Religion and Film 2024

  In the movie Babette's Feast, the title heroine, Babette, prepares a sumptuous feast that serves as a metaphor for love. The feast represents healing and reconciliation, dismantling obstacles and uniting people in happiness and peace. Eros and agape are both expressed through symbols and visuals that represent love. Agope, selflessness, and unconditional love are demonstrated by Babette giving up her whole lottery winnings to prepare the feast, while Eros, the passionate and sensual love, is symbolized by the sensual pleasures of food and wine.  Like Water for Chocolate explores the strong feelings and cravings that accompany romantic relationships, while Babette's Feast emphasizes the purity and selflessness of love. Both works present distinctive viewpoints on the subject of love. Like Water for Chocolate adopts a more imaginative and dramatic style to enhance the emotional impact of its story, while Babette's Feast uses subtle acting and lifelike visuals to create a se...

  Midrash refers to a genre of Jewish literature. Included are interpretations, explanations, and expansions on the biblical texts. This is a thought provoking way of exploring and understanding the deeper meanings and teachings within the scriptures. The film works as a visual medium of Midrash through its symbolic, disruptive and thought provoking concepts that forces a deeper thinking to find deeper meaning. Midrash is taking a deeper look into the circumstances and context as we see it and then determine the full meaning.               The Term Midrash is a way of approaching the text of The Torah. The term “crash” means seek out, request or examine. It is a disruptive way of understanding the Torah. Today, Midrash is poetic in nature.       The man in the first film wouldn’t ride his horse because it was Saturday. The Jewish people celebrate the Sabbath Saturday, which is to be ...

 Bunny I enjoyed the story told in the short film “Bunny”.  I enjoy a good short film in general, it takes a beautiful mind to tell an intricate story in less than 10 minutes. I did not enjoy per se, like my classmates, the music or sound effects. In particular, it stressed me out how slowly the bunny moved. It was comparable to that of an elderly human with a walker. The effects of aging, and how this affects one’s life over time can be stressful. The thought of eventual death can be scary even to those who accept it.  The oven scene can be interpreted differently between people, possibly depending on their backgrounds and/or religious beliefs. It was a generalized depiction of the good outcome, a peaceful, not so florescent, shimmering light, and guides to the “other side”. It is ultimately peaceful, which can be related/interpreted to fit the religion of choice, in some cases.   Harold and Maude           ...

We watched 2 Polish film's that were directed by Krzysztof Keislowski, who is nothing short of brilliant. Both of the Decalogue films we watched in class left me thinking about the true meaning of life and many questions came to the surface for me. The first film, Dekalog: One , was purely heartbreaking. Krzysztof, a university professor, has a young son named Pawel. We can tell that they have a good father-son relationship. The father encourages the young boy to explore new things and allows him to use a computer to work out different physics problems. Pawel is an interesting character because he reminds me of myself. He is so young but he has a lot of character and becomes questioning the true meaning of life after seeing a stray dog he knew had died. Growing up, I too questioned this a lot and death confused me. Pawel begins to question what the point of life is and asks his father for help understanding his dilemma. "Why do people die? What is death?" asks Pawel. His ...

While "Anger Management" is primarily a comedy film focused on themes of anger and self-control, it can be viewed through a religious lens in certain aspects. One way to interpret the film through a religious perspective is to consider the themes of redemption and forgiveness present in the storyline. In the film, Adam Sandler's character, Dave Buznik, is sentenced to undergo anger management therapy after an altercation on an airplane. Throughout the course of the therapy, he is placed under the supervision of an unconventional therapist, Dr. Buddy Rydell, played by Jack Nicholson. As Dave navigates the challenges of his therapy sessions, he confronts his own inner demons and struggles with issues related to his upbringing and personal values. From a religious standpoint, Dave's journey through anger management therapy can be seen as a form of spiritual transformation and growth. The process of therapy forces him to confront his own flaws and shortcomings, leading to...

  In Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Decalogue films, the audience will gain a deeper understanding on the Midrash motive; connecting both films to the 10 commandments, and the laws a Christian must abide by so that they may strive and live more like Christ. In the first decalogue, the audience will gather the setting of a young intelligent boy(Pawel), whose aunt wishes that he enhances his own spiritual connection. When with his father, they both subconsciously find themselves consumed by a man made computer. He asks his father what “death” truly is, seeking for more than just the scientific answer most people would say. “Death is a memory, thoughts and specific characteristics of one person after they have passed on.” When Pawel and his father come to discover that the computer they have has the ability to form a consciousness all while being extremely intelligent; they begin to feel (or at least Pawel) that they can visualize his mom’s dreams all while communicating with her. Krzystof (P...

 The decalogue films were definitely interesting to watch, each 40-minute film conveying the importance of one of the Ten Commandments from the Christian religion. Each film using emotions in a powerful way to make the audience connect to the characters and try to understand the perspective of each character. The first film we watched was the more powerful of the two with the audience connecting with the father and son, so that when the son dies in the end the religious message is more powerful.

The film works as a visual medium of Midrash due to its poetic, disruptive, and investigable concepts. Midrash is explained as taking a deeper look into the text at hand and interpreting the meaning of it as we see it. Historian Henry Abramson explains Midrash as similar to the modern-day literary technique of deconstructionism. Midrash is not exactly a criticism, nor interpreted as fact, but as an explanation of what the religious text in mind may mean while observing it through a critical, self-imposed lens. In the films shown, we are given bits and pieces of the character's lives. They are ordinary people; a father, a son, a friend, a sister… No meaning is blatantly given to us, rather and perhaps, hinted at or alluded to. The films are disruptive to our sense of what is right and wrong on a deeper level while considering the implications of the commandments. Should we trust in science as an “icon” or is this blasphemous to a “god”? Should we condone the murder of a murderer? ...

  Blog post 1- The guest speakers who came to class on 1/31 were an interesting group of individuals. As a social work student, I have not had the opportunity to talk to many of those in the academic field of film. It was interesting to hear professional takes on a field other than my own. What mainly stood out to me in the conversation was the discussion of interviewing. I do a lot of interviewing for my major, both structured and non-structured. In fact, I am currently working on a peer-narrative interview project for my internship. I like how the main speaker of the night discussed that it can be difficult to get the answers you seek out from whom you are interviewing. Perspectives are everything, and it does feel impossible (because it is) to eliminate all bias in an interview. There is an art to a good interview that I can appreciate. I could tell in the speaker's film that the editors worked hard to pick interview clips that encapsulated the points they really wanted to put f...