Religion and Film 2020

Shamanistic ritual often involves pain and bloodshed in an effort to reach an altered state of enlightenment or consciousness. The drawer deprives Jack Starks of his physical mobility yet he is able to travel through time both forward and backwards in able to alter his timeline for the better. He uses his powers to help others in spite of the knowledge of his own impending death on the horizon. In a way, Jack knowing of his own death is a healing experience. In the life where he’s stuffed in the drawer he’s a lab rat for Becker but Becker has gifted Jack with the ability to escape and develop his own enlightenment by improving the lives of others around him. Throughout the film symbols representing improvement spring up when Jack is following the right path. One symbol in particular helps indicate what reality Jack is in. The dreamcatcher in Jackie’s car represents the two worlds. In the reality where Jackie’s mother is dead the dreamcatcher is torn and faded, representing the grim rea...

Kurtz draws parallel to Kurtz in Heart of darkness he is a representation of man gone savage yet ironically enough he is much more philosophical than the officer. The officer played by Duvall is more insane than Kurtz but he enacts violence under a banner and the guise of war so therefore, his actions are justified. The purpose of the parallels of the insanity between Kurtz and the officer is to show just how maddening war really is. The apocalypse in the sense of the film is more of an end to the sane rational thoughts of man and the subsequent descent into madness. The war itself represents how the hypocrisy of those in power can be equally as evil as those they fight against, paralleling the hypocritical nature that religious organizations can take on certain stances. Many people complain that modern religion and churches mar the message that religion tries to convey in the pursuit of monetary gain.

In Cold Fever the main character Hirata experiences transcendent significance throughout his adventure to perform his parent’s ceremonial last rites. During his journey to the site of his parents death Hirata is continuously and mercilessly faced with roadblocks and obstacles that seem to test him and his dedication to his parents rite of passage. The adventure to the site in itself is a ritual. From the process of purchasing and overpaying for the Citroen DS from a self proclaimed psychic and subsequently traveling across the icelandic countryside, getting robbed, experiencing icelandic western culture, drinking the strongest liquor in iceland and traveling through the tundra for  a stent on horseback. All the twists and turns in Hiratas adventure would cause most people looking from the outside in to question why he doesn’t just give up or wait for better weather. As individuals we often refuse to quit once we’re headed for a goal, regardless of what inconvenient obstacles are t...

The key takeaway from Thin Red Line is that nature is indifferent to war. Man lives and dies but nature simply exists in time. Nature has no higher calling as it only exists in the present and objectively only does what is necessary in an effort to survive. Despite the war that is transpiring in the film nature slowly returns to normalcy as the smog of war settles. Man on the other hand never fully returns to normal after a conflict such as war. Man simply has to move on with life and reflect on how their actions impact their inner selves while nature is able to simply return to itself.   Within the context of the film nature represents the sublime as a whole. The wide panning shots of the hill particularly before the conflict begins command a sense of awe. The calmness and peace experienced within the shot of the grass rolling over the hill is quickly juxtaposed by explosions, gunfire, and death all around once man becomes involved with nature. Throughout the film the shots of nat...

Most people cannot function without their phones or the internet. Speaking from personal experience limiting internet access and phone usage for a week can really make a difference in how much the awareness of your surroundings heightens when you aren’t buried in a phone. My family has a home in the blue ridge mountains with limited cellular service and no internet access. It’s strange in this day and age to actually have to have knowledge of where  you are going and not rely on gps. In my personal opinion deprivation of these modern conveniences actually helps reduce mindlessness.

The director's choice of automobile in a film can have a major impact on how a character develops. Cars can be an object to show status or success such as the Porsche 928 in Scarface signifying how Tony Montana has made it in the world. In other cases, the vehicle which transports the main character in a film can help the character grow and develop within themselves. In Cold Fever, the fact that the Citroen DS even starts when the psychic sells him the car is symbolically a testament to how journeys through Iceland toughen things that wouldn’t otherwise hold up under less stressful circumstances. The Citroen DS has a notoriously complicated hydraulic lift system which realistically shouldn’t be functioning but, this specific car is “special” as if it has been toughened by the years in Iceland. With almost a herbie esque charm the DS pushes Hirata past his breaking point with its stuck radio. By challenging Hirata’s sanity the Citroen DS introduces Hirata to the brutality of the...

Big Fish explores the relationship between a father and son and their journey to reconciliation. Edward, a charismatic traveling salesman with a fantastic sense of humor constantly tells the story of his life with a bit of embellishment and never really seems to take anything too seriously. Edward’s world is viewed through a lens of optimism that is infectious to almost everyone around him. His son Will, on the other hand is a wealthy businessman who seemingly can’t take a joke. Will constantly feels that his father’s tall tales are a means to hide his true self when in reality it is Will who refuses to acknowledge who his father really is. Will eventually learns that his father’s stories are slightly embellished for entertainment purposes but the people Edward met along his life journey are all real as are the lessons he learned. Bloom first meets Jenny in the town of Spectre when she is only 8 years old. When Bloom returns to Spectre the second time Jenny is 18 and tries to make a p...

       Growing up on a farm is something that has taught me many life lessons, from when I was young death was taught to me from how calves and mother cows would die from childbirth. I learned that even adults cry when my mother lost her childhood horse Licorice when I was seven. When my old yellow tabby cat died when I was thirteen, that was the first time I had ever felt true heart ache. Animals are what taught me about love and the sacred. They taught me their language and from that I learned my passion of devoting my life to preserving these wonders of life. Growing up on a farm, a child will grow up fast and learn life lessons that haven’t been learned by some adults. I never realized until my freshman year of college just how much people will judge you based on where you come from. I was always judged in high school because of how urban I was compared to my friends with deep southern accents and now being at a university surrounded by people from...

      I have a cow named Buddy on my farm. He’s a two ton steer who could sell for hundreds if not thousands for his size. When he was born he was separated from his mother and when we found him that morning I picked him up and carried him to his mother. By that time, however, his mother would not let him take to her bag and we were forced to bottle feed him until he was old enough to eat hay and grass. My grandfather really wanted to sell him after the first year given he got to be the size of a young bull but I told him he better sell me to the slaughter house as well if he wanted to sell buddy. Although Pappy likes to complain about Buddy all the time, he loves to brag and take the neighbors out to see our gentle giant that loves chin scratches. Buddy is great to have when we have out of town visitors,  who aren’t used to seeing cows on their daily commutes to work. Most of our cows will run away like crazy because of how timid they are and Buddy wi...

  I find it very surreal that I just finished my last semester of my first half of college, while I know I have grown tremendously as a person being at CNU I worry that in my striving to achieve something better for myself than this small town life I’ve grown up in, I threw my social life out the door. Coming into college I had the mindset of “I’m not here to make friends” because I realize how much my parents are working to help me stay at this university that’s twice as big and fifty times as nice as I ever would have imagined achieving. Coming from a high school that had only three hallways, and a graduating class of just barely over 200 people, the amount of kids that didn’t just decide to cut their losses there and join the workforce were slim to none. While I admit, I partied hard in high school, the amount of people I meet at college who haven’t seen even one third of the amount of things I’ve seen in the backwoods of southwest Virginia, I did not expect for people to b...

  A few past times I believe have helped me in order to remain sane during my time in quarantine have to do with remaining grounded in my daily thoughts. Performing yogic sun salutations and doing 50 push-ups daily are my ritualistic patterns and on Fridays I grant myself two white claws in order to celebrate my week. Living on a farm, it’s not very hard to find something to do, the only issue is knowing the right time to do them. Given that I’ve been in school for the past two months I’ve practically had to perform my expected duties the same as if I were on campus. It was hard at first, I will admit, to remind myself daily that this at home schooling was not an extended summer vacation. I’m very weary about next semester if we are expected to continue online because this semester I think that the college was told to take it sort of easy on us given the fact we were all struggling to quickly adjust. Next semester, however, I feel like the college will have figured out ...

 As I have found myself locked away in my house for almost two months straight now, I have had much time to reflect on the anxieties that had so harshly been impending upon me in the everyday life I lead before this unexpected lock down. I had no idea that my returning home would be the last time I would drive my car for a while or that the last time I hugged my friends would be the last time I welcomed someone's touch. During my time at home I have found myself reflecting much on the idea of sacred time and what we are quarantined people could do in order to allow for this quarantine to yield wholly fulfillment. Some things that I have taken part in to aid in my feeling of purpose while locked away; various types of meditations and payer. Most times when I pray I find myself apologizing for what had been so taken for granted during my freedom and finding myself more so thankful for what the time in solitude has helped me realize for myself. I believe that this time is no coi...

 Another Disney movie that can thoroughly represent ideas of religious themes has to do with sacred time and how one found purpose through aiding and helping others during her times of sorrow. Cinderella is a story told universally that highlights the themes of fulfillment through selflessness and kindness. As she was left an orphan with no power over her situation, Cinderella found herself at the disposal of her evil stepmother who sought to reduce Cinderella's spirit to nothing but ash. As Cinderella grew the torment from her step mother and step sisters worsened, much to the point of Cinderella only having time to mend to her chores. As the story goes, Cinderella finds herself not believing in kindness anymore due to her stepmother and stepsisters actions yet still finds it in her heart to show kindness to an elderly lady who reveals herself to be Cinderella’s fairy godmother who helps her to go to the ball in hopes of finding a man she had ran into on her outing one day...

As I spoke about “The Hero’s Journey” having underlying religious tone of a sacred call I recalled the new Frozen2 movie and how Elsa receives a literal call of which she denies over and over again in order to remain her ritualistic comfort zone. “I can hear you, but I won’t”, is a quote from the character Elsa’s song “ Into The Unknown ” which symbolizes the denial of her call. Ultimately Elsa makes the decision to answer the call and venture into the unknown with her sister and friends where she faces trials and tribulations before her calling is fulfilled and she finds her purpose ultimately through the fulfillment of her call. As she and her sister cross into the sacred domain, the sacred is represented through a misty blockade where no one is said to be allowed to enter or exit. However, because Elsa and Anna are born of both the sacred and profane domains they were allowed to pass unharmed. Throughout the movie tremendum is also represented through the usage of element...

One particular element found within our semester that can be compared to outside sources in the idea of fulfilling a call. This call fulfillment is a theme that is presented within countless types of heroic films given that it is presented through the “Hero’s Journey”. Within the first stages of “The Hero’s Journey” a hero is supposed to hear a call, deny the call, and then answer the call which forces him to break through the stage of profanity. Therefore, the “Hero’s Journey” though it is not meant to be religious, has an underlying tone of religious themes given that, overall, the hero is meant to be fulfilling a call of which his logic is telling him not to. This also presents a tone of faith over logic given that, in the “Hero’s Journey”, after the denial of the call a hero gives in and goes on an entire journey in order to reach fulfillment. 

Another Ghibli movie I can reference when talking about religious themes would be “Nausica and the Valley of the Wind”. This Ghibli film is one that can give representation to the sacred and profane religious themes. Given that Nausica is a princess who lives in a Valley that is kept safe from the post-Apocalyptic world of deadly spores and giant bugs, the sacred become represented through the deadly lands that are beyond the safe haven of the windy valley. And the profane is represented through the mortal people who have proclaimed war against the sacred or “toxic jungle”. This movie is one I would very much compare to the film we watched in class “Apocalypse Now” given the representation of the sacred and profane through the usage of post apocalyptic themes representing the sacred. Naussica, the princess, ends up fighting against those people who have proclaimed war against the toxic jungle and fights for the giant bugs' right to live. In the end  Naussica saves the land...

A film that I would tie into the religious themes found within our Religion and Film class would be “My Neighbor Totoro” this film is a Ghibli film like that of spirited away and gives the audience representation for mysterium and tremendum through the presentation of a forest spirit called Totoro. When a small family moves into a rural house in the country the young children find themselves captivated by the natural world around them that seems to hold more magic than what meets the adult eye. Totoro is found by the children within a few nights of inhabiting their new rural house and is found to be helpful when it comes to growing plants and protecting his giant tree. The mysterium of this character is represented when it comes to the fact that only children are able to see Totoro and the fact that after he aids the children he is thought to be just a dream until one day, May the younger sister goes missing and the big sister must run and pray to Totoro for his help. When Sa...

Today we again touched on the notion of Tremendum and how it ties into the notion of the holy. Through viewing our film “ Apocalypse Now ” the themes of profane and sacred are represented through the immense and powerful themes of a Godly figure. As we watched the movie the theme of the sacred was presented to us through the Jungle. I was confused at first about why the rogue general Kurts had to die in the end by I found that given that Kurts was the product of the profane civilization, he must be purged from the sacred space. Kurts no longer belonged anywhere given he had gone against his purpose and became the representation of a Godly figure by belonging to both sides, therefore he must die. That gives representation to the overarching theme of tremendous given that there may not be any other Godly figure but the true holy divinity itself. 

On this day our topic had to do with the idea of mysterium and how it ties into the notion of ominous. Our film today was “The Seventh Seal” and had to do with a man named Antonious Block who is under the impression his entire life has been believed to have been hijacked by bad omens. The entire notion of mysterium and ominous goes along with the idea of choosing logic over faith. Given that logic seems to hold the more concrete answers. These concrete answers are what give the notion of mysterium purpose given that it is a characteristic of the wholly to be unfathomable. Mysterium is a characteristic of the holy given that the notion of death and what comes after death is something that mortal humans are simply unable to comprehend. The faith of what’s meant to be will be through the mysterious acts of the holy are meant to be represented through our particular topic of Antonius Block.

On this day we talked about the idea of the Holy and compared our idea to the Tolkien Character Aslan. Aslan, being a lion, is representative of what we talked about in class to have the religious characteristics of tremendum and mysterium . Tremendum is represented through the presentation of Aslan via the fact that he is a mighty and ferocious lion who, if he willed it, could take down any foes who crossed him. The mysterium is represented through Aslan given that throughout the series he is seen to come and go without explanation and would act without explanation. I remember as a child when I would watch the Chronicles of Narnia I would ponder about how I would rather my God be Aslan. Aslan was always kind to the younger children in the series as they were representation of purity, he forgave the boy who acted against him and was resurrected from death after being beaten in order to preserve his people. However, when it came to battles he was ferocious and had immense st...