Movie magic...

On the fishers, surfers and casters blog, Paul Teusner asks, 'Why should we think about mass media?' In the comments, Stephen posed the challenge,

What would your list of 5-10 books be that would make a good introduction to religion and media?

My comment in response was,

Really given the article, shouldn’t it be 5-10 *movies* which would be illustrative of a good introduction to religion and media…?

And Paul naturally asked me to put my money where my mouth was. :-0

So here is a list of some movies which inform / provide the vocabulary for / become a medium of, my own spirituality. I'm keeping it brief but am happy to enlarge on any of them in comments if someone is interested. Also I found that it was hard to pick specific films, for the reason that movies are so much a part of my life - I've watched hundreds (thousands?). And the movie which speaks to me at one time is clearly a function of what's going on in my life at that point, what the spiritual issues or questions are for me then etc. Nevertheless, here goes:

The Village - What is fear? How does it shape our lives? Our beliefs? How can we continue to be part of a messy, hurtful world? Did the Creator get it wrong?

X-Men (1 or 2) - Alienation seems to be part of life. What makes us human? More interestingly - what prevents us from being fully human?

Dogma - Alanis Morissette as God. Need I say more? No seriously - a playful, quirky God. That speaks to me. The rest of the movie is also an interesting exploration of justice, right and wrong, consequences.

Saved - Ok, so it's not rocket science, but I went to that school (except our principal couldn't do standing somersaults...). If evangelical / conservative faith is so true, why is it so ugly?

Spirited Away - I can't explain this one. I just know it moved me in a way few other things in life have. Maybe its because I lived the first 12 years of my life in Japan. Natsukashii ne... But there's also something I can't put my finger on in the content, that says something about the way the world is.

Wrath of Khan - Yeah, ok, I know I'm sad. Still... I cried when Spock died. Sacrifice and love are at the heart of the universe.

Ok then, there's half a dozen. I'm sure there's more. What about you?

Comments

[fernando]

Without doubt I would movies (then tv shows, then websites) ahead of books on this question.

I'm not good at top5/top10 lists, but off the top of my head i would say,

The Matrix
The Shawshank Redemption
The Sacrifice
The Fountainhead
The Big Lebowski

[Mark Berry]

There just had to be a StarTrek in there didn't there!

I'd definitley go for 'Dogma' and 'The Shawshank Redemption'
Maybe 'Pay it Forward' - bit disney though
'Jesus of Montreal'
'Baraka'- not really a movie but a feature length visual extravaganza (Baraka is a Sufi word meaning 'breath of God')
and would have to have 'Brazil' and 'Bladerunner' too ;-)