Cinematic Faith , livre ebook

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107 pages

English

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Description

This engaging book explores how Christians can most profitably and critically hear, read, and view popular culture through the lens of film. William Romanowski highlights the benefits of a faith-informed approach to cinema that centers on art and perspective and shows how Christian faith contributes to the moviegoing experience, leading to a deeper understanding of movies and life. The book draws examples from classic and contemporary American movies and includes illustrative film stills. Additional resources for professors and students are available through Baker Academic's Textbook eSources.

Sujets

USA

Popular culture

Christianity

États-Unis

Informations

Publié par	Baker Publishing Group
Date de parution	21 mai 2019
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781493418206
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	3 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0662€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Cover
Half Title Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 2019 by William D. Romanowski
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com
Ebook edition created 2019
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-1820-6
Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
Contents
Cover i
Half Title Page ii
Title Page iii
Copyright Page iv
List of Movie Musings vii
Preface ix
1. Why a Christian Approach? 1
2. Cultu re Communicates: Biblical Principles for a Peculiar Means of Expression 15
3. Movie making Magic: Poetic Portals and the Power of Perspective 31
4. Creating an Illusion of Reality: Film Form and Content 47
5. Connecting the Dots: Style and Meaning 67
6. Redemption American-Style: The Melodramatic Vision 95
7. The Yellow Brick Road to Self-Realization: Classical Hollywood Cinema 115
8. A Man ’s Gotta Do What a Man’s Gotta Do: American Action-Adventure Movies 137
9. Stop Taking My Hand! Gender and Mainstream Hollywood 155
Epilogue 197
Notes 199
Film Index 217
General Index 221
Back Cover 227
Movie Musings
Interpreting Time Loop Fiction in Groundhog Day (1993) 11
Manipulating Space and Time in Arrival (2016) 28
Blade Runner (1982) and The Imitation Game (2014) as Movie Metaphors 40
The “Married Life” Sequence in Up (2009) 60
Creating the Illusion (and History) in Lincoln (2012) 63
Pattern and Meaning in The King’s Speech (2010) 80
Dramatizing Drone Warfare in Eye in the Sky (2015) 83
Art and Ethics in Rear Window (1954) 87
Titanic (1997) and the Melodramatic Outlook 106
A Classical Hollywood Film: Rocky (1976) 126
A Creative Alternative: Do the Right Thing (1989) 131
A Biblical Blockbuster in the Making: Noah (2014) 147
There’s No Magic in Boxing: Million Dollar Baby (2004) 165
Boy Meets Girl in La La Land (2016) 171
Narrative, Character, and Perspective in The Blind Side (2009) 181
Preface
C inematic Faith is a primer for navigating the world of film—specifically, American film and culture—from a Christian vantage point. This book is written for moviegoers who are interested in the relationship between faith and the cinema. I have kept in mind educators who might make use of this book for courses in religion, popular culture, film and media studies and production, or in church, ministry, and other educational settings. Although the scope of this study is limited to American Christianity, all people of good will are likely to have similar concerns about film viewing, the effects of film and media, and representations of identity groups.
This book is a sequel of sorts to my Eyes Wide Open: Looking for God in Popular Culture (first published 2001, revised edition 2007) with a focus on the American cinema, the subject of my research and teaching interests. There are different kinds of movies, including documentaries and experimental films, but I am focusing on fictional or narrative films—the ones seen by most people. Fictional films intend to tell a story. They draw our interest, focus our attention, and engage our thoughts and emotions by involving us in a process of trying to understand their meaning.
With Hollywood being the dominant film industry worldwide, American movies are easily accessible and broadly discussed. In any given year, about seven hundred films will be released theatrically, according to the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA, www.mpaa.org). Films move in and out of theaters and come out on Blu-ray/DVD, pay TV, or streaming services in a matter of months. This milieu of constant movement presents a challenge when writing about the cinema; the new becomes old rather quickly, and a movie that scores at the box office this year might well be forgotten in the next. And so, relying on enduring “popular” films as illustrations has an advantage: they are likely to be familiar to readers or, if not, readily available on DVD or streaming services.
The movies treated in these pages are a mix of classic, older, and more recent films (several of which I’ve used in courses that students have expressed enjoying very much). I consider a variety of films, including award winners, popular releases, and some very good ones that have flown under the radar. This is in accord with the world of popular art and culture, where we cannot necessarily equate artistic excellence with popularity or commercial success. I intend to offer effective and workable illustrations that, along with related tools for analysis, can be used as touchstones in talking about other movies along the same lines. The aesthetic criteria that I take up in a Movie Musing about Rear Window , for example, can be applied just as well to any other movie. Then again, there are many other ways to consider this Alfred Hitchcock classic.
And while we’re on the subject, the Movie Musings are just that: reflections that take a certain slant on a movie and that illustrate key ideas. These treatments are not meant to be thorough or complete. After teaching for many years, I’ve discovered that a full-blown film analysis is often of less value in generating discussion than one that introduces an idea and raises questions suggestive of a point of view.
One aim of this study is to heighten enjoyment and aesthetic appreciation with a deeper understanding of the ways that movies express meaning and, in doing so, convey life perspectives. A second aim seeks to acquaint readers with the mainstream American cinema, with the way it shapes our imagining of the world, and consequently, with how to think critically about dominant cultural beliefs expressed in movies from the vantage point of Christian assumptions. Making critical engagement a routine part of the movie-going experience is a central concern.
This book highlights the benefits of a faith-informed approach that centers on art and perspective. It aims to offer an accessible and workable approach, one that is consistent with the way we experience movies, becomes easier with practice over time, and produces (ideally) results that make the effort worthwhile. As I will argue, emphasizing the role of faith—and specifically Christian faith—is valuable because perspectives, whether religious or secular, can and do make a vital contribution to the movie-going experience. In offering this approach, I hope to show how to take an interpretive stance without being dogmatic about it. A key feature of this approach is the realization that various perspectives exist that could—and should—foster dialogue leading to a deeper understanding of movies and life. Indeed, considering movies in terms of their veracity to our real-life experience constitutes an important benefit of the cinema; movies give us one way of making and testing discoveries about life.
A few details before moving on. I make a stylistic practice of letting scholars, commentators, and film critics speak for themselves as much as possible. I refer to critics regularly, not only to glean insights but also to show how we can benefit from reading critical reviews. I do the same with scholars and commentators as a way of pointing to the work of others who have shaped the ideas and arguments in this book. It’s a way of inviting readers to follow up my sources toward a fuller discussion. I invite you to check out the eSources available at www.bakeracademic.com/CinematicFaith . These eSources contain additional info, such as summary points, sidebars, links to movie clips, and other fun stuff. Box Office Mojo ( www.boxofficemojo.com ) is the source of production and box-office figures.
Some readers may be more familiar with a different vocabulary for thinking about film in terms of faith. As you’ll see, I make use of perspective and culture, concepts that have to do with the creation of symbolic meanings as a way of understanding and acting with purpose in life. I will occasionally use the terms worldview and ideology . A worldview refers to a basic interpretation of reality. Worldviews tend to be largely static, sweeping models of reality that are available to comprehensive analysis. Moreover, worldviews belong more to the historical period and culture perhaps than to the ordinary folks who live in them. Ideologies typically have to do with power relations in society—social, political, economic—and specifically a ruling group’s control over the governing ideas or “official” version of reality. With that in mind, I use the term ideology to refer to a specific social platform—propositions and policies—as manifestations of a cultural system. These concepts are obviously related, each offering a different slant on a common concern and describing the context and outlook from which people make sense of life and live meaningfully in the world.
Spoiler Alert
I’m aware that as a matter of journalistic practice, film reviewers are supposed to refrain from revealing story twists, character revelations, and surprise endings. And not all readers will have seen the films considered here. For that reason, I provide some context for those who may not have seen a film, but be forewarned: the sort of analysis done here necessarily involves discussing films in detail, including identifying plot points, conflicts, and their resolutions. In other words, if you’ve not seen a movie