Religion and Film

Films are perhaps the most complex art form developed but most of us watch them rather passively. In this class, you will learn to read films more carefully, to analyze them, and to reflect on them. One theme that we will see repeatedly -- in very unusual settings -- are references to Christ. This is because, as Detweiler wrote, “the Christ story is certainly the most familiar, most pervasive narrative in Western civilization” especially in its expanded form, which includes not only the New Testament accounts, but “apocryphal additions [and] later legends accruing to the original body of material.”1 But while we will be thinking about religious themes, the skills you learn in this class can be used on any film. One way we will study how complex films are is by having you make your own films and screen them at the end of the semester.