Looking at religious documentaries that expose a certain element of Christianity, we can trace a thread back at least to 1972 and the Academy Award winning film, Marjoe. Marjoe Gortner began preaching at the age of four, leading revivals and even officiating weddings. Urged on by his parents, until the age of fifteen, Marjoe left [...]
These are the words that Tammy Faye Messner (formerly Bakker) uses to describe her outrageous eyelashes in the opening of the documentary The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2000). I’ve said in several places that I feel like we are in a hey-day of religious documentaries. Any discussion of this genre must include this insightful film [...]
We are trying something new here at Pop Theology. I recently went to see W. with a few friends including Pop Theology contributor Richard Lindsay. We immediately thought that a conversation about the film might be a great way to approach it rather than just a simple review. As most everyone knows, Oliver Stone‘s W. [...]
Ironically, the greatest thing about the cable movie network AMC is its original television series like Breaking Bad and Mad Men. By far, the most popular of the two, Mad Men has garnered loads of critical acclaim and an audience that will no doubt increase as each season releases on DVD. The first season of [...]
Along with the religion and film class in which I am a teaching assistant, I am also preparing for comprehensive exams, one of which is a closed book, timed exam on the history of religious cinema. I will do well to watch a religious film or two each day until that exam which, off course, [...]
I am serving as a teaching assistant for my advisor’s Religion and the Cinema course. In preparation for an upcoming lecture on the representations of preachers, ministers, and evangelists in film, I have been watching loads of films that feature such characters in lead roles. As the lecture approaches I am trying to watch at [...]
For Pop Theology’s 200th post, we celebrate 1973, the year of the Jesus musical. That year saw the release of Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell, and the lesser-known The Gospel Road: One Man’s Journey on the Road to the Truth. While perhaps not as popular as the first two and certainly not as cinematically polished, directed [...]
In the closing minutes of his new documentary, Religulous, Bill Maher transitions from an agnostic point of view to an atheistic one. He moves from saying, “I preach the gospel of I don’t know,” to saying, “For humanity to live, religion must die.” Such a transition signifies Maher’s narrow-minded view of religion and also his [...]
It’s been a while since my last bad movie Monday, what with the start-up of Monday Night Football and Heroes. With a little extra time on my hands this week, I picked up a free rental of M. Night Shyamalan’s latest film, The Happening (2008).
One of the great things about our Constitution is that it guarantees both the freedom of religion and the freedom from religion. Individually, we are free to practice whatever faith we choose or no faith at all. These two freedoms meet head-to-head in Bill Maher and Larry Charles’ new documentary, Religulous.
