"Take My Film and Let It Be": Critics and Consecration in Faith-Based Cinema
This study represents an attempt to better understand how religion fits into the discourse between filmmakers and critics who review their work. The author uses the thought of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu-specifically, his notions of cultural capital and consecration-to analyze mainstream revi...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
University of Saskatchewan
[2018]
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| In: |
Journal of religion and popular culture
Year: 2018, Volume: 30, Issue: 3, Pages: 143-164 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Kendrick, Alex 1970-
/ Kendrick, Stephen 1973-
/ Religious film
/ Film criticism
/ Bourdieu, Pierre 1930-2002
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| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy CE Christian art CH Christianity and Society |
| Further subjects: | B
Pierre Bourdieu
B African Americans B faith-based film B Consecration B Prayer |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Resolving-System) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | This study represents an attempt to better understand how religion fits into the discourse between filmmakers and critics who review their work. The author uses the thought of French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu-specifically, his notions of cultural capital and consecration-to analyze mainstream reviewers' responses to the motion pictures of Alex and Stephen Kendrick, two brothers who have endeavoured to make mainstream films that "communicate the gospel without compromise." In analyzing reviews of the Kendricks' five "faith-based" films, a consistent pattern of comments from the reviewers is evident, a pattern that expresses negativity toward the brothers' aesthetic, social, and theological choices. Also apparent, though, is an ongoing conversation in which the filmmakers seem to recognize the importance of listening to reviewers, even if the filmmakers have not toned down their message. Reviewer comments for War Room, a film whose budget and box office success have pushed it into the mainstream in spite of its very religious content, show that the filmmakers not only appear aware of the concerns expressed by critics but also persist in their attachment to religious filmic content that may not appeal to secular critics who, in Bourdieu's terms, have a high level of "cultural capital." With Bourdieu's work in mind, the study suggests that many of the disagreements between the filmmakers and reviewers have as much to do with religion, class, and taste as they do aesthetics. |
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| ISSN: | 1703-289X |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of religion and popular culture
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.3138/jrpc.2016-0007 |