Abstract
I believe the old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words. As Berger claims, "seeing comes before words." Pictures, particularly the moving kind, have always fascinated me. Consequently, for over a decade, I have included films among the required readings in my courses in the hope of encouraging students to experience films as religiously pertinent texts that invite critical reading. Convinced as I am that we live in a highly visual culture, I am equally convinced that films, more often than not, elude the critical eye. In my experience, students tend to: 1) see films merely as entertainment; b) distrust the ability of films to contribute to their understanding of religion; and c) apply few of their critical thinking and reading skills to the interpretation of films. For these reasons I have tried to make the case for the importance of film in the religion curriculum. In what follows, I describe my own critical perspective and the rationale for including films among course texts. Furthermore, I comment on courses in which the interpretation of films has enriched students' understanding of religion and of the complexity of cultural contexts.
Recommended Citation
Makarushka, Irena S. M. PhD
(1998)
"A Picture's Worth: Teaching Religion and Film,"
Journal of Religion & Film: Vol. 2:
Iss.
3, Article 5.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32873/uno.dc.jrf.02.03.05
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol2/iss3/5
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
VolNum
2