Religion and Mainstream Television

Last week’s lecture was focused on the topic of broadcasting, and the discussion on the presence of Christianity reminded me the reason why I haven’t been as interested in television shows as before. If the idea of “television using metaphor” was brought up to me 5 years ago, I would say that television is my favorite baby-sitter, it comforted me through many years and I would consider it as the best remedy whenever I was sick. I haven’t been as addicted to television as I used to, I never really wondered why until recently.

I normally like all kinds of shows, though I have a very serious interest in horror and suspense. I was hooked on “Lost” for a long time, my all time favorite is “Desperate Housewives”, and I was addicted to “Supernatural” and “Ghost Whisperer” throughout high school. Interestingly, I actually never finished watching all seasons of any of these shows. I was crazy for “American Horror Story” a few months ago, but have already lost my passion for it after the first season. I lost my interest in “Lost” after a couple of seasons, and I started getting frustrated on the predictability of the storyline in “Supernatural”, as well as “Ghost Whisperer”. The only show that I am still caught up on is “Desperate Housewives”. I never understood why I could never finish watching a show, and it is through the recent article on cinematic Christ figure and last week’s discussion that made me realize the real reason behind my television watching habit. I figured that most televisions shows are actually based or related to religion, and they usually don’t reveal this at the beginning of the show. When television shows begin to uncover their hidden concept, they always center around a few themes, either something to do with suffering, salvation, demonic child, purgatory, or perhaps all of them, and this concept causes many television shows to be predictable because their themes are so similar.

"Lost" religious ending:

 http://articles.nydailynews.com/2010-05-24/entertainment/27065253_1_finale-faith-spiritual-show

I thought “American Horry Story” was my typical type of show, but then at the end of the first season, the show starts becoming religious and the story gets predictable. I enjoyed the suspense in “Lost” a lot, and I would never have thought that it would be related to religion. However, throughout the seasons, there seem to be more references to Christianity, and this is revealed in the very last episode of the show where Jack dies, appears in a Church setting, and all the other characters were waiting for him to guide them. “Supernatural” was very addictive at the beginning, I knew it has something to do with supernatural beings but I wasn’t expecting it to be heavily Christianity-based, eventually I was tired of the predictable storyline that centers only on the fights between Angels and Demons. As for “Ghost Whisperer”, the only reason why I enjoyed it for a while was because it has something to do with ghosts, and just like “Supernatural”, I wasn’t expecting strong references to religion in this show so I eventually grew out of it.

Not what it seems to be, "American Horror Story" Trailer:

"Desperate Housewives" opening credits with Adam and Eve,
apple and evil snake.

During last lecture, we have discussed that as television become more commercialized, the more complex and richer the characters are. Perhaps because of this, the essence of religion in shows is harder to detect and most television shows don’t normally present religion at the beginning. I believe that without the constant reference to religion is what makes television shows interesting to me, as it gets more religious, the storyline usually gets duller and predictable, since its based on the typical faith and belief the religion holds, and that is possibly the reason why most shows fail to keep my interest in them. As for “Desperate Housewives”, it is an excellent television show that incorporates religious belief so well that most audience wouldn’t even recognize. It only subtly reveals the presence of Christianity throughout the seasons and on its opening credits, it devotes an episode on faith and named it “Sunday” and mostly relies on Bree’s character to keep up with its religious concept. “Desperate Housewives” is a successful religion-advertiser in a way that it does not make the essence of Christianity so evident that eventually causes the show to be dull and predictable. I believe that it is the subtleness of referencing to religion that keeps my interest in this show, and it is normally the concept of religion that limits the creation of a great storyline in many other television shows, and causes them to be the less successful advertisements of Christianity.


Detweiler, Craig and Barry Taylor. “Television” In A Matrix of Meanings, 185-219. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003.

A New Chapter of "Touched by an Angel"

"Little Angels"

We went through different Christian television shows throughout history in our last lecture, and we briefly talked about the show “Touched by an Angel”. As mentioned in class, this show was hugely successful at one point and lasted for 9 years (1994-2003). This afternoon, Access Hollywood invited the leading actress of the show, Roma Downey (Monica) for an interview. We studied the presence of Christianity in television shows and spent sometime discussing how Christian characters have turned richer and more complex overtime. I thought it would be interesting to look at what was behind the scene of this popular religious show, and what the actress who played the main character would have to say about her faith and how its presented in the show. According to the interview, Downey is a strong Christian and has been for a long time. She married her husband who is also a devoted Christian, and she is now working on another Christian television show called “Little Angels” that aims to spread her belief to children and teenagers. Her transition from being a main character in a hit show to behind the scene of a Christian cartoon is an interesting example of how she (as a Christian “advertiser”) found a way forward, and though her previous show didn’t last, she managed to find a way to sell her belief. 

Access Hollywood with Roma Downey:

http://www.accesshollywood.com/access-hollywood-live/how-did-roma-downey-and-mark-burnett-meet-and-fall-in-love_videotab_1386106

Little Angels:

http://www.christiancinema.com/catalog/newsdesk_info.php?newsdesk_id=1894

http://www.littleangels.com/

Response to "Christ Figures: Harmful…or Just Harmless?"

This is a response to Valdy's "Christ Figures: Harmful…or Just Harmless?"

Valdy,  I totally agree with you that Christ figures do seem to be harmless, and Kozlovic’s evaluative list of 25 characteristics definitely does help viewers to identify Christ figures in films. As Kozlovic mentions in his article, Hollywood movie makers often carry western-Christian centric background and their culture affects the production of films, and because of this, whether people notice it or not, the essence of Christianity can be found unexpectedly in many films.

Kozlovic’s evaluative list helps clarify and identify Christian essence in films, and Christ figures are not only harmless to Christianity, it may even be beneficial to the religion. As the blog says, defining Christ figures could help viewers develop an interest in Christianity. However, what can it do for non-Christians? Would it still be beneficial for the audience in general?

Looking at the issue from a non-Christian perspective, Christ figures do seem harmless at the first glance, although after thinking a little deeper in the issue, I started to wonder if it really is totally harmless? I agree with the blog that it is up to the viewer to interpret Christ figures in films, however, I do not think that the portrayal of Christ is totally harmless to everyone. I agree that it does not seem harmful to Christians, and the only problem for them is that some viewers might take the idea of Christ figures too far and misinterpret the film, though overall its still beneficial to the religion since it educates viewers on Christianity in a entertaining way, and would possibly help deepen the interest for the religion. I believe that everything has both sides, there are positive consequences and there are negatives.

In this case, Christ figures may seem harmless to those who believe, but it could be harmful for those outside of the religion. The essence of Christianity in films creates a sense of unity that gathers believers together, it gives the audience something to talk about, something that they share in common. At the same time, it may be propaganda for non-believers as it reinforces Christian ideas on them, and it also creates a sense of “othering” to those who do not belong or believe. Kozlovic uses many heroic characters as examples of Christ figures in his article, it appears that only Christians are heroic. Moreover, Kozlovic’s evaluative list of what is considered as Christ figures is based on his perspective of the religion, could he be limiting his scope into thinking that all good things must somehow be related to Christianity, and therefore all those heroic characters must be Christ figures?

As a Christian, recognizing Christ figures and the essence of Christianity in the media can be beneficial in educating one’s culture and tradition, as well as keeping it alive. As a non-Christian, these characteristics could be the boundaries between believers and non-believers, and it may also be propaganda that eventually limits one’s ability to choose wisely for their beliefs. As for those who understand the relationship between all these, Christ figures could be a manipulative tool to get what they desire. Everything has consequences after all.

Response to:

http://theinternetisthemessiah.blogspot.com/2012/02/christ-figures-harmful-or-just-harmless.html#comment-form

Kozlovic, Anton Karl. “The Structural Characteristics of the Cinematic Christ-Figure”. Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 8 (2004): 39 pp.

The Sacred Blue Eyes

The Kozlovic’s definition of Christ Figure: the Ultimate Advertisement of American Culture? 

Christ Figure? Totally.

Definitely.

We have discussed about many characteristics of determining Christ figure, I find one characteristic particularly interesting. As mentioned in Kozlovic’s article, the blue eyes!

Is Christ figure just another representation of the white dominated Hollywood culture? 

Although we have discussed that Christ figures can come in all different forms, Kozlovic seems to only consider 25 characteristics of what is considered as Christ figure. We discussed the example of “ The Greatest Story Ever Told” on the blue eye aspect of Jesus, it is purely intentional and it reflects the commonality of American. 

Kozlovic in this article of “the structural characteristic of cinematic Christ figure” argues the commonality of Christ figures in films, and he is concerned that the figures have been neglected, resisted and rejected. He creates an evaluative list of 25 characteristics that would define what is Christ figure. He does not mention whether Christ figure has to contain all these characteristics and he dismisses the possibility that there could be more than one Christ figures in a film. One of the most interesting characteristics of Kozlovic’s list, is a pair of piercing blue eyes.

Possibly...?

Kozlovic acknowledges the weirdness of a man with Jewish background to have bright blue eyes, though he believes that the color of blue is the color of the divine, of truth and of fidelity, and that it is also a symbol of purity, therefore Christ-figures would have blue eyes. In fact, blue eyes are normally considered as a recessive trait among all eye colors, it is not the most common eye color though one out of every six American is believed to have blue eyes. Is Kozlovic's blue eye Christ representing these people? Is he trying to make blue eyes superior by regarding it as somehow religious? Kozlovic uses many examples of how Christ figure is incorporated in popular Hollywood films such as Superman, the Day the World Stood Still…etc. Interestingly, these “Christ figures” not only match with Kozlovic’s idea of how Christ figure should look like, they are also very typical Hollywood, American looking figures. Kozlovic argues that due to the lack of biblical education, viewers are less appreciative of religion-incorporated films. Though, is it possible that Hollywood has shaped religion into a way that only certain people can relate, only those who resemble Christ figures? Is Christ figure some sort of advertisement that aims to sell religion to a targeted group: Americans, making religion only accessible to those who belong? As Kozlovic mentions, blue is chosen as representation of Jesus eyes because his eyes “must have been remarkable”, as for those who don’t own a pair of blue eyes, Kozlovic refers those as the “cinematic code for sickness, the demonic, and evil or bad aliens”. Kozlovic claims that his list would prevent viewers from seeing what they want to see, but in fact, is it helping him to see what he wishes to see?

Christ Figure? Not so much.

Kozlovic, Anton Karl. “The Structural Characteristics of the Cinematic Christ-Figure”. Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 8 (2004): 39 pp.