View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by The University of Nebraska, Omaha Journal of Religion & Film Volume 7 Article 8 Issue 2 October 2003 12-14-2016 Symbolic Power and Religious Impotence in Paul Verhoeven's Spetters Richard S. Ascough Queen's University,
[email protected] Recommended Citation Ascough, Richard S. (2016) "Symbolic Power and Religious Impotence in Paul Verhoeven's Spetters," Journal of Religion & Film: Vol. 7 : Iss. 2 , Article 8. Available at: https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol7/iss2/8 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UNO. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Religion & Film by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@UNO. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Symbolic Power and Religious Impotence in Paul Verhoeven's Spetters Abstract This article explores the religious symbolism in the Dutch film Spetters (1980), by controversial director Paul Verhoeven. An examination of the symbolic referents in the film, in particular the use of stereotypical male power symbols, shows how expectations of power dynamics are reversed in the lives of the main characters. The film's embedded message, played out in Verhoeven's later films, concerns the impotence of Christianity in the modern world. Questions concerning theodicy are not satisfactorily answered through traditional religious ideas. God, it seems, has abandoned the human race. This article is available in Journal of Religion & Film: