The Religious Film

From The Gospel According to Matthew to Jesus Christ
Superstar, from The Passion of Joan of Arc to The
Last Temptation of Christ and Jesus of Montreal, The
Religious Film captures the glory, gore, and centrality of this
important genre.

• A short, accessible introduction to religious film, exploring
  the genre as spectacle, as musical, and as controversy

• Examines the historical, cultural and critical background for
  religious films from the silent era through to the present
  day

• Introduces the complexities and characteristics of this iconic
  genre of film, including common sounds and images, and the values
  that most traditional films of this kind uphold

Auteur
Pamela Grace teaches at Brooklyn College, CUNY.

Texte du rabat
Lush, vaguely liturgical music floods the theater. A sonorous offscreen male voice slowly articulates the words, And it was written or In the year. On the screen, clouds mysteriously separate, and a semi-transparent figure appears in the sky . . . This is the religious film.

Conventional films about religious heroes are instantly recognizable, and average filmgoers can easily identify the most common sounds and images and, more significantly, the values that most traditional films of this kind uphold: unquestioning faith, chastity, virtuous suffering, and the superiority of one religion over all others.

The Religious Film is a welcome introduction to this complex and iconic genre of film. Pamela Grace provides historical, cultural and critical background for religious films from the silent era through today, and explores the genre in its many guises as spectacle, as musical, and as controversy. From The Gospel According to Matthew to Jesus Christ Superstar, from The Passion of Joan of Arc to The Last Temptation of Christ and Jesus of Montreal, The Religious Film captures the glory, gore, and centrality of this important genre.

Résumé
From The Gospel According to Matthew to Jesus Christ Superstar, from The Passion of Joan of Arc to The Last Temptation of Christ and Jesus of Montreal, The Religious Film captures the glory, gore, and centrality of this important genre.

• A short, accessible introduction to religious film, exploring the genre as spectacle, as musical, and as controversy

• Examines the historical, cultural and critical background for religious films from the silent era through to the present day

• Introduces the complexities and characteristics of this iconic genre of film, including common sounds and images, and the values that most traditional films of this kind uphold

Contenu
List of Figures. Acknowledgments.

1. Introduction: The Religious Film and the Hagiopic.

2. Historical Overview.

3. Critical Overview.

4. King of Kings (1961): Spectacle and Anti-Spectacle.

5. The Song of Bernadette (1943): The Religious Comfort Film.

6. Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) and Jesus Christ Superstar (2000): The Religious Musical.

7. The Gospel According to Matthew (1964) and Jesus of Montreal (1989): The Alternative Hagiopic.

8. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) and The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999): Transcendence and Exploitation.

9. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and The Passion of the Christ (2004): The Sacrificial Hagiopic.

Notes.

Bibliography.

Index.