COLLECTION NAME:
Graduate Thesis Collection
Record
Title:
"I Pray but I Am Lost. Am I Just Praying to Silence?": Martin Scorsese & The Arthouse Christian Genre
Creator:
Lizza, Chris
Subject:
Thesis (M.A.) -- Cinema Studies
Subject:
Savannah College of Art and Design -- Department of Art History
Rights:
Copyright is retained by the authors or artists of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Abstract:
"Since the inception of filmmaking, Christianity has maintained a presence in cinema that evolved as the medium expanded. Especially in Hollywood cinema, Christianity became a reliable blockbuster topic for films, while the religion remained the most dominant in the United States. Iconic films from the golden age of Hollywood, including The Ten Commandments (1956) and Ben-Hur (1959), proved the popularity of Christian-based movies. Once the successful era of the traditional Christian-based genre faded due to changing life values and tiresome stereotypes, its traits were critically altered when the horror genre repurposed the positive elements from Christian films with a sinister perspective. This newfound brand of horror was particularly shown in the 1973 film, The Exorcist. The Exorcist portrayed an unprecedented contrasting approach of how Christianity can influence faith and furthered the decline of movies focusing purely on Christian values. During the 1970s, the New Hollywood movement emerged amid the revolutionary social changes of the decade. A society desperate for change carved the template for individualism to flourish and witnessed old fashioned values of Christianity diminish. In 1988, Martin Scorsese's controversial Christian-based film, The Last Temptation of Christ, portrayed Jesus Christ in a flawed, sexual manner that had never been seen on screen. This caused outrage among Christian viewers and was the initial spark for Martin Scorsese's creation of his niche genre, arthouse Christian cinema. Scorsese's continued his arthouse Christian genre with Silence (2016), a modern Christian-based film with no intertwining horror themes. Silence's underwhelming reception indicates the transformation of this once popular genre. Films of Scorsese's atypical genre, The Last Temptation of Christ and Silence, defied the narrative trappings of traditional Christian-based films in Hollywood while expanding the genre's possibilities." --Abstract
Keywords: Christianity, genre, Hollywood, horror, Jesus, Scorsese, Silence
Keywords: Christianity, genre, Hollywood, horror, Jesus, Scorsese, Silence
Publisher:
Savannah, Georgia : Savannah College of Art and Design
Date:
2023-03
Format:
1 online resource: 1 PDF (Thesis, 43 pages, color illustrations)