12-7-2010

The offense in this game is easy to recognize, but the reasons for it may be harder to articulate. Most obvious is the notion of agency, which here is not reflected in playing as Jesus, but rather in playing against Jesus. Another reason is Christ Killa’s iconoclastic violence, intended to disrupt the reception of the image of Christ on the cross by presenting it within the game’s rhetoric as cause for violence. The player has the ability (and within the game’s backstory, the moral obligation) to kill the cloned Jesus figures. So within the fiction of the game, Jesus is the “bad guy” and the player is the “good guy”—one might even argue the messiah. The player’s ability to immerse himself in the imagined avatar behind the gun invites a procedural violence against Jesus, justified by the assumption that he is “just” a clone. By so disrupting the biblical narrative and blending this disruption with agency as Jesus’ enemy, the game invites a blasphemous procedural rhetoric.

Rachel Wagner: The Play is the Thing: From Bible Fights to Passions of the Christ

In her analysis of why, exactly, Christians are hesitant to make a fully interactive and "free range" depiction of Christ, Rachel Wagner discusses examples of when this does happen, and why Christians do not like them. One example she supplies us with is Christ Killa, in which the player is immersed in a story about killing raving clones of Christ. As Wagner points out, this is a form of iconoclasm on two levels: not only is one destroying an image of Christ, but one is destroying how one views Christ. Essentially, the Covenant we form with that image is shattered, but worst of all, it is shattered by the player. This clearly deviates from the linear-pattern devised by most Christians.

12-6-2010

Aside from simply depicting a contrast with the ordinary, however, the liminal phase of ritual can also depict the ideal of the unstructured community, what Turner calls “communitas.” In communitas, in distinction from the hierarchically structured society, all are equal and there is no ranking to give one power over another (except perhaps the authority of the ritual elders). 20 This form of utopia cannot really exist, as no society can exist without structure— but this utopian ideal of communitas is just as critical to the functioning of society as the realism that requires structure, for it reminds a people of their essential unity and

Lyden: Movies as Religion.

In this passage, Lyden refers to the anthropologist Turner, who noted that societies form "communitas," which are momentary breakdowns of authority which make pleasantly allow all to be equal. His example is that of an Indian ceremony, where cast is reversed, the subordinate becoming insubordinate. Thus, for a brief period, a break-down in society is allowed to occur within the confines of a ritual, much like Gerard would argue violence can be carried out ritually to be cathartic.

12-2-2010

"Vengeance, moreover, cannot be claimed until the verdict of one's private oracle has been confirmed by the secret poison oracle of the local prince, for Zande society is an aristocracy in which the ruling class makes all final decisions. If the logic of these oracles, deaths, and acts of vengeance were analyzed publicly, Evans-Pritchard notes, it would reduce itself to an absurdity, because every new death would have to be attributed to yet another act of witchcraft in an endless circle.

Pals, Daniel. "Eight Theories of Religion." New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.

In this passage, Pals discusses how Evans-Pritchard's study of the Zande led him to discover their ritual for handling accusations of death and witchcraft, which goes through a series of 1) Personal oracles, and then 2) aristocratic oracles, which have the final say. Evans-Pritchard argues that this is done to prevent logical absurdities from occurring. However, one must wonder if, perhaps, there is a touch of Marx's theories underlying this: that religion can become another facet of power and social structures.

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.

10-26-2010

So, Joshua Alston, I’d argue that religion on television looks to live long and prosper on TV. Broadcast and cable channels offer a rich array of shows asking religious questions, exploring religious themes, and providing religious alternatives to secular norms. Several, obliquely commenting on consumerist culture, even mount a subversive charge. This is the more surprising since television, like newspapers, is all about advertising wrapped up as infotainment. It’s not supposed to challenge basic societal assumptions that keep us in a constant state of wanting and needing to buy more. But even as the economic downturn makes consumerism less practical, few political or religious leaders are challenging the notion that spending leads to happiness. How ironic that television is, in some instances, addressing the very spiritual and ethical issues on which our religious and political institutions appear to be taking a pass.

Winston, Diane. "Give Me that Small Screen Religion." Religious Dispatches. 27 Jul. 2009.

C: In this passage, Winston argues that religious work and religion are very different--although these are not her direct words. What she states is that without being explicitly religious, television "[explores] religious themes," and goes so far as to be subversive against the consumerist culture that funds it. Culturally, Winston argues that religion on television, though subtle, is really taking on the roles and battles of more classical notions of religion.

10-24-2010 [a.k.a--the first day I saw "monstrous vagina" in writing]

"The monster, in her argument, is the emblem, not of "the mother," but of that really scary figure in the world made by what she calls "phallic materialism": the lesbian. The lesbian/monster is all that is "unassimilable, awesome, dangerous, outrageous, different"--in short, all that is unfuckable, all that remains chaotic beyond the ordering, taming, controlling power of what she calls the "cock" (ibid.). The lesbian/monster, the fusion of the maiden, beast, and nature, according to Harris, represents the greatest threat to patriarchal men's social problems."

Caputi, Jane. Goddesses and Monsters.

In this article, Caputi refers toBertha Harris' claim that the gynecological monster we often encounter in science fiction not only represents the power and fear of the female sex, but homosexual sexuality as well. Thus, cultural media not only seeks to create hegemonic androcentricity, but hegemonic heterosexuality as well; that the strong female is threatening to the male-order of the world, but lesbianism separates itself entirely from androcentrism, as it is both independent in gender and sexuality.

10-21-2010

"There is a deep vein of androcentrism and phallocentrism in Christian ideologies where a male human-divine figure (Jesus), acting on the wishes of a male creator God, offers hope and promise of a better world, along with truth, wisdom, and salvation for both women and men."

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

In this passage, Nye argues that Christianity is inherently androcentric, in that it hinges upon both a male creator and male prophet/salvation/avatar figure. He argues that ultimately this lack of a female presence contributes to the oppression of Christian women, as men are always in hierarchical positions of power, while women are subservient. Even in Catholicism, he argues, women are without a realistic female model of Mary, as she is a virgin and represents an untouchable level of chastity.

However, I wonder if this is accurate--after all, Christ was a virgin for life, unlike Mary, who did bear children later. In fact, Christ is only man in the sense of sex--he really carries out no male gender-roles, and he has no sexuality. In fact, he broke many gender-rules. This is what makes him divine--it is only his flesh and phallus that makes him a man. So, in a sense, Christ was almost the first gender-bender, and though we cannot deny that the Church has placed women into a domestic role, we must also recognize that the androcentrism we see in the New Testament is really caused by the momentum of its presence in the Old.

"Baseball is not a religion," said Lisle Dalton, a professor of religious studies at Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y., about 30 miles from Cooperstown. "But if you look at the way people put their emotion and energy, their intellectual ability, into sports, they start to look a lot like people who used to put all that into religion in an earlier era."

C: I've been waiting a really, REALLY long time for someone to write something like this. Basically, Dalton argues that baseball is infused with the same energy of a religion, but it is not--likely, though unexplained by the author, due to the fact that baseball lacks large components key to most definitions of religion: sacred texts, almost otherworldly transcendence, etc. Many of the authors we've read thus far have been seeming to be mistaking simile for metaphors: baseball is like a religion vs. baseball is a religion. Dalton can admit that baseball has religious qualities--totemic connections to the sacred, as Durkheim would argue--but she keeps a certain distance.

A part of me wonders if faith must be integrated into a definition of religion, or belief--something that cannot be proven, but only seemingly felt or experienced by the practitioner.

10-18-2010

Second, baseball supports a sense of uniformity, a sense of belonging to a vast, extended American family that attends the same church. As journalist Thomas Boswall reports in his detailed discussion of the church of baseball, his mother was devoted to baseball because "it made her feel like she was in church." Like her church...baseball provided his mother with "a place where she could--by sharing a fabric of beliefs, symbols, and mutual agreements with those around her--feel calm and whole."

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

In this passage, Chidester is discussing baseball's religious like qualities, and in particular to this passage, baseball acting as a community. In particular, it seems like Boswall--quoted here--is channelling Durkheim, as for him the "sharing a fabric of beliefs" is central to baseball as a religion. Thus, one's baseball team, colors, mascot, etc. becomes the "totem," uniting a stadium full of people in one unified belief.

However, Chidester argues this totem is national, if not international--that baseball itself is the totem. Recalling my own experience with sporting events, and watching people supporting different times brawl because, well, they were one different teams, I believe that the totem of baseball is on a much smaller scale--it is to the individual team, and not the sport as a whole. Or, perhaps the religion is baseball, and the team is the denomination, so to speak.

Also, do other countries have this relationship with, say, cricket? Rugby?

10-10-10

"If we ask why animals and plants should be the most common totems, that too is clear. The clan does not want as its symbol something distant and vague; it needs an object that is specific, concrete, and near at hand, something closely tied to its daily experience.

Pals, Daniel L. Eight Theories of Religion. 2nd Ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.

C: In this passage, Pals discusses Durkheim's argument about totems, and in particular the earthiness of their symbology. The passage argues that the symbol chosen for totems is so terrestrial as a means of avoiding the vague of the beyond; as it is the symbol of their tribe, it must be something real, something tangible they can share. This likely strengthens their covenant with the object, as it reflects a reality they understand.

However, I wonder why the Abrahamic religions cast aside this earthiness, directly forbidding the embodiment of the spiritual in the physical. At most, the Jews had their Ark and the Muslims the black-rock--yet both of these embody the higher, more ethereal power of God. Perhaps this furthers the importance of their god's omnipotence, but I wonder how this helps their culture stay unified socially.

"In the new context of the costly victory of the North, the national flag acquired a special status, even a presence as the effulgent symbol of national unity."

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

Though an admittedly short passage, this single sentence spoke to me more than most others I read. In it, Morgan argues that the American flag took on its greatest meaning following the civil war, and that its value was related to this cost. This is reminiscent of Chidester's belief that, for religious work to occur, there must be a degree of sacrifice; that one must suffer or die for the greater, and that in doing so is venerated. Perhaps the flag takes on a symbol similar to a cross to those who are patriotic: it becomes a symbol of many soldiers' sacrifices, and the freedom that sacrifice offers.