-standing religious and literary tradition of the holy fool. The aim of this article is to contribute to the growing body of critical and theoretical work about the representation and reading of women and religion in film.

Religion and Film

Abstract Is cinema evil, or sacramental? Can films make theological contributions? Can film-viewing be a religious practice? How do films, values and power interact? The study of film and religion engages a range of diverse questions through different approaches and methods. In this contribution, I distinguish three complementary approaches. In the first section, I discuss those that focus on the film as text, the representation of religion in film, and how theology happens in film. The next section will broaden this perspective by taking into consideration how films affect audiences, and how the relationship between film and audience might have religious dimensions or serve religious functions. In the third section, attention to the text and the audience are combined with the consideration of both film and religion as agents in cultural processes in order to think about how film and religion are shaped by and shape value systems and ideologies. In the last section I will begin to tackle the difficult question of theory and method. I consciously postpone this part until the end because, in many cases, methodologies and theoretical frameworks are implied in and emerge from concrete case studies rather than being consciously reflected upon. This final section has two goals: it will make explicit some of these underlying assumptions to serve as a starting point for a more sustained reflection on the theories and methodologies of the field, and it will highlight some of the pitfalls we encounter if we are not methodologically and theoretically precise in our work.

A different story of secularism: The censorship of religion in Turkish films of the 1960s and early 1970s

This article extends the discussion of Turkish secularism from political history to cultural history. It examines censorship of religious elements in Turkish films of the 1960s and early 1970s based on the reports of the Central Film Control Commission in Ankara, responsible for inspecting domestic films from 1939 to 1977. The article argues that the censorship commission, as an extension of the state, functioned as a guard of Kemalist secularism and a ‘true’ Islam (a private, enlightened, apolitical, national and Sunni Islam). This ambivalent attitude towards religion underlines the complexity of Turkish secularism, which distinguish it from western models of secularism. The article concludes with a discussion of two inspection cases in 1970, which point to a significant shift in the commission’s attitude towards religion in films and prove that the founding principle of secularism and its later politics in the 1960s did not distance the country from its Islamic heritage.

Finding Religion in Film: A Methodology for Religion and Film Studies

Finding Religion in Film: A Methodology for Religion and Film Studies

Implicit Sacraments in Atonement: The Movie

The movie version of Ian McEwan’s novel Atonement, directed by Joe Wright, raises interesting questions about implicit religion in films. This paper explores how the film of Atonement develops and introduces Christian themes into the storyline, and the way in which this might reflect more widely upon the place of Christianity in a secular world.

FROM THEOLOGICAL TO CINEMATIC CRITICISM: EXTRICATING THE STUDY OF RELIGION AND FILM FROM THEOLOGY

Book reviewed in this article:RELIGION IN FILM Edited by John R. May and Michael S. Bird KnoxvilleNEW IMAGE OF RELIGIOUS FILM Edited by John R. MaySCREENING THE SACRED: RELIGION, MYTH, AND IDEOLOGY IN POPULAR AMERICAN FILM Edited by Joel W. Martin and Conrad Eugene Ostwalt, Jr.SEEING AND BELIEVING: RELIGION AND VALUES IN THE MOVIES By Margaret MilesREEL SPIRITUALITY: THEOLOGY AND FILM IN DIALOGUE By Robert K. Johnston GrandSCREENING SCRIPTURE: INTERTEXTUAL CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SCRIPTURE AND FILM Edited by George Aichele and Richard G. Walsh HarrisburgHOW HYSTERICAL: IDENTIFICATION AND RESISTANCE IN THE BIBLE AND FILM By Erin RunionsFILM AS RELIGION: MYTHS, MORALS, AND RITUALS By John C. Lyden

Review: Religion in Film

Review: Religion in Film

Religion in Film. Edited by John R. May and Michael Bird. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1982. xviii + 257 pages. $16.50 (paper $7.95).

Religion in Film. Edited by John R. May and Michael Bird. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1982. xviii + 257 pages. $16.50 (paper $7.95).

Religion in Film

Religion in Film