{"id":1225,"date":"2010-02-05T08:38:50","date_gmt":"2010-02-05T16:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/?p=1225"},"modified":"2010-02-05T08:38:50","modified_gmt":"2010-02-05T16:38:50","slug":"the-religious-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2010\/02\/the-religious-film\/","title":{"rendered":"The Religious Film: A Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In only 156 pages, Pamela Grace sets forth on a bold undertaking to create a new film genre, the hagiopic.\u00a0 In her book, The Religious Film:\u00a0 Christianity and the Hagiopic<\/em><\/a>, she gives a brief description of this new genre and places it in a historical and critical framework but allows her insightful critiques of particular hagiopics to make the case for the genre themselves. <\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

Grace begins by discussing her distinction between the religious film and the hagiopic.\u00a0 Religious films can cover a variety of topics, but the hagiopic film represents \u201cthe life, or part of the life, of a recognized religious hero\u201d (1).\u00a0 Obviously there are similarities between the hagiopic and the bipic but the former has a greater emphasis on the divine or the mysterious than the latter.\u00a0 Grace makes an important distinction about sites of exhibition and their influence on a hagiopic\u2019s success:\u00a0 \u201cThe audience for hagiopics far exceeds the number of ticket-buyers, since churches, religious schools, and missionaries regularly show these movies to groups in the United States and other parts of the world\u201d (2).\u00a0 This is an extremely interesting point about exhibition of religious films to which she unfortunately does not return.\u00a0 Grace argues that such films appeal to viewers not only because they can be uplifting but because they also mirror the audience\u2019s own \u201cspiritual questioning\u201d (3).\u00a0 Grace then highlights a few features of the hagiopic:\u00a0 wish-fulfillment, miracle-time (miraculous events take place), suffering, and sacrifice.\u00a0 She claims that hagiopics are a form of \u201critualoid entertainment,\u201d \u201ca hybrid response evoked by their admixture of commercial religiosity, narrative, and spectacle [,\u2026] a pseudo-ritual experience\u201d (12, 13).<\/p>\n

Chapter 2 of Grace\u2019s book is a historical overview of the genre on which she elaborates over the next several chapters.\u00a0 She runs through a gamut of films here that fit the bill.\u00a0 She traces a long history from the earliest Passion Plays to Gibson\u2019s The Passion of the Christ<\/em><\/a> (2004).\u00a0 Grace points out that the most popular (in terms of numbers) hagiopics are Jesus and Joan of Arc films.\u00a0 Chapter 3 provides an overview of the criticism of religious cinema.\u00a0 She adds, \u201cScholars have not written on the hagiopic per se<\/em>, since the genre is being introduced in this book\u201d (47).\u00a0 Here, she provides an interesting engagement with three film styles, the spiritual, transcendental, and sacramental and how they do or do not impact the hagiopic.\u00a0 She also runs over texts about Jesus, saints, and biblical films, concluding with brief attention to the on-going discussion of Christ figures in secular films.<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

Chapters 4-9 are engaged criticisms of several films including, King of Kings<\/em><\/a> (1961), The Song of Bernadette<\/em><\/a> (1943), Jesus Christ Superstar<\/em><\/a> (1973) and its 2000 remake<\/a>, The Gospel According to Matthew<\/em><\/a> (1964), Jesus of Montreal<\/em><\/a> (1989), The Passion of Joan of Arc<\/em><\/a> (1928), The Messenger:\u00a0 The Story of Joan of Arc<\/em><\/a> (1999), The Last Temptation of Christ<\/em><\/a> (1988), and The Passion of the Christ<\/em>.\u00a0 Even though most of these films have been criticized from a host of angles, Grace manages to provide something new in hers, particularly her review of King of Kings<\/em> which is often quickly dismissed by far too many historians.\u00a0 Of the film, she writes, \u201cIn its celebration of the human body, the film rejects overall cinematic tradition by focusing far more on men than on women; and it reverses hagiopic tradition by focusing more on Jews than on pagans\u201d (65).\u00a0 Later, she adds, \u201cRay\u2019s shot of numerous crosses asserts the historical fact that crucifixion was common practice, and that Jesus was one of many who suffered that form of torture and death\u201d (67).\u00a0 She accuses most Jesus films of presenting Jesus\u2019 crucifixion as a unique historical event which drastically influences the misinterpretation of that death.<\/p>\n

Grace refers to The Song of Bernadette<\/em> as a religious comfort film.\u00a0 Films like this, \u201cplaces believers in the right [\u2026 and affirm] the values of humility, absolute faith, and courage in the face of suffering\u201d (78).\u00a0 She points to the influence of Tommy<\/em> (1969) and Hair<\/em> (1967) on the emergence of the Jesus musical.\u00a0 Yet Jesus Christ Superstar<\/em> (1973) reverses the typical musical format:\u00a0 \u201cJesus Christ Superstar<\/em> reverses the narrative trajectory of the traditional musical.\u00a0 The story is about the fragmentation of a close-knit group, the end of a romance, and the destruction of a friendship\u201d (92).<\/p>\n\"\"<\/a>\n

Grace looks at The Gospel According to Matthew <\/em>and Jesus of Montreal <\/em>as alternative hagiopics which \u201cdeliberately reject many or all of the ideas and stylistic conventions associated with popular religious films [\u2026and virtually all of which] risk financial loss\u201d (103).\u00a0 She concludes on this topic, \u201c[\u2026Alternative] hagiopics with unorthodox material are often more profoundly religious than films that follow the guidelines established by the Church or Hollywood\u201d (119).\u00a0 Her Joan of Arc discussions are interesting, but The Last Temptation of Christ <\/em>and The Passion of the Christ<\/em> offer nothing new aside from a substantial refutation of atonement theory in terms of the latter.<\/p>\n

This is a welcome addition to the growing library of books on film and religion both because of Grace\u2019s introduction of a new genre and her fresh takes on some well-worn films.\u00a0 Hopefully other scholars will pay attention to this genre and contribute more works to it.\u00a0 The films of St. Francis readily jump to mind.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In only 156 pages, Pamela Grace sets forth on a bold undertaking to create a new film genre, the hagiopic.\u00a0 In her book, The Religious Film:\u00a0 Christianity and the Hagiopic, she gives a brief description of this new genre and places it in a historical and critical framework but allows her insightful critiques of particular […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":288,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-print"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Religious Film: A Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In only 156 pages, Pamela Grace sets forth on a bold undertaking to create a new film genre, the hagiopic.\u00a0 In her book, The Religious Film:\u00a0 Christianity\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2010\/02\/the-religious-film\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Religious Film: A Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In only 156 pages, Pamela Grace sets forth on a bold undertaking to create a new film genre, the hagiopic.\u00a0 In her book, The Religious Film:\u00a0 Christianity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/2010\/02\/the-religious-film\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pop Theology\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-02-05T16:38:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/poptheology\/files\/2010\/02\/religiuos-film-grace-198x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"J. 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