This is kind of a side-topic, but I just watched Baahabuli, and for all the CGI cheese and implicit nationalism, there was something thrilling about seeing a Hercules-type mythical hero presented with unmitigated enthusiasm on the screen. The producers of most Marvel movies and other cultural properties that invoke religious or mythic tropes seem to feel they have to inject a lot of irony, bathos, and moralism for modern audiences to swallow them, but I don't think that's the case, at least to the extent they assume. There's a genuine appetite for the sublime.
Just finished watching Episode 6 of Moon Knight for the second time, which was incredible, and then I read this. I would love to hear your thoughts on the religiosity of Moon Knight because this series was probably one of the most openly theological Marvel projects I've ever seen - though it's a bit jarring for our first (?) MCU Jewish superhero being the reluctant avatar/servant of an Egyptian god. Plus, there's that scene where Mark leaves the Field of Reeds to save Steven, and his little debate with the goddess Taweret, which I'm sure would interest readers of David Bentley Hart. I've been mulling a lot about many of the issues you've described here - and the little renaissance of religion and myth in pop culture - in my own teaching. Thanks for putting this into words.
(With apologies for randomly commenting on an older post with nerdy nitpicks):
1. On the topic of Star Trek, I get (mildly) annoyed when people describe TOS as a consistent product of Roddenberry's humanistic irreligion. Roddenberry was raised Baptist and his views on religion seem to have hardened over time, which leads to people reading his much-touted anti-religious views circa TNG back into a series from two decades earlier. I'm not denying that Roddenberry was already thoroughly disenchanted with religion by the mid-late 1960s; but TNG-era Roddenberry would likely have found James T. Kirk a horrifyingly Protestant protagonist compared to the humanistic Picard (If "Who Mourns for Adonais?" is meant as anti-religious, for instance, it certainly pulls its punches at several key moments).
2. On the topic of Star Wars, I'm fascinated by the Prequel Trilogy's ambigious and inconsistent treatment of the Jedi as a religious order. It's almost like watching two different movies: the cinematic aspects of the films present the Jedi as heroic, whereas the script often makes them out to be stodgy fanatics. Trapped between these two contradictory portrayals is Anakin Skywalker, whose reasons for chafing against the strictures of the Order would be understable except that he also happens to be toxic masculinity incarnate (and given that the Jedi Order recognized immediately that Anakin was unsuited for the monastic life, it's hard to blame them for the emotional complexes that arose from a training they never wanted to provide in the fiirst place). There are times when I'm convinced that Lucas had no consistent vision for the Jedi in the Prequel films, and that any narrative we draw from it may well be the equivalent of watching the Wizard of Oz while listening to Dark Side of the Moon. A more charitable reading may be that Lucas was indeed trying to make two movies at the same time: one to sell toys and make him another billion dollars, another to comment on procrustean religiousity and the decline of democracy in times of political crisis.
This is kind of a side-topic, but I just watched Baahabuli, and for all the CGI cheese and implicit nationalism, there was something thrilling about seeing a Hercules-type mythical hero presented with unmitigated enthusiasm on the screen. The producers of most Marvel movies and other cultural properties that invoke religious or mythic tropes seem to feel they have to inject a lot of irony, bathos, and moralism for modern audiences to swallow them, but I don't think that's the case, at least to the extent they assume. There's a genuine appetite for the sublime.
Just finished watching Episode 6 of Moon Knight for the second time, which was incredible, and then I read this. I would love to hear your thoughts on the religiosity of Moon Knight because this series was probably one of the most openly theological Marvel projects I've ever seen - though it's a bit jarring for our first (?) MCU Jewish superhero being the reluctant avatar/servant of an Egyptian god. Plus, there's that scene where Mark leaves the Field of Reeds to save Steven, and his little debate with the goddess Taweret, which I'm sure would interest readers of David Bentley Hart. I've been mulling a lot about many of the issues you've described here - and the little renaissance of religion and myth in pop culture - in my own teaching. Thanks for putting this into words.
(With apologies for randomly commenting on an older post with nerdy nitpicks):
1. On the topic of Star Trek, I get (mildly) annoyed when people describe TOS as a consistent product of Roddenberry's humanistic irreligion. Roddenberry was raised Baptist and his views on religion seem to have hardened over time, which leads to people reading his much-touted anti-religious views circa TNG back into a series from two decades earlier. I'm not denying that Roddenberry was already thoroughly disenchanted with religion by the mid-late 1960s; but TNG-era Roddenberry would likely have found James T. Kirk a horrifyingly Protestant protagonist compared to the humanistic Picard (If "Who Mourns for Adonais?" is meant as anti-religious, for instance, it certainly pulls its punches at several key moments).
2. On the topic of Star Wars, I'm fascinated by the Prequel Trilogy's ambigious and inconsistent treatment of the Jedi as a religious order. It's almost like watching two different movies: the cinematic aspects of the films present the Jedi as heroic, whereas the script often makes them out to be stodgy fanatics. Trapped between these two contradictory portrayals is Anakin Skywalker, whose reasons for chafing against the strictures of the Order would be understable except that he also happens to be toxic masculinity incarnate (and given that the Jedi Order recognized immediately that Anakin was unsuited for the monastic life, it's hard to blame them for the emotional complexes that arose from a training they never wanted to provide in the fiirst place). There are times when I'm convinced that Lucas had no consistent vision for the Jedi in the Prequel films, and that any narrative we draw from it may well be the equivalent of watching the Wizard of Oz while listening to Dark Side of the Moon. A more charitable reading may be that Lucas was indeed trying to make two movies at the same time: one to sell toys and make him another billion dollars, another to comment on procrustean religiousity and the decline of democracy in times of political crisis.
Thank you, David. That was excellent.