
Catholicism was all over movie screens in 2004. Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ was at the center of a media firestorm for months. A priest was a crucial character in the Academy Award-winning Million Dollar Baby. Everyone, it seemed, was talking about how religious stories should be represented, marketed, and received. Catholic characters, spaces, and rituals have been stock features in popular films since the silent era. An intensely visual religion with a well-defined ritual and authority system, Catholicism lends itself to the drama and pageantry of film. Moviegoers watch as Catholic visionaries interact with the supernatural, priests counsel their flocks, reformers fight for social justice, and bishops wield authoritarian power. Rather than being marginal to American popular culture, Catholic people, places, and rituals are all central to the world of the movie.Catholics in the Movies begins with an introductory essay that orients readers to the ways that films appear in culture and describes the broad trends that can be seen in the movies' hundred-year history of representing Catholics. Each chapter is written by a noted scholar of American religion who concentrates on one movie engaging important historical, artistic, and religious issues. Each then places the film within American cultural and social history, discusses the film as an expression of Catholic concerns of the period, and relates the film to others of its genre. Tracing the story of American Catholic history through popular films, Catholics in the Movies should be a valuable resource for anyone interested in American Catholicism and religion and film.
This collection investigates how Catholic characters, rituals, and institutions have functioned as central elements within American popular cinema over the last century. Edited by Colleen McDannell, the volume assembles contributions from various scholars of American religion to analyze how specific films reflect the evolving social and theological concerns of the Catholic experience. By examining the intersection of visual media and religious identity, the authors argue that Catholicism is not a marginal presence but a foundational component of American cultural storytelling.
What You Will Find
Scope Limits
Scholars and students of religion and film frequently cite this work as a useful resource for understanding the intersection of theology and popular media. Experts highlight the book's ability to bridge the gap between academic religious studies and cultural analysis through its accessible, chapter-based structure.
Page Count:
376
Publication Date:
2007-01-01
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
ISBN-10:
0190294418
ISBN-13:
9780190294410
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