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"Choice" Outstanding Academic Title 2003

"Lyden's book is well-written, insightful, and especially engaging for anyone who loves movies."--"Religious Studies Review"

.,"offers several new perspectives on this increasingly popular and gradually more critical area. It also is wellsuited for the religious studies classroom. Lyden's writing is clear, and he nicely describes some of the more difficult theories of religion in ways that are accessible to undergraduates. In fact, the next time I teach my course "Myth and Ritual on Film" I will assign "Film as Religion" because of its analogizing methods of showing how film does indeed function as religion in contemporary U.S. culture."--"Journal of the American Academy of Religion"

"Lyden offers perceptive criticisms of some of the most influential ways of talking about myth."
-- "Crisis Magazine"

aLyden has articulated a well-defined methodology that relies on some of the best resources religious studies can bring to the table." -- Film Quarterly

"Lyden lays an imrpessive and sound foundation for his vision: to provide a systematic method for connecting religion and film studies. . . . This is truly significant, immensely compelling, and dynamically provocative work. Essential."
--"Choice"

Film as Religion argues that popular films perform a religious function in our culture. Like more formal religious institutions, films can provide us with ways to view the world and values to confront it. Lyden contends that approaches which interpret films only ideologically or theologically miss the mark in understanding their appeal to viewers. He develops an alternativemethod which shows how films can be understood as representing a "religious" worldview in their own right.

Lyden surveys the state of the study of religion and film, offering an overview of previous methods before presenting his own. Rather than seeking to uncover hidden meanings in film detectable only to scholars, Lyden emphasizes how film functions for its audiences--the beliefs and values it conveys, and its ritual power to provide emotional catharsis. He includes a number of brief cases studies in which he applies this method to the study of film genres--including westerns and action movies, children's films, and romantic comedies--and individual films from The Godfather to E.T., showing how films can function religiously.

Religion and popular culture is a fast-growing field that spans a variety of disciplines. This volume offers the first real survey of the field to date and provides a guide for the work of future scholars. It explores: key issues of definition and of methodology religious encounters with popular culture across media, material culture and space, ranging from videogames and social networks to cooking and kitsch, architecture and national monuments representations of religious traditions in the media and popular culture, including important non-Western spheres such as Bollywood This Companion will serve as an enjoyable and informative resource for students and a stimulus to future scholarly work.

Religion and popular culture is a fast-growing field that spans a variety of disciplines. This volume offers the first real survey of the field to date and provides a guide for the work of future scholars. It expores:

• key issues of definition and of methodology
• religious encounters with popular culture across media, material culture and space, ranging from videogames and social networks to cooking and kitsch, architecture and national monuments
• the representation of different religious traditions within the media and popular culture, mainly in the West but also including important non-western spheres such as Bollywood.

Students will find the Companion an enjoyable and informative resource, whilst scholars will find it a stimulus to future work in the field.

Argues that popular films perform a religious function in our culture The first edition of Film as Religion was one of the first texts to develop a framework for the analysis of the religious function of films for audiences. Like more formal religious institutions, films can provide us with ways to view the world and the values to confront it. Lyden argues that the cultural influence of films is analogous to that of religions, so that films can be understood as representing a "religious" worldview in their own right. Thoroughly updating his examples, Lyden examines a range of film genres and individual films, from The Godfather to The Hunger Games to Frozen, to show how film can function religiously.

Argues that popular films perform a religious function in our culture The first edition of Film as Religion was one of the first texts to develop a framework for the analysis of the religious function of films for audiences. Like more formal religious institutions, films can provide us with ways to view the world and the values to confront it. Lyden argues that the cultural influence of films is analogous to that of religions, so that films can be understood as representing a "religious" worldview in their own right. Thoroughly updating his examples, Lyden examines a range of film genres and individual films, from The Godfather to The Hunger Games to Frozen, to show how film can function religiously.