By Jack Holloway One of the most beautiful sequences in the history of animation comes from Fantasia 2000, the sequel to the 1940 Disney classic Fantasia, both consisting of animated features set to classical music. [This article contains spoilers. Do yourself a favor and go watch this on Netflix before you finish reading!] The finale of Fantasia…
Do You Like Our Owl? ‘Blade Runner’ and Climate Change
Part one of a two part blog series from our friend, the Rev. Dr. Leah D. Schade over at EcoPreacher. “I am eager to see how Blade Runner 2049 envisions the planet’s future 30 years hence. Yet the idea of seeing our possible fate played out on a screen right before my eyes makes me slightly…
The Gospel and the Limits of Secular Belief: Reflections on Linkin Park
By Andrew D. Thrasher When I heard the news late evening of July 20th of the death of lead singer Charles Bennington of Linkin Park, it wasn’t the first death I had heard of that day. A family that loved me into the kingdom had lost someone the night before, and as I sat with…
Doom’s Law: Spaces of Sovereignty in Marvel’s Secret Wars
In light of Joseph Trullinger’s posts on Agamben, Carl Schmitt, and political theology from the last two weeks, here is another piece by Neal Curtis along the same lines discussing the concept of sovereignty in Marvel’s 2015 Secret Wars event. “This story, I will argue, enables us to get to the heart of a very complex…
Glorified Platitude: The Political Theology of The Young Pope: Part II
By Joseph Trullinger (Read Part I here) Before further detailing how Agamben’s concepts help to explain this regressive isolationist autocracy, it helps to know that he is building upon the theory of Carl Schmitt, the foremost jurist of the Nazi party, who sets forth in his Political Theology of 1922 the claim that “All significant…
Glorified Platitude: The Political Theology of The Young Pope: Part I
By Joseph Trullinger In trying to describe Paolo Sorrentino’s The Young Pope to a few of my friends in philosophy, I told them to imagine that the spirit of Giorgio Agamben had possessed the body of Quentin Tarantino to make a TV show. What I was trying to convey was the show’s curious duality: it’s…
Wonder Woman: Facing the Darkness, Embracing Her Gifts
By Stephanie Pacheco Wonder Woman is a thematic knock out as Diana encounters the reality of evil and chooses to keep loving and place her gifts in the service of humanity. The Amazonian goddess is genuinely moved and affected by the suffering of war, experienced by both soldiers and civilians. From the paradise-like island of…
A Prayer to Ryan Gosling: A Review of Song to Song
“With Song to Song, Terrence Malick avoids the traps of sentimentalism on the one hand, and moralism on the other while telling a deeply human story — one filled with deception, confusion, beauty, longing, goodness, and truth — and therefore a deeply religious one. Its poetic style makes it challenging to audiences, and leaves it open to the ridicule…
Left Alone: Luke Cage and the Post-Racial (Black) Hero
By Muoki Musau I admit off the jump that I don’t watch a lot of TV shows or movies. This isn’t to say that I don’t watch anything; rather, I do not prioritize finding things to watch. Luke Cage, however, caught my attention when it was released on Netflix, and, like many, I was intrigued…
The Theology of Moana
“I was raised in conservative Christianity that had very specific categories for who I could be. There were expectations for what my priorities should be, and there were rigid boundaries dictating where I could not go as a girl, who I could not be. Like Moana, it was always a struggle.” Read more here.
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