Secret Cinema

Erscheinungsjahr 2006
ISBN: 978-0-8264-1797-8
Verlag: Bloomsbury 3PL

Buch, Englisch, 176 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 287 g

Wilson examines the relationship between Gnosticism and the cinema.

- Offers first-rate in-depth analysis of Gnostic films ranging from the Matrix to The Da Vinci Code.
- Explores the Gnostic nature of film and the Gnostic knowledge that the acts of filmmaking and film-going produces
- Wilson's book is the first to examine Gnosticism and the roles it plays in many films

In the last twenty years or so, numerous mainstream movies have drawn from the ideas and images of ancient thought to address the collapse of appearance and reality. These films have consistently featured the Gnostic currents that emerged from Plato: not only Gnosticism itself but also Cabbala and alchemy. Despite important differences, these traditions have provided filmmakers with ready-made ruminations on the relationship between surface and depth as well as with engaging plot lines and striking scenes. In films like The Matrix (1999) and The Truman Show (1998), Gnostic myths have offered speculations on the real as well as conspiracy theories. The Cabbalistic motif of golem-making has provided such movies as A.I. (2001) and Blade Runner (1982) with mediations on the human and with parables of machines yearning for life. Pictures like Dead Man (1996) and Altered States (1980) have drawn on alchemical symbols to explore the possibilities of transmutation and to feature stories of the dead rising to life.
Recent commercial Gnostic films are meditations on the conundrums of the post-modern age and the timeless soul.

These pictures constitute archetypal sites for sacred contemplation. They create spaces akin to the caves of Eleusis or Lascaux, chambers where habits are annihilated and the ego is shattered. Maybe this spiritual attraction is the secret reason behind the recent abundance of Gnostic films. If so, then the dream factory is betraying its purpose. It is negating its deceptions and sales in the name of a bewildering reality that cannot be found.

Secret Cinema explores these possibilities through engaging in three related activities. One, the book establishes the theoretical foundations and implications of the genre of Gnostic cinema. It develops these theoretical elements in the contexts of Gnosticism and the esoteric traditions emerging from it, Cabbala and alchemy. Two, in undertaking this work, Wilson considers several collateral issues. The book discusses the functions of genre, the relationships between cinema and psychology, the connections between the moving image and sacred power, the role of the cinematographic apparatus, and the romance of film. Three, the book is a broad meditation on the seductions of cinema. It is attuned to material attractions of the movies, those gorgeous lights and lurid shadows, but also the film’s spiritual invitations, the gaps between the pictures, the empty spaces at the heart of life.

Zielgruppe

General

Autoren/Hrsg.

Wilson, Eric G.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Filmwissenschaft, Fernsehen, Radio Filmgattungen, Filmgenre
• Geisteswissenschaften Theater- und Filmwissenschaft | Andere Darstellende Künste Filmwissenschaft, Fernsehen, Radio Filmtheorie, Filmanalyse
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Christentum/Christliche Theologie Allgemein Christliche Kunst und Kultur
• Geisteswissenschaften Christentum, Christliche Theologie Systematische Theologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Religionswissenschaft Alternative Glaubensformen Eklektizismus, Esoterik, Anthroposophie, Theosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Prologue: Gnosticism in the Postmodern Age i
Introduction: Gnosis and Film 1
Chapter One: Gnostic Cinema: The Blank Screen 55
Chapter Two: Cabbalistic Cinema: The Illuminated Projector 116
Chapter Three: Alchemical Cinema: The Dark Theater 172
Epilogue: The Gnostic Romance 235
Endnotes 240
Filmography 256
Bibliography 262

Über Autor(innen)

Eric Wilson is Professor of English and Z. Smith Reynolds Faculty Fellow at Wake Forest University. He is the author of four books, including The Spiritual History of Ice: Romanticism, Science, and the Imagination (Palgrave, 2000).