11-30-2010

"ritualization is a matter of various culturally specific strategies for setting some activities off from others, for creating and privileging a qualitative distinction between the 'sacred' and the 'profane,' and for ascribing such distinctions to realities thought to transcend the powers of human actors."

Nye, Malory. Religion: The Basics. New York: Routledge. 2008.

Nye quotes Catherine bell, who argues that the main function of ritual is to set apart the mundane profane from the exceptional sacred, which truly recalls the Eliadic notions of sacred and profane, but also Durkheims methods of creating ritual. She definitely echoes Eliade's belief that the "sacred" cannot be the day-to-day, and thus a sacred ritual would also transcend this.

11-28-2010

This violent translation of world religious traditions within the Matrix franchise has serious implications for our own violent culture with which it resonates. Already there have been a troubling number of copy-cat murderers who, legitimately or not, have cited the films as inspiration for their crimes. Studio executives strenuously deny any link between the films and real acts of violence.⁶ However, they appear to have recognized some of the public criticism that might stem from the release of the Animatrix “Kid's Story,” which ends with a positive portrayal of teenager's suicide in the matrix, since plans to make the segment available on the Warner Brothers' website were abandoned. The direct association of violence with religion in the films can result in some troubling simplifications by those interpreting the films. In an article detailing some of the most prominent Hindu elements in the first two films, Julien Fielding argues that “even if the movie audience feels uncomfortable at how quickly and without remorse Trinity and Neo blow away the policemen,” this choice must be understood as a product of Hindu ideas about dharma, and should not concern us further.

Flannery-Dailey, Frances and Rachel Wagner. "Stopping Bullets: Constructions of Bliss and Problems of Violence" Jacking In to the Matrix Franchise: Cultural Reception and Interpretation. 2004.

In this passage, Wagner and Flanner-Dailey discuss how copy-cat muderers have been executed in a style startlingly similar to that of the Matrix's. Although Warner Bros. seeks to deny it, the authors hint that they too acknowledge the disturbing violence of their work by refusing to put clips of it online. However, the authors go on to cite that was is truly disturbing about the portrayal of violence is not the violence itself, but its gross over simplification. Just as Morgan argued a religion must use simple, plain symbols to convey an idea to its viewers, so too must movies rely on simple violence with a simple solution to make it seem acceptable.

11-19-2010

But I have also argued from the beginning of this book that one cannot legitimately critique or dismiss films (or religions) without first seeking to understand what they are saying, and violent films are no exception to this rule.

Film as Religion; Lyden, John C.

Before launching into his analysis of violent movies portraying religious-esque sacrifice, Lyden first argues that we are not looking at movies from a point of moral judgement, but understanding; and this, he argues, can only be done when we put aside objectivity for subjective understanding. Essentially, we are to use Geertz's thick description, and think from the bottom-up.

"The ritual of Corpus Christi was celebrated to replace the Inca celebration of the solar deity...at the summer solstice. Incan nobility participated in the procession of the new Christian rite wearing traditional costume that included a solar disk....Yet in creating this substitution via subordination, the Christian rite of Corpus Christi preserved the pre-Christian meaning."

Morgan, David. The Sacred Gaze: Religious Visual Culture in Theory and Practice. Berkley: University of California Press, 2005.

In this passage, Morgan discusses how during iconoclasm, religious icons are not necessarily destroyed, but often repurposed. However, in spite of the attempts to remove their original meaning, their underlying connatations remain; thus, the Sun Disk continues, to the Incans, to have its meaning while appearing Christian, which gives some credence to Chidester's theory of plasticity.

11-13-2010

Passing through the gates, visitors are informed, "Here you leave today, and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow, and fantasy." As Walt Disney revealed in 1955, the Disney version of time is both American and global, preserving the American past of yesterday in the interest of a global future for tomorrow, dramatizing the "truths that have created America" so that they might be "a source of courage and inspiration to all the world."

Chidester, David. Authentic Fakes. Berkeley: University of California, 2005.

In this section, Chidester uses Disney's tag-line as a way of showing the unique Eliadic "sacreds" of Disney--both a lionization of America's globalization, but a nostalgia for America's olden-days. This creates an interesting blend between nostalgia and transcendence: Disney is claiming it can simultaneously celebrate the old-times of America, while looking to the future. However, what's clear from its statement is that today--the present time--is profane compared to these two times.

11-11-2010

...The Tupperware party, an invention more in the history of Tupperware than the production of Poly-T, because it created a community of sacred allegiance. The Tupperware party was a radical innovation in direct marketing. But it was also an improvisation on basic patterns and processes in the production of sacred space and time.

Chidester, David. Authentic Fakes. Berkeley: University of California, 2005.

In this passage, Chidester is essentially channeling Durkheim, claiming that the true "sacred of tupperware" emerged from the formation of the group, which centers itself around the Tupperware. In this example, he would argue that the Tupperware is totemic; a point of unity bringing people together. However, later Chidester seems to synthesize Eliade into the equation, arguing that the Tupperware becomes a symbol for the sacred of domesticity.

Nov. 8 2010

Different groups and individuals activate a particular display's meaning in different ways--or as in the preceding paragraph, they activate different meanings altogether. Attempts to deal with the inherent instability of meaning in public display contribute to the display's visual character. Religious displays often seek to exercise control of interpretive possibilities by the inclusion of easily legible and widely recognizable symbols and images pared down to their most basic elements. Display may thus purposefully distant itself, in order to retain a high degree of control over meaning, from the sorts of complexities often required of "art."

Morgan, David, Sally M. "Visual Culture of American Religions." University of California.

I picked this quote mostly because it lines up with the project I plan to do; however, it also recalls Morgan's theory of "covenant," which states that ones way of viewing an object is determined by the religious agreement they make with that object (ie: I believe in the Buddha's enlightenment; thus, an image of the Buddha is an image of enlightenment). However, Morgan takes this farther, arguing that religions are aware of the complexity that art may cause in forming a covenant, and thus create very simple works to ensure a limited perception.

In my paper, I'll be talking about certain signs, which are absent of pictures; only text. This ties textuality into the picture, and perhaps makes the claim that textuality is the most limiting interpretation.

November 7, 2010

Roof found within the boom generations a significant subset who identify themselves religiously primarily through their having had an experience of personal salvation....As roof notes, this is a "highly personal" type of faith, and in that sense shares much in common with the overall trend toward individualism in matters of faith. For many "born agains," membership or participation in conventional churches is less important than their experience of faith. "Where" is less important to them than "what." This means that people who think of themselves in this way might readily be members of even denominationally related congregations.

Hoover, Stewart M. "Religion in the Media Age." New York: Routledge, 2006.

Hoover uses Roof's studies on the varying religious movements during the Baby Boom to study the relationship between religion and media. He begins by describing the different qualities of the religious groups, in this case the Born Again. In his opinion, the Born Again is a reflectionist, not viewing how they can relate to their faith, but how their faith can personally relate to them. Thus, they cast aside the requirement of a specific group or place of worship in place for a totem of sentiment--denomination does not matter, so long as the core beliefs are similar.

In the face of growing knowledge about and tolerance of many different faith expressions, we seem to be experiencing an increasing difficulty to define 1) what separation of church and state really means; 2) what constitutes moral or immoral literature in the context of the public schools; and 3) how we should define fantasy literature in the same context. The phenomenon of Harry Potter is a religious phenomenon, precisely because it has forced us to face squarely what it really means to be tolerant of all religious expression in the modern age. The solution may not be to remove Harry Potter from the schools, but to reexamine what separation of church and state really means.

Wagner, Rachel. "Bewitching the Box Office: Harry Potter and Religious Controversy." Journal of Religion and Film, Vol. 7, No. 2. 2 Oct. 2003.

In this passage, Wagner argues that Harry Potter, although a fantasy story series, has brought up many complicated issues that have laid just below the surface of America, which, due to its mixtures of cultures and religions, is comprised of varying (and often conflicting) habiti. Thus, we must now question what separation of Church and State means, and what Church even means. In all, her essay makes us see degrees of competing habiti, and how they can often intermix or repel each other vehemently.

11-02-2010

This zan, according to Tooker, was maintained through the action of carrying: that is, "carrying tradition" in a manner similar to the carrying of rice in a basket on their backs. When asked by Tooker about their 'beliefs,' individual Akha people gave a confusing and seemingly inconsistent variety of statements, but there was a strong element of conformity when it came to deciding what was right practice, or zan."

Nye, Malory. "Religion: The Basics." New York: Routledge. 2008.

In this passage, Nye discusses how "belief" can be viewed in many ways, and in particular to this way, can focus not on actual belief (as in: is there a God?) but on how one carries out that belief. Thus, in the Akha, there is a focus on uniformity in action rather than belief. I must wonder if this doesn't seem to recall the totem of Durkheim: that there is more of a focus on external unity through act than internal through personal views of the world.