I watched Spirited Away (2001) the year it came out, and as an eleven year old I was awestruck by this other world on screen. Ever since then I have been a huge fan of Hayao Miyazaki's films, but Spirited Away will always stand out as my favourite.
Seeing a different country's culture and mythology presented in this fairytale was so fascinating to me and I was caught up in the young girl Chichiro's journey to find her parents amidst the chaos of this other world. I felt scared for her, but also felt her curiosity as she explores the bathhouse holding monsters and creatures taken from Japanese mythology.
When I travelled to Tokyo I made a point of going to visit a shrine so that I could explore, like Chichirro, this other world and culture that seemed so foreign and fascinating.
Work's Cited:
Spirited Away. 2001. Dir. Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli.
Reading Tracey Chin's article "Sayonara Stereotypes" (2003), I couldn't help but remember how horrified I was by Mickey Rooney's performance in Breakfast At Tiffany's (Edwards 1961). I was told by my mother that it was common practice for white actors to play the parts of Asian characters, often unashamedly stereotypical. As Chin discusses in her article, many Asian actors, screenwriters and directors are now taking back their culture and making their mark on Hollywood cinema but it is slow going (2003, 18). Do Asian actors need to completely separate themselves from their ethnicity to be recognised as an artist for their talents? Is it up to Asian actors and directors to do this? Or should studio systems in Hollywood change they way they cast, try to become blind to looks so they only see the talent? Or should any performance still involve Asian culture but be wary of it becoming exploitative?
Works Cited:
Breakfast At Tiffany's. 1961. Dir. Blake Edwards. Jurow-Shepherd Production.
Chin, Tracy. “Sayonara Stereotypes: The Depiction of Chinese/Japanese Americans in Hollywood Cinema.” AlphaVision, Vol. 2(1), 2003: 14-19.
I watched three films over the weekend that all mentioned religion in different ways. The Help (Taylor 2011) discussed the true nature of being a good Christian and loving thy neighbour. Machine Gun Preacher (Forster 2011) built upon this by taking a drug-addicted bikie to the extreme landscape of southern Sudan. In this film Christianity saves the 'preacher' from his previous life but throws up other contradictions, such as how can there be a God while the children of Sudan are suffering in such horrendous ways? Lastly I watched Moneyball (Miller 2011) which explored the religion of baseball.
In each of these films religion plays an intrinsic role in at least one of the characters lives and influences how they make decisions. For example, Viola Davis' character Aibileen is moved to speak out after listening to a sermon from her Pastor in The Help. I think it shows that religion definitely isn't going anywhere; these films are set in different times and countries and yet it still plays a role.
I should note that these three films are American, and we have discussed in tutorials that religion plays a larger role in society then perhaps it does in Australia.
Works Cited:
The Help. 2011. Dir. Tate Taylor. Dreamworks SKG and Reliance Entertainment.
Machine Gun Preacher. 2011. Dir. Marc Forster. Relativity Media.
Moneyball. 2011. Dir. Bennett Miller. Columbia Pictures.
While watching Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner) (Kunuk 2001) I was swept up in the amazing landscape and seemingly 'simple' lives the characters were leading. Critics will often damn Hollywood for "romanticising" the past (Schatz 1981, 46) but it is difficult to present a time and place different from our own in its true form for the simple fact that we did not experience it. This criticism of a romantic or mythic past was mentioned in our lecture regarding Atanarjuat as well as the Australian film Ten Canoes (de Heer and Djigirr 2006) and brought up the debate of whether it is right to depict cultures that our now experiencing social displacement in this romantic way? As a film student I feel that no movie should be held as the ultimate of its genre or story, so that while Ten Canoes may show a romanticised or "utopian" past- although not many critics did hold this opinion (Davis 2007, 6)- when when watched alongside Samson and Delilah (Thornton 2009) it simply shows another side of a complex culture.
Works Cited:
Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner). 2001. Dir. Zacharias Kunuk. Aboriginal Peoples Television Network.
Davis, Therese. “Remembering our ancestors: cross-cultural collaboration and the mediation of Aboriginal culture and history in Ten Canoes (Rolf de Heer, 2006).” Studies in Australasian Cinema, Vol.1(1), 2007: 5-14.
Samson and Delilah. 2009. Dir. Warwick Thornton. CAAMA Productions and Scarlett Pictures.
Schatz, Thomas. “The Western.” In Hollywood Genres: Formulas, Filmmaking and the Studio System, 45-52. New York : Random House, 1981.
Ten Canoes. 2006. Dir. Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr. Adelaide Film Festival and Fandango Australia.
Someone I love is in hospital, alone and in pain, and there’s nothing I can do about it. Someone offers their prayers and I thank them politely, careful not to let them hear the scepticism I’m feeling.
Sport is the religion of some as it gives people a sense of belonging and certainty in uncertain times (Chidester 1998, 745). Music does this for me; music is what I turn to. Florence Welch belts out “It’s always darkest before the dawn!” And I cling to those words.
They become my mantra.
My call to prayer.
My Hail Mary.
It’s always darkest before the dawn; she’s going to be ok.
It’s always darkest before the dawn.
She’s going
To be
Ok.
Work Cited:
Chidester, David. “The Church of Baseball, the Fetish of Coca-Cola, and the Potlach of Rock 'n' Roll: Theoretical Models for the Study of Religion in American Popular Culture.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion LXIV/4, 1998: 743-765.
Florence+TheMachineVEVO, “Florence + The Machine: Shake It Out.” YouTube. 3 October 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbN0nX61rIs&ob=av2e (accessed May 8, 2012).
I am currently in my second year of a four-year journalism course and I have to admit religion has never been discussed. I am yet to do an "ethics" subject, but from what I have heard from more senior journalism students this won't cover religion either. The reason I am doing studies in religion as part of my BA is primarily for this reason. I don't feel I could present a story about another country, or even another person without having at least a basic idea of the attitudes and emotions they carry with them. Religion is a huge part of many peoples lives, even if it's not a big part of mine, and this needs to be reflected in the media more.
As I sit and watch television I am bombarded with images of the "average family", the "average single person", the average consumer.
I don't see anyone I can relate to or recognise, no images remind me of my friends, my family, myself.
I see an online dating agency advertisement and think, "Yeesh, is that what I look like?"
I see an anti-smoking advertisment and think, "Yeesh, is that what I sound like?"
I see a face cream advertisment and think, "Hmmm, I might buy that..."
While reading Marsha Woodbury’s chapter, “Jewish Images That Injure”, I couldn’t help but reflect on the stereotypes presented in Australian media (2003).
Lately, while watching television, I have noticed advertisements leaning towards a more multicultural array of actors, most notably in the medibank advertisements now including images of African and Asian families alongside the familiar Caucasian faces.
However, there is still a deficiency of Indigenous actors in these advertisements. When advertisements do include Aboriginal actors, they tend to be negative portrayals, for example the Federal Government’s anti-smoking campaign included a public service announcement depicting a low-socio-economic Aboriginal woman discussing quitting smoking now that her grandfather had passed away.
As Michael Robert Evans points out in his article, “Hegemony and Discourse: Negotiating Cultural Relationships Through Media Production”, mediating cultural and ideological representations that promote the dominated group (in Australia’s case middle-class white people) is “neither deliberate nor mean-spirited” but it does need to be recognised (2002, 312).
As Woodbury says about Jews, Indigenous people are just as varied and complex and need to be included in this new push for multiculturalism and identified to be as much a part of Australia as refugees and immigrants (Woodbury 2003, 130).
Works Cited:
Evans, Michael Robert. “Hegemony and Discourse: Negotiating Cultural Relationships Through Media Production.” Journalism, 3(3), 2002: 309-329.
Woodbury, Marsha. “Jewish Images That Injure.” In Images that Injure: Pictorial Stereotypes in the Media, by Dennis, E.E. & Lester, P.M. (Eds.), 121-130. London: Praegar, 2003.
Youtube link:
Australian Government "Break the Chain" TVC - AdNews. Accessed Tuesday 24th April:
The online practices of religion and religious discourse seem to be quite positive, as some Christians, Jews and Muslims use it as a safe way to discuss their faith (Campbell 2010, 25). It is interesting that followers of Buddhism are using it in similar ways, to discuss the faith and connect with clergy. Cheong’s research into Buddhist clergy’s use of online technology only briefly touches on an important aspect briefly: that people have been buying books and developing a Buddhist faith without guidance years before the development of the internet (2011, 1169). Now those followers have a greater capacity to compare their interpretation with other followers, but also to ensure they are on the right path through direct, online contact with the clergy. Rather than be apprehensive about the proliferation of online chatrooms and websites about Buddhism, more of the clergy should be taking charge (as many already are) and taking advantage of new platforms for communication and education (Cheong, Huang and Poon 2011, 1164).
Works Cited:
Campbell, Heidi. When Religion Meets New Media. London & New York: Routledge, 2010.
Cheong, P.H., Huang, S., and Poon, J. P.H. “Cultivating Online and Offline Pathways to Enlightenment.” Information, Communication and Society, 14(8), 2011: 1160-1180.
Douglas Kellner argues, "in submissively consuming spectacles, one is estranged from actively producing one's life," (2003). This statement throws into question the growing emphasis on mediatisation of religion and incorporating epic spectacles as part of the transcendence ritual. Alongside this, New Age religion has developed in the mid-late 20th Century as a pick & mix style of religion to suit the individual, rather than the individual to suit the religion (Rindflesh 2005).
This has resulted in participants in a state of constant seeking, which the media and various religions can exploit to sell faith. Commodification within religion isn't necessarily a new idea: wealthy Catholics used to donate money to the Church in order to ensure entrance into heaven and prayers for their soul after death.
In class we debated slow religion (traditional religion) and fast religion (new age, mediated, spectacle driven) and what resulted is that many faiths incorporate both. As technology evolves with the internet, and people are more in touch with media, older, traditional faiths need to modernise in order to survive.
Personally, I argue that it is possible to have a religion that fits your life, but a commitment needs to be made and a true understanding of what it means to you must be achieved. Otherwise you may indeed end up in that spiral of constantly seeking without fulfilment.
Works Cited:
Kellner, Douglas. 2003. “Media Culture and the Triumph of the Spectacle.” Philosophy of Education Chair, UCLA. http://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/kellner/essays/mediaculturetriumphspectacle.pdf (accessed April 3, 2012).
Rindflesh, Jennifer. “Consuming the Self: New Age Spirituality as “Social Product” in Consumer Society.” Consumption Markets and Culture, 8 (4), 2005: 343-360.
At the age of fourteen I decided dolphins were top of my list to save, just above the South American rainforest. My older brother, ever the cynic, told me dolphins were the most annoying creatures on Earth and gave nothing back to society. I baulked at this comment (as you would at fourteen) but as he continued ranting he raised an issue I hadn't thought of, "Thousands of people are homeless and hungry in this country, the dolphins can wait." Nature's plight has always had a place in my heart, but it will always come second to those without an education, a job or a home. Being techno-addicted means I can now access more charities online, investigate how and where the money donated is spent, and get the message across to more people. I don't apologise for being more heavily connected to my computer than the my garden, but if a bug is struggling on it's back, I will help it.
Robin Sylvan’s chapter “The Message” is about the spirituality that can be found within hip hop culture (Sylvan 2002). It forms a section of Sylvan’s book “Traces of the Spirit: The Religious Dimensions of Popular Music” which looks at the spiritual and religious sides of various genres of music.
The chapter is split into two halves, with the first a very dense look at the history of rap music, hip hop culture and its influences. The second half is a look at the religious components taken from interviews Sylvan has conducted with practitioners and fans of hip hop in the Bay Area of Southern California.
The interviews shed light on little known aspects of hip hop culture, most notably the sense of community and transcendence it creates (Sylvan 2002, 210). The reason why hip hop has become so successful is illuminated as interviewees discuss their own experiences and the positive effect hip hop has had on their lives (Sylvan 2002, 212). However, Sylvan admits that this can depend on the areas where the practitioners come from, as hip hop is different from city to city (2002, 202). Sylvan does discuss the differences between East Coast and West Coast rap but doesn’t go into much detail. A message of the love and peace in hip hop’s messages and community results from the interviews but interviews with those involved with hip hop in other areas may have resulted in a different view of the culture, and would be an interesting follow-up to this chapter.
Work Cited:
Sylvan, R. “The Message.” In Traces of the Spirit: The Religious Dimensions of Popular Music, 182-213. New York and London: New York University Press, 2002.
Prompted by Jean Baudrillard's work on the power of "seduction" in media, Sylvie plays a clip and asks: "What are you seduced by?"
I have not been able to watch or listen to anything since then without considering this question. Is it the witty and surprising script of a new film that excites and seduces me? The actors within the film? The new Game of Thrones trailer (which sent me into spasms of geek-out)?
Emotion, for me, is the real seduction. The tears that result out of empathy for someone's plight on the news or talk show. The elation of perfectly realised film. The fear of not knowing what will happen to a character that I genuinely care about.
Seduction, is indeed, a powerful tool that the media has at its disposal and I fall for it almost every time.
At Xavier Catholic College in Hervey Bay this is the school motto: finding Jesus in all things. Students are encouraged to look for the good, the decent and the Christian in all people, places and situations. It is interesting, then, to find that some people are doing exactly that with cinema: finding the Christian aspects and the Christ-figures in films (Pepple 2009). On the other hand there are academics like Dr. Christopher Deacy discussing how trying to find Jesus or Christ-like figures in films can detract from the film’s original message and theme (2006). It can also detract from the messages within Christian scripture if they are trivialised in order to find a comparison within a film, so it is interesting some Christian film critics find this helpful, rather than a hindrance (Deacy 2006).
Works Cited:
Deacy, C. “Reflections on the Uncritical Appropriation of Cinematic Christ-Figures: Holy Other or Wholly Inadequate?” Journal of Religion and Popular Culture, 13, Summer, 2006: http://www.usask.ca/relst/jrpc/art13-reflectcinematicchrist.html.
Pepple, S. “Sacred and Profane: A Survey of Christian Film Criticism.” 15 October 2009. http://www.gettherefromhere.org/2009/10/15/sacred-and-profane-a-survey-of-christian-film-criticism/ (accessed March 20, 2012).
The wonder of childhood disappears and is replaced by an unwelcome cynicism. The grass is itchy. I'm going to get burnt. I should have brought a cardigan... is that lizard going to bite me?!
The 'beautiful lake' is reflecting a glare that hurts my eyes. When did this happen? When did apathy replace curiosity? Can I get it back? Do I want it back???
Then, a spark of outrage... someone has thrown their plastic bottle into the lake!!!
In modern Western society, "mediatization" has rendered a change in the representation of religion with a trend to the more secular and “banal” religion (Hjarvard 2008, 9). Christian Churches that were once the authorities for all things “other” or “sacred” now have to compete with modern media (Hjarvard 2008, 11). Stig Hjarvard has identified this form of representation of religion in mass media as “banal religion” and also the overall affect of audiences with a fascination in the spiritual and, to a lesser extent, organised religion (2008, 22).
If these representations are not coming from the religious organisation itself, is it still valid?
Or should it be questioned and ignite further exploration from those audiences who become interested (can religion be enjoyed as simple fiction)?
Works Cited:
Hjarvard, Stig. “The Mediatization of Religion: A Theory of the Media as Agents of Religious Change.” In Northern Lights Volume 6, 2008: 9-26.
When I was travelling overseas what first struck me, especially in Europe, was just how different nature and the environment is over there compared to Australia. There's no harshness or feeling of danger (except the occasional sighting of poison ivy!). I had my first wild blackberry picked from a bush in rural France.
As soon as I step outside I am always struck by the beauty and serenity of nature, but never more so than when I stopped at a farm and found this flower, a poppy, I think, sitting in a field of green. This is on the sight of the Battle Of Normandy and is a perfect example that as humans come and go, nature lives on as a permanent reminder.
This is a fun tongue-in-cheek poke at the resent issues in Catholic and Anglican Churches. I thought I would share it because I believe Cosmo Jarvis is incredibly talented and he's presenting a very serious topic in a way people can engage with it (much like the representation of religious traditions in most fictional T.V. shows).
Birgit Meyer in her article Media, Aesthetics and the Study of Contemporary Religion consider the whole area of embodiment and religious expression and mentions the possibility of embodiment as 'divine power' (2012:161). Do monsters also embody a divine power of some sort?
Throughout her article Birgit Meyer discusses the experiences grounded in “bodily sensations” and how “audiences” react to the visual presentation of religious processes in television (Meyer 2012). In this sense monsters can embody a type of power in the reactions they invoke in audiences watching shows such as Supernatural (Padalecki 2005). Whether this is divine or not is another question as the show’s demons and monsters all come from various religious traditions but are presented as fiction. Something to consider is the amount of fans that discuss the show as if it is real life and not fiction at all (something discussed in the show itself). Line Nybro Petersen also discusses how the show presents these monsters as part of everyday life and by presenting them as “banal” gives them a heightened power as audiences can imagine them as part of their own everyday existence (Petersen 2010).
Works Cited: Meyer, Birgit. “Religious Sensations.” In Religion, Media and Culture: A Reader, by G., Mitchell, J. and Strhan, A. Lynch, 159-170. London and New York: Routledge, 2012.
Padalecki, Jared. 2005. Supernatural, television program. Vancouver: Kripke Enterprises and Warner Bros. Television.
Petersen, Line Nybro. “Renegotiating Religious Imaginations Through Transformations of "Banal Religion" in Supernatural.” Transformative Works and Cultures, No. 4, 2010: http://dx.doi.org/10.3983/twc.2010.0142.
Lisa Simpson went through a religious identity crisis at the same time I did when we both turned away from Christianity and explored Buddhism. As an avid Sabrina and Charmed viewer I was excited to then learn from my step-mother about Paganism. This also meant that watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer was accompanied by snorts of derision as I also learnt most witches can't freeze time and shoot lasers of fire out of their eyeballs... oh well.
What dawned on me is that religion was being explored outside of my Catholic school in popular culture and that I was being exposed to it on a daily level without even realising it. I'm excited to explore this phenomenon on an academic level and discover how this "commodification" of religion came about and it's impact on society and culture as a whole.
Scovell, Nell (creator). 1996-2003. Sabrina, The Teenage Witch. television program. US: Viacom Productions.
Burge, Constance M. (creator). 1998-2006. Charmed. television program. US: Spelling Television.
Whedon, Joss (creator). 1997-2003. Buffy The Vampire Slayer. television program. US: Mutant Enemy Productions.
