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All Volumes (2001-2008) The sprO ey Journal of Ideas and Inquiry

2006 Spectacle of Redemption: Film as Religious Iconography Michal Paul University of North Florida

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Suggested Citation Paul, Michal, "Spectacle of Redemption: Film as Religious Iconography" (2006). All Volumes (2001-2008). 69. http://digitalcommons.unf.edu/ojii_volumes/69

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the The sprO ey Journal of Ideas and Inquiry at UNF Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Volumes (2001-2008) by an authorized administrator of UNF Digital Commons. For more information, please contact Digital Projects. © 2006 All Rights Reserved Spectacle of Redemption: fusing, but certainly engaging in Film as Religious dialogue. One finds oneself in the midst 1 of a moral battle field where faith Iconography institutions and artists vie for control of the content of television shows, Michal Paul commercials, and films; where clothing, accessories, bumper stickers, and pop Faculty Sponsor: Dr. Julie Ingersol, music display religious insignia, and a Associate Professor of Religious Studies preacher's sermon may include allusions to and Dr. Phil. It’s a cold winter night and I am Institutional religion is no longer waiting in line to buy tickets to the considered the primary source of such a movie, . The majority of the value system. people in line are dressed in what I like Religious studies scholars have to call “geek chic.” Many sport dark- noted this phenomenon, and as a result, framed eyeglasses and fashionably the relationship between popular culture mussed hair, paired with neatly fitted and religion has been the focus of much blue jeans and vintage-style sneakers. attention. In their book Shopping for Their androgynous, age-less, urban style Faith: American Religion in the New is the uniform of the new “intelligentsia” Millennium, Richard Cimino and Don found in coffee shops, bookstores, and Lattin posit that "in the new millennium, any other “artsy” locale. While these there will be a growing gap between moviegoers resemble each other, they do personal spirituality and religious not reflect the current “mainstream” institutions." They claim that while fashion of Jacksonville. In fact, it is the "religious beliefs and spirituality have disdain for popular, hackneyed fads that traditionally been viewed as the province unites them and others like them, into of churches, synagogues, and mosques, their own “trendy” group. Before it was [faith is now] increasingly viewed as aggressively advertised and nominated [an] individual, private matter with few for numerous awards, the movie connections to congregation and Sideways attracted a devoted following community2." Accordingly, displaced in this “hep” group. As I file into an spiritual foragers must seek out new available row in the theater it occurs to venues in which to encounter the me that the rows are like pews and we “sacred.” Cimino and Lattin point out “chic geeks” are not an audience, but a that: congregation, engrossed by the “message” of the film. “As the entertainment media becomes The interaction between religion the primary conveyor of common and pop culture has been documented at culture, it will compete with religious a frenzied pace in the last decade. The groups as the main bearer of spiritual two fields are aspects of society which and religious insight, no matter how overlap; sometimes clashing, sometimes mundane and homogenized those revelations may be3.”

1 The research for this project was funded by an Undergraduate Research Grant given by The Honors Program at UNF. I would like to thank 2 Cimino & Lattin 11 the program for its generous support. 3 Ibid 39

Therefore, the study of media such as were to ask a hundred people to define film can be a valuable tool for religion you would likely get a hundred examining the way that religion different definitions. For instance, many functions in our society. people would define religion to be belief In his book, Film as Religion: in a supernatural power. For some Myths Morals and Rituals, John C. monotheistic traditions defining religion Lyden argues that the movie theater has in this way may be accurate. However, become a surrogate sacred space, where many theistic traditions do not make film provides for its audiences a system belief central or even necessary. of world-naming that contributes to the Orthodox Judaism, for example, makes formation of morals, the establishment room for doubt to the degree that God’s of ritual, and a manner of addressing existence can be questioned. matters of ultimate concern. Furthermore, what about traditions that are not based on belief in a supernatural “Films can be taken as illusions in one power? It may be impossible for a single sense, but can also have the force of definition to fully encapsulate what reality by presenting a vision of how the religion is to all people. Regardless of world is as well as how it might be. In how carefully worded and painstakingly the ritual context of viewing a film, we crafted a definition may be, it will ‘entertain’ the truth of its mythology and always be the case that we can find a ethos as a subject of consciousness even counter-example that does not quite fit as it entertains us4.” the theoretical framework. What may be attainable, though, is a working If his assertion is reasonable, it leaves us definition of what religion does. to question the distinction between Anthropologist Clifford Geertz entertainment and religiosity. Lyden developed this sort of functional himself points to the limitations of definition in his essay Religion as a existing scholarship on religion and film Cultural System. He defines religion as when he says that prior study has focused on exigeting the films “A set of symbols that acts to establish themselves as “texts” rather than powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting exploring the experience of moviegoers. moods and motivations in men by The goal of my research is to speak with formulating conceptions of general order audience members and discover what and existence and clothing these quality a film must possess if it is to conceptions with such an aura of transcend the ordinary and reasonably be factuality that the moods and considered religion. motivations seem uniquely realistic5.”

Theoretical Model With his functional definition, Geertz has outlined the behavioral phenomenon Before we can analyze how film we characterize as religion in a way that can be studied as a religion, it is is both broad in its application and necessary that we ask ourselves, “What specific in its manifestation. In recent is religion?” To most people the answer years, there has been an explosion of may seem obvious, but in truth, if you scholarly literature that explores popular

4 Lyden 55 5 Geertz 1

culture as religion6. A descriptive More recently, however, Geertz’ approach to religious behavior has aided work has come under criticism for the academics in drawing such parallels. way in which it emphasizes the Accordingly, Geertz’ definition is the interiority of religion over the communal cornerstone of Lyden’s argument that aspects and the way in which it film can function as religion. artificially distinguishes “religion” from In Film as Religion, Lyden other aspects of culture10. In Holy asserts that “films are ‘models of’ and Terrors: Thinking About Religion after ‘models for’ reality… [In film] the world September 11, Bruce Lincoln addresses is claimed to be a certain way and it is these concerns and asserts that any effort simultaneously claimed that it should be at defining religion ought to that way7.” A movie provides an “problematize, and not normalize,” alternative reality with a clearly models which are found to be restrictive, differentiated ordering system that noting the aspects of the model that are parallels the general order and existence “heuristically useful also make it an to which Geertz refers regarding extreme case11.” These insights add religion. Further, Lyden contends that: much to Lyden’s study of film. In this paper I will look at the “moods and “The power in a film is not in its ability motivations” created by the film, the to erase or displace our sense of the real ways in which films develop world, but in its ability to provide a significance communally, and the temporary escape from it. And yet, that connections between “religion” and escape is not simply a matter of illusion, popular culture. but a construction that has the ‘aura of factuality’ about it that Geertz associates The Ethnographic Process with religion8.” What is the difference between a Rather than just providing a fantasy film that entertains and a film that world to occupy our attention, Lyden’s enlightens? I set out to answer this point is that film reflects our desire to question by examining audience change our world in the same way that reactions to one film, Andrew Payne’s religion strives to change it; to achieve Sideways. I hypothesized that Sideways some “higher purpose9.” would appeal to men in the same demographic group as the movie’s lead characters: white, financially-average and approximately age forty. 6 Just a few examples are: God in the Details: American Religion in Popular Furthermore, I anticipated enough Culture, Mazur & McCarthy, eds people would enjoy the film that it Religion and Popular Culture in America, Forbes would become a cultural phenomenon. & Mahon eds. Sex, Religion and the Media, Dane Claussen Sideways is a “buddy picture” Religion and Wine, Robert Fuller that follows Miles (played by Paul Judgment and Grace in Dixie, Charles Reagan Giamatti) and Jack (played by Thomas Wilson The Joy of Sports, Michael Novak Hayden Church) on a weeklong trip Vinyl Leaves: Walt Disney World and America, Stephen J. Fjellman 7 Lyden 45 10 See Talal Asad’s book, Genealogies of 8 Lyden 52 Religion 9 Ibid. 11 Lincoln 3

through the California wine-country. whether Sideways possessed any of these Cynical and lonely Miles plans the trip characteristics. These questions elicited as a wedding gift to Jack, who is more a broad range of viewer responses that interested in having a final fling before lead me to arrive at a conclusion about taking the plunge than he is in how a film can be transformed from cultivating his palette. While Miles and entertainment to religion Jack are in their late thirties/early forties, each character is in a transitional stage in Feeling Turned Around: his life that is akin to a coming of age. “Moods and Motivations” Created by Jack is about to marry, and is struggling Sideways to sort out his priorities as he transitions from a post-college party-boy to a From my study of Lyden’s work, committed husband. Miles is recently I theorized that when people view divorced and trying to publish a failing movies they are developing and testing novel. As he struggles to come to peace their moral framework. As the lead over his ended marriage and to accept character in a film faces obstacles on his that his book may never be a success, or her path to righteousness or downfall, Miles transitions from a state of reckless the audience is vicariously taken along depression to peaceful maturity. The on the journey. An audience member juxtaposition of the themes of “coming may agree with the actions of the of age,” and “mid-life crisis” seemed to character and then process those promise a wide range of audience behaviors in such a way that they reactions that would help me achieve my become engrained in the viewers’ research goals. Since the study, behavior. Consider, for example, the Sideways has been nominated for seven reaction of one audience member to Golden Globe awards and five Oscars - a Maya, Virginia Madsen’s character in fact that seems to confirm my initial Sideways. Maya was this viewer’s suspicion that the film would become a favorite character “because [Maya] is cultural phenomenon. into literature. She really appreciated I went to 20 showings of [literature] and she’s very intellectual. I Sideways and gathered 25 interviews would like to be seen that way.” As this with audience members after these viewer observed Maya, she validated the shows. I asked respondents a few quality of Maya’s behavior and demographic questions such as; their consequently wished to incorporate age, financial status, gender, and race. some of Maya’s behavior into her own. Then, I asked them their opinion about Conversely, the audience the movie. If they liked the film, I asked member may disagree with certain them about their favorite characters, and actions of the character (or things that what made the characters enjoyable. If happen to the character) and incorporate audience members disliked the film, I those behaviors into the set of actions asked them what turned them off. Next, I they would like to avoid. For example, asked them how they had heard about when asked about Stephanie, the Sideways and whether the film had been character in Sideways played by Sandra what they expected. Finally, I asked Oh, one woman replied, respondents what characteristics they thought made a movie “good,” and

“She was pretty horrible. She was made The lead character in Sideways, Miles, to be horrible. I mean, they portrayed her offers viewers this sort of flawed hero. as being a fairly uninterested mother. As a result, he was a very sympathetic She was really shallow.” character. In fact, nearly everyone I interviewed who liked the film felt they This woman’s interpretation of what it could relate to Miles. One man said he means to be a “good” mother was tested related to Miles because he is “kind of a and developed by her reaction to middle age guy who is not sure where he Stephanie as a “bad” mother. Thus, is in life, or where he is with other viewers set their moral compasses as people all the time.” It was not difficult they watch a movie. for me to imagine this gentleman related This process reveals one way the with Miles- he was 42, white, and self audience connects the reality of the described as “struggling to become movie and their everyday reality. I ‘financially stable’,” just like Miles. hoped that investigating deeper into the A result of my research that I relationship between the establishment found surprising was the way that people of this connection and why people liked outside of Miles’ demographic group Sideways would provide insight into responded to his character. I asked one how a film is transformed from woman if she related to either Maya or entertainment to religion. to Stephanie. She said “Yes and no. I Since each person’s opinion is an mean, there are certain general individual formulation, I found it helpful characteristics that are the same, but on to study the common trends in viewers’ the specifics, not so much.” However, attitudes that would suggest how the she later said, “There were a lot of audience formulates a shared experience. characteristics I could relate to in Miles. Matt Soergel, film critic for the Florida I mean, he’s kind of a screwed up guy Times Union, has reviewed countless and I understand that because I’m kind films in an effort to decipher how an of a screwed up person.” Furthermore, audience will respond to a given movie. this viewer said that being able to relate He suggests that “people want to see to Miles in this way was what she liked heroes” when they go to see a movie. best about the film. “I liked that it was fairly realistic. I mean, the things that “We want to see ourselves, but a better happened [to Miles] could really happen, version of ourselves on the screen. We albeit [they were] a little weird.” So, would like to think that if we were ever there was a woman who related to Miles- in the situation this person is in, that we but this woman was around Miles’ age would act as they did. We look at them and financially similar. as role models, or sort of idealized The range of people who found versions of ourselves. That’s why to me parallels between Miles’ life and their the most interesting characters are the own was wide. I interviewed a sixteen- ones who are flawed- or not perfect. year-old girl who said that she related to They do the right thing- or sometimes Miles because: the wrong thing, but they realize it afterwards. I think we’re willing to “He was kind of apathetic towards a lot accept that.” of things, and that’s how I feel a lot of times. And, I think cause’ he’s going

through a lot of struggles in his life, and really bond with the characters in he’s kind of- even though I’m at a Sideways. You never really saw how different point where I’m kind of finding things turn out. It’s kind of sad. I mean, who I am- he’s at a different point as in maybe because I couldn’t really relate who he was kind of had to be changed with the characters, I could never really and so now he’s finding a new person.” love them.”

This girl is about 25 years younger than This viewer articulated the relationship Miles, is supported by her parents, and between “liking” a character and relating lives in a home of above-median to a character. Her statement suggested income. Regardless of the disparity that if she had related to the characters, between their backgrounds and the she would have loved them. specific issues they are confronting, the Of the twenty-five people I girl was able to relate to Mile’s interviewed, only four did not care for character. Sideways. While these audience What my research revealed is members did not enjoy the movie, their that the main reason the viewers I responses are valuable for considering interviewed liked the film Sideways was why other audience members did enjoy that they felt they could relate to the it. Three of the four viewers who were “flawed hero,” Miles. Rather than dissatisfied felt they could not relate to relating to his demographic the characters or themes of the film, as characteristics, the audience related to we saw reflected in their statements themes in Miles’ life, and to his above12. Soergel argued that when we go existential plight. Conversely, the few to , “we want to see viewers that reportedly disliked the film ourselves, but a better version of did not feel like they could relate to the ourselves on the screen.” None of these characters at all. One married couple viewers related to the characters in the agreed that “the film was vulgar.” They film, so none of them saw “themselves” felt that “the characters were probably on the screen. like some people, but not like people There was not one viewer who [they] know.” In fact, the wife said that enjoyed the movie that did not also “Miles should be ashamed to have a claim to relate to Miles, our “flawed friend like Jack, but instead he seemed to hero.” Though, this does not imply that look up to him.” When a teenaged everyone admired him. I spoke with one female viewer said she “wasn’t really in 19 year old male who said that to [the movie],” I asked her if she felt like she related to the characters. She “I wouldn’t want to be forty years old said and single- stealing from my mother and still trying to find that ‘right person’, but “I could find ways I related to sideways, his fear- the fear of life; living it or but I think with teenagers, it’s kind of living it too much- I think that anyone hard to find that relation because, um, can identify with that.” things are really kind of starting with life and this is kind of about something completely different that we’ve never 12 The fourth respondent said “there wasn’t experienced. Maybe that’s why I didn’t enough action. I came to the movies to see some action.”

This respondent did not admire Miles, theater] is the only one playing it around but he related to him. “That’s what here, which is kind of cool. It’s not like makes the movie so interesting,” he went your everyday kind of movie. It actually on to say. “You think, wow, that could made me feel like I live in some big city be me in twenty years- it’s kind of with little independent theaters.” fascinating and horrible.” This viewer’s input on the film further illuminates the In fact, this woman was not alone in idea that “liking” the movie Sideways noticing the urban feel of the movie goes hand in hand with relating to the experience. One couple noticed that characters in the movie. It is this quality “there was a very different crowd here that stands out as the distinguishing than you usually see in Jacksonville- factor between the experiences audience very New York or LA… The audience members who enjoyed Sideways and the seemed more artsy or intelligent.” experiences of those who did not. In addition to the input of their friends, many of the people I From Audience to Congregation: interviewed seemed to be drawn to the The Communal Significance of Film movie by its “artsy” feel. Not one interviewee reported coming to the film There are many reasons people because they had seen a trailer for went to see Sideways. “The critics ate it Sideways that caught their eye, or up. Every review I read was excellent, so because they had seen an advertisement I wanted to see it for my self,” said one that attracted them. Regardless of the man. A female respondent went to see age and gender of the respondents, they the movie after reviewing the seemed to be reflecting a similar style in screenplay. appearance: they were mostly decked out in the “geek chic” fashion I observed “I write movies, and because of the on my first night of interviewing. One Writers Guild of America Awards, all of viewer commented that “the plot was the studios are sending out screenplays very character-based and that worked. and some DVD’s. I read the screenplay Usually you go to a movie and see for Sideways but I didn’t get a DVD, so I cookie-cutter stars performing action- wanted to come check it out.” based roles- and it’s just nothing new.” This attitude indicates a disdain for Most people I spoke with, however, saw mainstream entertainment that is the film because their friends consistent with the attraction to an recommended it. “A lot of my friends “artsy” film. loved it, so I thought I’d come to see it,” One motivation for coming to see one man replied, “after seeing Sideways that was not readily articulated [Sideways] I understand why they kept - though easily observed, was that it was saying it was so funny.” A twenty two considered a “cool” movie. Many people year old woman told me she heard about came because the people they admired, Sideways from her friend in Seattle. film critics and their friends, approved of the film. By viewing the film, they “It opened there before it opened here, became part of “the group.” This feeling so I was, like, waiting and waiting for it was what prompted one male in his early to be released in Jacksonville. [This twenties to say, “at least now I get why

my buddy told me to never carry a wallet Conclusion [on a date].” If you don’t understand the reference, go see the film and you can be The 2004 film, The Passion of part of “the group,” too. the Christ, was the subject of heated It is impossible to consider the controversy prior to, up to, and viewing of film as if it occurs in a following its release. Critics and vacuum: our conception of a movie is supporters rallied with such fervor that affected by its advertising and by the the movie grew to be a true cultural opinions of critics, our friends, and our phenomenon. The film's particular families. At the time I conducted my interpretation of Christ's last hours was research, the nominations for the Golden so widely received it has come to be the Globe Awards and the version accepted by a multitude of had not yet been announced and the film Christian churches. For many viewers, was receiving little to no advertising on this film was Religion. In the course of television. In the weekend before the my research, I sought to discover award nominations were made, that is whether other films might have a similar the weekend of January 21 – January 23, effect on audiences. the film, Sideways, grossed roughly Lyden’s work is very thorough in $3,500,000. The weekend after the describing why film can be viewed as a Academy, (i.e. “the group”) endorsed the religion, but as he points out in his book, film, people flocked to see it: the film there has not been sufficient grossed over $6,500,00013. Furthermore, ethnographic research done to formulate advertisements for the film began conclusions about how film is appearing regularly on network transformed from entertainment into television. The fact that nearly twice as religion. My research of the film many people went to see Sideways Sideways allowed me to take a closer immediately after the respected look at this process. Firstly, audience authorities ratified its merit make clear responses indicated that as people that the influence of “the group” is viewed the movie they were adjusting significant. their moral compasses. That is, the Becoming part of a group is a audience did not just passively watch the substantial factor affecting whether or film. They became engaged with the not people “like” a movie. Therefore, lives on screen to the point that viewers there is a communal aspect of film that made value judgments about the unites individual audience member characters behaviors, then processed reaction with the reaction of the those behaviors into their own audience as a whole. While it is not behavioral repertoire- either as actions possible to draw broad conclusions they would like to cultivate, or actions about all of society based on the study of they would like to avoid. In this way, a single film, I believe that the research audience members connected the reality I’ve conducted supports conclusions on screen to their everyday realities. about how “audiences” reacted to Secondly, audience responses Sideways, not just concerning how suggested that people enjoyed the film if individuals responded. they could relate the themes of the movie or life of a character to their own lives. Conversely, I found that if people 13 http://weekendboxoffice.com

did not find such a relation, they did not Lincoln, Bruce. Holy Terrors: enjoy the movie. In this way, the moods Thinking about Religion after September and motivations inspired by the film 11. Chicago, IL: The University of were made to seem uniquely realistic- Chicago Press, Ltd, 2003. the lives of the characters became real to the audience because the audience could Lyden, John C. Film as Religion: picture themselves as the characters. Myths Morals and Rituals. New York. Finally, the audience responses NY: New York University Press, 2003. lead me to conclude that another primary reason people enjoyed the movie Sideways was the communal aspect of film. When an audience member came to see the film on the advice of a respected party, they were more likely to enjoy the movie, thus becoming part of a group. This effect was so widespread that after it was announced Sideways was nominated for numerous awards, the movie nearly doubled its gross box- office earnings. As a result, I argue that the film has become part of our cultural identity. I observed throughout the course of my research that the film Sideways functioned as a religion for many of the audience members with whom I spoke. This result calls us question the historically Western notion that distinguishes “religion” from secular phenomena that we may better understand the nature of how religion functions in society.

References

Cimino, Richard and Don Lattin. Shopping for Faith: American Religion in the New Millennium. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1998.

Geertz, Clifford. “Religion as a Cultural System.” Sociology of Religion: A Reader. Ed. Suzanne C. Monahan, William A. Mirola, and Michael O. Emerson. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2001.